Johnny Cash Hardin Wouldn't Run

I know a man whose plow handle hand is quicker than a light

Wes Hardin is his name they say he travels in the night

For he might have to kill or walk around a fight

 

And if you ever saw Wes Hardin draw you know he can skin his gun

He won't say how many tried and died

Up against the top hand up against the wrong man cause Hardin' wouldn't run

 

He rode in like a Texas wind took the eastbound train

Goin' goin' with Jane Bowen till the law men caught up

So long Janie chin up I'll be back again

 

Off he went to Huntsville Prison so long Janie he cried

Fifteen years she waited till her heart broke and she died

And she left that bad land to wait up in the sky

 

Free at last the payin' past for all the wrong he did

First free air they let him breathe since he was a kid

So let him come and let him go and let him deal and bid

 

Near the border in El Paso Lawyer reads the sign

You won't find him there for business every day at nine

For business is real bad one client's all he's had in quite a long long time

 

Then sheriff Selman's boy broke in to Wes's woman's place

Up she jumped and pistol whipped him kicked him in the face

And John Selman demands revenge for this disgrace

 

You could see every night by candlelight in Hardin's favorite bar

She'd be hanging on his arm and very late they'd leave there

Headed for the Goose Hair glad it wasn't far

 

Right through the swinging doors John Selman came with a blazin' gun

Wes Hardin chug-a-luggin' red eye got him in the back of the head

John Wesley Hardin fell dead cos Hardin wouldn't run