G               F                G       F
Come closer, my love, and you'll hear my tale.
       G       F           G        D
I'll make you cold. It'll turn you pale.
       D                     G
It's a tale of a man's never ending love
        F           G
and the long, black rifle.

Chorus:
G              F        G
He wed a woman sworn to another
G                   F     G 
and, in a rage, the other man
G                    F           G
Shot him down with a long, black rifle,
G                 F       G 
shot him down and away he ran.

2ND VERSE
  G       F           G    F
A prairie man loved a city maid.
        G       F              G        D 
Was the love he took worth the price he paid,
       D                  G                
When a man ends up at the smoky end
     F           G 
of a long, black rifle?


(Chorus above)

3RD VERSE
    G     F       G         F
His dyin' words I repeat to you:
         G          F         G       D
"You can never kill love when love is true."
   D                   G                   F           G
It lives when only the rust is left of the long, black rifle.

(Chorus)
then repeat last line of chorus:
G                 F       G
Shot him down and away he ran.