The Highwayman chords

by The Highwaymen

The Highwayman was written by singer/songwriter, Jimmy Webb in 1977
The Highwaymen Band Members: Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings & Johnny Cash
Released: 1985 from the album of the same name - it was the bands first album and the bands first single
Music: Key of Bm Major in 4/4 time at 100 bpm (♩)
Chords: Bm, A, Gmaj7, G, D, Em, A/C#, D/F#
Changes in time signature occur throughout the song from 4/4 to 2/4 and back.

Chart Legend

Numbered Circles: Fingers used to play chords O: Optional Note
Barre Line: One finger holds down multiple strings R: Root Note
Unmarked strings: Play open X: Don't play string B: Bass Note

The Highwayman

The Relative Major Key of Bm is highlighted - Transpose to any other key.

               Bm
Intro: 4/4  ‖:     |  𝄎  |  𝄎  |  𝄎  :‖

Willie Nelson:
Bm         A                         G                 Bm
1. I was a high-way-man,  a-long the coach roads I did ride
 A                G       D     A
   With sword and pis-tol by my side
Em         Bm                  A              Gmaj7
   Ma-ny a young maid lost her bau-bles to my trade
Em         Bm                 A                Gmaj7
   Ma-ny a sol-dier shed his  life blood on my blade
Bm               A              G         A       D
   The bas-tards hung me in the spring of twen-ty-five
       G            A
   But I am still a-live

Kris Kristofferson:
Bm         A              G              Bm
2. I was a sai-lor, I was born u-pon the tide
 A              G     D     A
   And with the sea I did a-bide
Em            Bm                   A             Gmaj7
   I sailed a schoo-ner 'round the horn to Me-xi-co
Em          Bm                A              Gmaj7
   I went a-loft to furl the  main-sail in a blow
Bm              A                     G         A     D
   And when the yards broke off, they said that I got killed
       G            A
   But I am li-ving still

Waylon Jennings:
Bm         A                         G               Bm
3. I was a dam buil-der, a-cross the ri-ver deep and wide
 A                 G      D       A
   Where steel and wa-ter did col-lide
Em                Bm              A             Gmaj7
   A place called Boul-der on the wild Co-lo-ra-do
Em               Bm             A                Gmaj7
   I slipped and fell in-to the wet con-crete be-low
Bm              A               G         A        D       
   They bu-ried me in that gray tomb that knows no sound
       G            A
   But I am still a-round
        A            D           A/C#        Bm
   I'll al-ways be a-round and a-round and a-round
         A           G           D/F#    Em     G    A     D
   And a-round and a-round and a-round |     -     |    -     |

Johnny Cash:
Bm            A                     G             Bm
4. I'll fly a star ship a-cross the u-ni-verse di-vide
 A            G         D      A
   And when I reach the o-ther side
Em             Bm               A            Gmaj7
   I'll find a place to rest my spi-rit if I can
Em            Bm            A              Gmaj7
   Per-haps I may be-come a high-way-man a-gain
Bm          A            G       A       D 
   Or I may sim-ply be a sin-gle drop of rain
   G             A
   But I will re-main
       A              D          A/C#       Bm
   And I'll be back a-gain and a-gain and a-gain
         A          G          D/F#    Em     G    A      D
   And a-gain and a-gain and a-gain  |     -     |     -     |   𝄎  |...

Help on reading the song charts
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