Silver Target - Sheb Wooley

Towns sprung up across the plain

But soon the desperados came

And gunshot echoed in the streets

In a western town that mushroamed along the great frontier

Was mostly honest folks that came to stay

But law was slow in comin' and the bad men soon appereared

Flockin' in like vultures to the prey

Those that tried to stop them in their pillage of the town

Bit the dust of Main Street one by one

Till no one had the courage to step forward fom the rest

And volunteer to wear a silver target on his chest

The town sent for a Ranger to stop the lawless breed

Men who bragged of killin’s they had done

The bad men heard them threaten but they laughed and paid no heed

For who would dare to face their deadly guns

It only made them bolder and the terror grew and grew

Till one day the Ranger reached the town

The bad men saw him comin' and they spoke in vulgar jest

One of the quiet man who wore a silver target on his chest

In the noonday sun a panic had hit the dusty street

But from every window they all saw

The showdown soon was comin' and the odds he had to beat

With four to one against the Ranger’s draw

Then sudden death cut loose and when the smoke had cleared away

The outlaws lay there dyin' in the street

But a scarlet stain was spreadin' in the center of the West

Of the quiet man who wore a silver target on his chest

His name is not recorded in the book of history

But on a marble stone you still can read

Here lies a man who figured in the winnin' of the West

A quiet man who wore a silver target on his chest