This is a rough work up as I wanted a version to take to jam and there isn't one yet.
Feel free to add correction in comments and I'll check back. Cheers
Chords for guitar, regular tuning, no capo. Willie plays this on a banjo so I
approximate the rhythm with alternating thumb bass, kind of Travis picking style...
[Intro]
G Em C (x8)
[Verse 1]
G Em C
Swinging in
G G/C
to old Fort Worth in 1883
Em C
Some old Mexican cowboy
G G/C
come steppin' up to me
Em C
Sayin' how are you young fella
G G/C
when would you like to go
Em C G G/C
And spend another season with me in Mexico
[Verse 2]
(same as verse 1)
I had no employment
back to him did say
It’s according to your wages
According to your pay
Said I’ll pay you good wages
and often too you now
If you spend another season with me in Mexico
[Instrumental Break]
[Verse 3]
(same as verse 1)
I went up to this cowboy
I offered him my hand
But he gave a string of horses
So old they couldn't stand
How nearly starved to death boys
I mean to let you know
And I never saw a dollar in those hills of Mexico
[Verse 4]
(same as verse 1)
I got up on that steamboat and back to home did go
How them bells they did ring
Those whistles did blow
How them bells they did ring
Those whistles did blow
On that godforsaken fortune in those hills of Mexico