Time To Get A Gun

I guess there's no getting around Time To Get A Gun.  It's probably the most well known song that FJE has due to Miranda Lambert's cover of it (Toby Keith's cover of White Rose and Alan Jackson's cover of Freight Train haven't seemed to raise the profile of those songs as much as Lambert has).  It's admittedly not my favourite song of his, but when I find myself at party when a guitar is being passed around it's the song that I usually sing.  It's a playful song that doesn't take itself seriously.  In a way, I think this song is what Fred is trying to get away from now in the music he makes now.  I've heard him state in interviews that he refuses to turn into a caricature of himself and keep creating the same music with different words and topics.  But at the same time, every concert of his that I've been to has included a rendition of this song.

I love the explanation to how he came to write this song he's given in some of the live versions I've heard or witnessed.  He makes it seem so simple when he'll say something like "Well, my neighbour's car was stolen the other night.  We heard the dogs barking, but we didn't pay any attention to them".  The live versions are always fun, but the heart of this song lives in the original version in my opinion.  The banjo combined with everything that Washboard Hank was playing give the song the perfect feel.  You get the feeling that there's the right balance between seriousness and absurdity within the 20 seconds of the song.  As much as he moves away from this type of music now, part of his charm will always lie in this song.

My neighbour's car got stole last night,
Right out of this driveway.
We heard the dogs a barkin',
We never paid them any mind.
Mary says she's gonna lock the doors
From now on when we go away.
And I've been walkin' around this farm,
Wondering if it's time......

Time to get a gun.
That's what I've been thinking.
I could afford one,
If I did just a little less drinking.
Time to put something
Between me and the sun.
When the talking is over,
It's time to get a gun.

Last week a government man was there,
When I walked out of my back door.
He said "I'm sorry to bother you son
But it don't matter anymore.
Cause even while we're talking,
And right here where we stand,
They're making plans for a four lane highway
And a big old overpass......

(Chorus)

(Bridge)
Mary says she's worried,
About herself and the kids.
She's never known anybody had a gun
And her daddy never did.
But I think it should be up to me,
Cause when it's all said and done,
Somebody's gotta walk into the night,
Well I'm gonna be that one.

(Chorus)

Chords

Capo on two, and the verse goes G, Am, C, G.  The last time through on the verse, instead of ending it with a G end with a D.  The chorus goes one time through on G, Am, C, D and one time on G, Am, C, G.  The bridge goes D, C for the most part and finished with a D before going back into the chorus.