Chords for Marty Robbins on PM Magazine - 1982

[B] _ _ [F] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ Marty Robbins is one [B] of the most well-loved country music singers that ever lived.
Over 20 years ago, he wrote El Paso, which soon [Bm] became a country cowboy classic.
[B] He himself became a legend in the music business, and he was a fighter.
He survived three near-fatal heart attacks [Eb] and a near-fatal [Am] car accident.
_ Tragically, two weeks ago, Marty Robbins lost [B] his fight for life.
We [G] think this story will show you some insight into [E] the kind of man Marty Robbins was.
[Em] _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Out in the West Texas [Em] town of El [A] Paso, I [Em] fell in love with a [D] Mexican girl.
_ _ _ _ [Ab] In 1959, [Bm] Marty Robbins recorded [Ab] a song that changed [Bm] the listening habits of just about [A] everyone who owned [Gbm] a radio.
For the first time, country music was being [Gb] enjoyed by the masses.
[B] His song El Paso was a monster hit, the most listened to song that year.
It certainly wasn't the first country song to make it to the charts, but El Paso sold big and was played on every radio station.
And it was the very first country song to win a Grammy.
And though it was a quarter of a century ago that Marty first put the words to that [G] compelling tale on paper,
he still [Bm] belts out the same verses that made him a super legend in country music.
[D] _ _
_ _ [Bm] Maybe tomorrow [D] a bullet will find me, and I've nothing worse than this [G] pain in my heart.
And [A] it's last [D] year I am on the hill, but [Em] look in El Paso, I can see a [Gbm] rose's cantina [D] below. _
_ _ Since El Paso, Marty's written over 500 songs, received two Grammys, and has any [B] number of gold albums to his credit, plus four Platinum.
[D] In Nashville, however, he's [E] just another country [B] music legend.
Somewhere between Hank Williams and Elvis Presley, [Bm] Marty's found his niche in [E] country music. _
[B] The cowboy songs and the country songs, and there is a difference, _ [Ab] that [B] is American folk music.
Just like Dixieland [F] jazz, I like cowboy songs best.
[G] That's best.
That's my favorite.
[B] _ But [G] it's pretty close between the [Gb] real cowboy songs now.
[A] I don't mean [B] urban cowboy, I mean real cowboy songs.
And [G] love songs.
I [F] like love songs real well, I think, [Bm] because, well I think everybody in the [Gb] world likes love songs.
[E] They tend to stay [Bm] around a little longer and last.
[D] When _ _ _ _ _ [G] the boy came to the sun, _ _ [D] didn't know where he was [Bm] _
_ [D] _ going,
[E] _ I don't [A]
know who he came to [Gb] take.
Probably country music and the banjo [Bb] are about the only two things in [G] music that we have that are [A] American.
And it seems to be our music, you know.
[E] [Bm] And usually it _ [A] is, [C] it's a story that most people can [B] relate to in one form or another.
If they haven't lived it, they know [Bm] somebody that has.
Lee Shannon started out as a country music disc jockey [Gb] at about the same time [C] El Paso hit [B] the airwaves.
Today he is one of the top country [Bm] music program directors in radio at [B] WQIK in Jacksonville.
I would [Gb] say Marty Robbins [Bm] is definitely country music.
He fits [G] probably no mold, really.
Marty Robbins just might be considered one of the [Eb] outlaws of what [Em] they used to consider an outlaw,
[Gb] in the sense that he goes his way and does his thing.
[B] To the town of [E] our freedom, this [Db] strange place.
_ [Eb] In 1960, [Bm] Marty started dirt track racing.
And by 1972, he had progressed to [B] NASCAR's high speed Grand National Division.
It's [Db] fun, you know, it's show business.
_ When introductions are made at a big [F] racetrack, I'll get as big a hand as anybody.
Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, I don't care who [D] it is, as big as [Gb] anybody.
That makes me feel good and I have a [E] lot of fun with the [A] guys.
They're all really nice [B] people.
Is the applause [Bb] addicting, the [Gb] attention?
It's got to be that, [B] because I know I'm not going to win.
[D] So [A] it must be, I'll get [Db] some applause anyway.
[E] That's part of it, you know.
[Em] And [F] I do like racing.
Because [A] there are a few people on track that I'm going to be able to stay [G] up with or outrun.
[B] What makes this man even more remarkable is his ability to [G] bounce back from [B] two serious heart attacks.
One which involved [F] open heart surgery [B] in 1970.
Then in 1975 at the Charlotte Speedway, Marty risked death and slammed his car into a concrete wall
at over 150 miles an [Bm] hour to avoid hitting a stalled car.
He nearly lost his right eye and received 47 stitches across his forehead.
I have been near [C] death so many times, you see, that now I am not [Bm] afraid of death.
_ So now I can enjoy living, you see.
[B] And to really enjoy living, _ _ [A] you just can't be afraid of death.
[G] Although Marty still finds time to race three or four [B] times a year,
his real [F] love is crisscrossing [B] rural America 130 days a year with his bus, band and two [E] drivers.
I'd much rather play a [Bbm] small city than a big city.
Why?
Well, it's easier to get around, a lot [Bb] easier to get around, you see.
And the people in New York are the same, [B] people who [Ab] like country music in New [B] York
are the same [G] as the people who like country music in Douglas, Georgia.
[B] At the Holiday Beach Resort in Douglas, Georgia, his fans line up.
Today they've come from all over the southeast to hear Marty sing and to watch him perform.
[A] Well, he just gives me the idea that I want [C] to just get on my horse and [Bm] ride.
I just [Db] like his style.
He's the [Bb] best singer that I know of today.
[B] Well, because I think he plays to the people.
[Bm] Because he's a good singer.
[B] That's all the people want, is just the effort.
If you [Bbm] make an effort to please the people, [Bm] _ _ [B] that's all you [E] can do.
And [A] when they know that you're sincere and you're trying [Bb] to please them
and you're trying [Ab] to [Bb] have fun with them, [G] you can't miss.
[Bm] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
[D] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [B] _ _
_ There's standing room only for this performance, and for [F] Marty, [B] that's payment enough.
Still, he has big plans for his future, another Grammy and a top country hit in the making.
And that's a tall order coming from a man who suffered [G] his third heart [B] attack just eight months ago.
[Ab] I want to live as long as I can [G] and [F] enjoy life as long as I can.
And when I am through enjoying [G] life, that's [Db] when I want to pass [Bb] away.
I [A] don't want to die.
Don't [B] misunderstand me, you see.
I want to live, you know, because [G] I don't believe in reincarnation.
[A] They say when you're gone, you're gone.
You know, you don't come back.
I mean, that's the way I feel.
[Gb] I would like to be remembered as a [Bm] good [Bb] entertainer, a good [B] person.
I think [F] maybe better as a good person.
[Em] _ _
_ [B] _ [Ab] And Marty [B] Robbins will get his [Bb] wish.
He will [B] be remembered by [F] all of us as a [G] wonderful performer and a great person.