Tennessee Stud

Along about 1825

I left Tennessee, very much alive

And I never would have gotten through the Arkansas mud

If I hadn't been a-ridin that Tennessee stud

I had some trouble with my sweetheart's pa

And one of her brothers was a bad outlaw

I sent her a letter by my Uncle Fud

Then I rode away on the Tennessee stud

The Tennessee stud was long and lean

The color of the sun and his eyes were green

Now he had the nerve and he had the blood

And there never was a hoss like the Tennessee stud

We drifted on down into no man's land

We crossed that river called the Rio Grande

I raced my hoss with the Spaniard's foal

Till I got me a skin full of silver and gold

Me and the gambler, we couldn't agree

We got in a fight over Tennessee

We jerked our guns, and he fell with a thud

And I got away on the Tennessee stud

The Tennessee stud was long and lean

The color of the sun and his eyes were green

Now he had the nerve and he had the blood

And there never was a hoss like the Tennessee stud

Well, I got just as lonesome as a man can be

A-dreamin' of my girl in Tennessee

The Tennessee stud's green eyes turned blue

'Cause he was a-dreamin' of his sweetheart, too

We loped right back across Arkansas

I whooped her brother and I whooped her pa

When I found that girl with the golden hair

She was a-ridin' that Tennessee mare, whoa, boy

The Tennessee stud was long and lean

The color of the sun and his eyes were green

Now he had the nerve and he had the blood

And there never was a hoss like the Tennessee stud

Stirrup to stirrup and side by side

We crossed them mountains and the valleys wide

We came to Big Muddy then we forded a flood

On the Tennessee mare and the Tennessee stud

There's a pretty little baby on the cabin floor

A little hoss colt playin' round the door

I love the girl with the golden hair

And the Tennessee stud loves the Tennessee mare, they's good horses

The Tennessee stud was long and lean

The color of the sun and his eyes were green

Now he had the nerve and he had the blood

And there never was a hoss like the Tennessee stud