Don’t Take Your Guns to Town
Western Music
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Western Song: Don’t Take Your Guns to Town

Don’t Take Your Guns to Town is a song that American singer Johnny Cash wrote and recorded. It was the first single from the album The Fabulous Johnny Cash released in December 1958. The song tells a story of a young cowboy who, neglecting advice from his mother, brings his guns into town, goes with a gun in a saloon, and is killed. It was voted by members of Western Writers of America as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

About the Song

It’s a song about having wisdom or lacking it. Bill’s mother had enough wisdom to know that there were circumstances that her son could not understand. However, he did not listen and remained confident that he would not be tempted to use his guns in an offensive manner, and otherwise, he would shoot as “quick and straight” as everyone else. He then found himself in a bar, insulted, and went to pull out his gun, and before he could see it, someone else pulled out the gun first, shot him, and eventually killed him. His last words were his mother’s advice to “don’t take guns to town.”

Don’t Take Your Guns to Town Popular Recordings

Many artists have covered Don’t Take Your Guns to Town. Some of the most popular versions were recorded by:

  • Johnny Cash
  • Dick Nolan
  • Faron Young
  • Rusty Adams
  • Burl Ives
  • Nashville Country Singers
  • Sherwin LintonCountry Road
  • Lee Conway
  • Johnny Western
  • Ry Cooder
  • David Garrick
  • Johnny Cash / Willie Nelson
  • U2
  • Charlie Robison
  • Steinar Albrigtsen
  • Steve Earle

In Albums

The song has been released as well in the tracklist of many albums including:

  • The Fabulous Johnny Cash
  • Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series
  • The Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me
  • … I Walk the Line…” and Other Country Hits by Dick Nolan
  • Faron Young Aims at the West
  • Country and Western Hits Made Famous by Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins
  • The Big Country Hits
  • Hits of Johnny Cash
  • Hello, I’m Not Johnny Cash
  • Country Road Sing the Hits of Johnny Cash
  • Big Iron
  • Johnny Western Sings 20 Great Classics & Legends
  • Blue City – Motion Picture Soundtrack
  • The Pye Anthology
  • VH1 Storytellers
  • Kindred Spirits – A Tribute to the Songs of Johnny Cash
  • We walk the Line – Inside a Norwegian Prison
  • Restless on the Farm

Chart Performance

The song has been included in the top hits of the following charts:

  • US Hot Country Songs (Billboard) – No.1
  • US Billboard Hot 100 – No.32

Listen (Johnny Cash Version)

Don’t Take Your Guns to Town Lyrics

A young cowboy named Billy Joe grew restless on the farm
A boy filled with wonderlust who really meant no harm
He changed his clothes and shined his boots
And combed his dark hair down
And his mother cried as he walked out

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

He laughed and kissed his mom
And said your Billy Joe's a man
I can shoot as quick and straight as anybody can
But I wouldn't shoot without a cause
I'd gun nobody down
But she cried again as he rode away

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

He sang a song as on he rode
His guns hung at his hips
He rode into a cattle town
A smile upon his lips
He stopped and walked into a bar
And laid his money down
But his mother's words echoed again

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

He drank his first strong liquor then to calm his shaking hand
And tried to tell himself he had become a man
A dusty cowpoke at his side began to laugh him down
And he heard again his mothers words

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

Filled with rage then
Billy Joe reached for his gun to draw
But the stranger drew his gun and fired
Before he even saw
As Billy Joe fell to the floor
The crowd all gathered 'round
And wondered at his final words

Don't take your guns to town son
Leave your guns at home Bill
Don't take your guns to town

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