At least this is how I wrote it but on the Frummox album, I was capoed at the 2nd fret playing in A. Best wishes, Steve Fromholz
Mary Martin was a schoolgirl, just 17 or so When she married Billy Archer 'bout 14 years ago. Not even out of high school, folks said it wouldn't last, But when you grow up in the country, you grow up mighty fast.
They married in a hurry, in March 'fore school was out. Folks said she was pregnant. "Just wait and you'll find out." It came about that winter one gray November morn. The first of many more to come, a baby boy was born.
CHORUS: And cattle is their game. And Archer is the name they give to the acres that they own. If the Brazos don't run dry and the newborn calves don't die, Another year for Mary will have flown. Another year for Mary will have flown.
Now Billy he kept what cattle his daddy could afford, Bouncin' cross the cactus in a 1950 Ford, But the cows were sick and skinny and the weeds was all that grew, But Billy kept the place alive, the only thing he knew.
And Mary cooked the supper and Mary scrubbed the floor, And Mary busted horses and blew the baby's nose, And Mary and her shotgun kept the rattlesnakes away, But how she kept on smilin', no one could ever say.
Repeat Chorus
Now the drought of '57 was a curse upon the land. No one in Bosque County could give Bill a helpin' hand. The ground was cracked and broken, and the truck was out of gas, And cows can't feed on prickly pears, instead of growin' grass.
Then the weather took the water and a snakebite took a child, And the fire in the old barn took the hay that Bill had piled. The mortgage got the money and the screwworms got the cows. The years had come for Mary; she's waitin' for 'em now.