Long about eighteen twenty-five
I left Tennessee very much alive.
Never would've gotten through the Arkansas mud
If I hadn't been a-ridin' on a Tennessee stud.
Tennessee stud was long and lean,
The color of the sun, his eyes were green.
He had the nerve and he had the blood,
There never was a horse like Tennessee stud.
Had some trouble with my sweetheart's Pa,
One of her brothers was a bad outlaw.
Sent her a letter about my uncle Fud
And I rode away on a Tennessee stud.
I rode on down through a beautiful land,
I ran smack into an Indian band,
Jumped their necks with a whoop and a yell
And I rode away like a bat out of hell.
Circled their camp a time or two
Just to show 'em what a Tennessee horse can do.
Redskin bucks couldn't get my bud
'Cause I was riding on a Tennessee stud.
So I rode on down through a beautiful land
Across the river called the Rio Grande,
Raced my horse with a spaniard's fold
And won me a sack full of silver and gold.
Me and a gambler, we couldn't agree,
Got in a fight over Tennessee.
Drew our guns and he fell with a thud
And I rode away on a Tennessee stud.
Tennessee stud is long and lean,
The color of the sun, his eyes are green.
He had the nerve and he had the blood,
There never was a horse like the Tennessee stud.
Got just as lonesome as a man can be,
Dreamed about my girl back in Tennessee.
Tennessee stud's green eyes turned blue
'Cause he was dreaming of his sweetheart, too.
So we loped on back 'cross Arkansas
And I whooped her mother and I whooped her pa.
Found that girl with the golden hair
And she was riding on a Tennessee mare.
Stirrup to stirrup and side by side
We crossed the mountains and the valleys wide,
Come to Big Muddy, but we forded the flood
On a Tennessee mare and a Tennessee stud.
Pretty little baby on the cabin floor,
Little horses colt playing round
