C
See through the prison bars
                                G
Joe Bean, see where the gallows stand
      F                           C
Just twenty short years from the day you were born
     G                     C
You died by the hangman's hand


[Verse]
C
Yes, they're hanging Joe Bean this morning
                             G7
For a shooting that he never did
    C7                    F                C         G7    C
He killed 20 men, by the time he was 10, he was an unruly kid
             F                        C                   G             C
Yes, they're hanging Joe Bean for the one shooting that Joe Bean never did


[Verse]
C
Well, Joe - your mother is at the Capitol
                     G
Asking the governor for a stay
          F
And it's hard on her
             C                       G          C
Because she knows where you were, on that particular day
          F                      C       G                 C
You were working Joe Bean, hard working, robbing the Santa Fe


[Verse]
C
Well, the telegraph wires are humming
                                G
Here, the governor's words come through
            C7                       F                       C     G7         C
He said, I can't set you free, it's not up to me, but this much, Joe Bean, I'll do
     F                    C         G                     C
I'll join your mother in extending Birthday greetings to you