Coward Of The County chords by Kenny Rogers (Ver. 2)

|C    |
Ev'ry one con-sidered him the coward of the county
  |        |       |        |G   |
He never stood one single time to prove the county wrong
  |C   |
His momma named him Tommy the folks just called him yellow
|        |         |C   |
Something always told me they were readin' Tommy wrong

|      |           |C    |
He was only ten years old when his daddy died in prison
|       |       |        |G   |
I looked after Tommy 'cos he was my brothers son
 |C    |
I still recall the final words my brother said to Tommy
|       |    |C    |
Son my life is over but yours has just beg-un

|C   |
Promise me son not to do the things I've done
|G   |
walk away from trouble if you can
  |C
Now it won't mean your weak if you turn the other cheek
          |G
I hope your old enough to under-stand
|         |C  |
you don't have to fight to be a man

    |C
There's someone for every one and Tommys love was Becky
|       |       |       |G  |
In her arms he didn't have to prove he was a man
  |C    |
One day while he was workin' the Gatlin boys came callin'
|         |    |C
They took turns at Becky  There was three of them

|     |        |C    |
Tommy open up the door and saw his Becky cryin'
  |       |         |         |G   |
The torn dress the shattered look was more than he could stand
  |C   |
He reached above the fire place and took down his daddys picture
    |         |       |C
as the tears fell on his Daddys face he heard these words a-gain


|       |    |C   |
Promise me son not to do the things I've done
|G   |
walk away from trouble if you can
  |C
Now it won't mean your weak if you turn the other cheek
          |G
I hope your old enough to under-stand
|         |C  |
you don't have to fight to be a man

  |D
The Gatlin boys just laughed at him when he walked into the bar room
|         |        |           |A7   |
one of them got up  and met him half way 'cross the floor
   |D   |
when Tommy turned around they said Hey look ol' Yellows leaving
  |                    D
But you could-a heard a pin drop when Tommy stopped and locked the door

|D    |
Twenty years of crawlin' was bottled up in-side him
  |       |          |      |A7  |
he wasn't holdin' nothin' back he let 'em have it all
   |D  |
when Tommy left the Bar room not a Gatlin boy was standin'
  |                |D
He said this one's for Becky as he watched the last one fall

And I heard him say.
 |D
I promised you Dad not to do the things you done
 |A7
I walk away from trouble when I can
  |D |
now please don't think I'm weak I did-n't turn the other cheek
  |        |A7           |
and Popa I sure hope you understand some-times you've gotta fight
      |D   |
when your a man
|      |        |D
Every one considered him the coward of the county