Along about eighteen and twenty-five I left Tennessee very much alive I never would have got through the Arkansas mud If I hadn't been a-ridin on the Tennessee stud
I had some trouble with my sweetheart's pa One of her brothers was a bad outlaw I sent her a letter by my Uncle Fud And I rode away on the Tennessee stud
CHORUS: The Tennessee stud was long and lean The color of the sun and his eyes were green He had the nerve and he had the blood And there never was a hoss like the Tennessee stud
One day I was ridin' in the beautiful land And ran smack into an Indian band They jerked their knives with a whoop and a yell But I rode away like a bat out of hell
Well I circled their camp for a time or two And showed what a Tennessee hoss could do And them redskin boys never got my blood 'Cause I was a-ridin' on the Tennessee stud
CHORUS
We drifted on down into no man's land We crossed the river called the Rio Grande I raced my hoss with the Spaniards bold Till I got me a skin full of silver and gold
Me and a gambler we couldn't agree We got in a fight over Tennessee We jerked our guns, he fell with a thud And I got away on the Tennessee stud
CHORUS
Well, I got as lonesome as a man can be Dreamin' of my girl in Tennessee The Tennessee stud's green eyes turned blue 'Cause he was a-dneamin' of a sweetheart too
We loped on back across Arkansas I whipped her brother and I whipped her pa I found that girl with the golden hair And she was ridin' on a Tennessee mare
CHORUS
Stirrup to stirrup and side by side We crossed the mountains and the valleys wide We came to Big Muddy and we forded the flood On the Tennessee mare and the Tennessee stud
Pretty little baby on the cabin floor Little hoss colt playin' 'round the door I love the girl with golden hair And the Tennessee stud loves the Tennessee mare