The Eyes Of The Ranger

Album: Walker Texas Ranger (1994)
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Songfacts®:

  • Walker Texas Ranger was an American TV series that ran from April 1993 to May 2001 on CBS. The lead character, Cordell Walker, was played by Chuck Norris, an actor known for playing the strong silent type. Originally the program was introduced by an instrumental, but sometime in the second season, "Eyes Of A Ranger," with a vocal by Norris, replaced it. Norris is no singer, so his part is mostly spoken-word, as he warns:

    In the eyes of a ranger
    The unsuspecting stranger
    Had better know the truth of wrong from right


    This theme song ran throughout the rest of the show's run.
  • "Eyes Of A Ranger" was written by a singer-songwriter named Tirk Wilder, who was friends with Chuck Norris' bodyguard, Bob Green. When Norris started work on Walker Texas Ranger, Green asked Wilder to write a theme song, which he did, composing "Eyes Of A Ranger." Wilder made a demo of the song and gave it on cassette to Green, who delivered it to Norris. When the show went on the air with a different theme song, Wilder was disheartened, but knew it was a long-shot anyway.

    Wilder, like Green, was in the martial arts community. In 1993, after the show was on the air, he went to a United Fighting Arts Federation seminar in Las Vegas, where he met Norris' girlfriend and told her about the song he wrote. She told him Chuck loved the song but lost the tape. Wilder send another copy, special delivery, and the following year ended up recording the song with Norris in a Dallas studio.
  • Tirk Wilder recorded a full 3-minute version of this song that can be found on his album I'm Letting Go.

Comments: 4

  • Starbrooks from Smith Lane It's good I used to watch that with my mom and dad now I have a baby sis and I still watch it UwU
  • Cheryl HarrisonLove the show and just today search would sang the theme song which I wondered all the time was it Chuck Norris? I think he has a very nice voice.
  • Khaos, Jr. from Khaosjr@yahoo.comOne of WTR's greater debits, at least for me, was using only such a small part of this song -- the chorus and half of the first verse -- for their theme music. It would have been nifty to hear how the rest of this tune sounded, as performed by "The Chuck" ...Or anybody else, for that matter. Here are all three-and-a-half verses, in their entirety, submitted for your reading/singing pleasure:

    VERSE 1:
    In the Eyes of a Ranger, the unsuspecting stranger
    Had better know what's true, and wrong from right
    'Cause the rule of law and order starts at the Texas border
    With the Lone Star of the Ranger shining bright.

    VERSE 2:
    In the Heart of a Ranger, he'll never know the danger
    From desperate men with nothing left to lose.
    That Ranger keeps on coming, so there ain't no sense in running
    He's bound and sure to make you pay your dues.

    VERSE 3:
    When a Ranger's on your trail, he won't know how to fail
    And you can't buy him off at any price.
    So if you decide to ramble, and with your life you'd gamble,
    Know where you are before you roll the dice.

    VERSE 4:
    If you see him coming 'round the outskirts of town,
    Never take that Ranger for a ride.
  • Tim from Tampa, FlI spent the day recently, binge-watching "Walker, Texas Ranger" on TV. I really enjoyed it, especially the theme song sung/spoken by Chuck Norris himself.
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