The hulk of a man with a beer in is hand
Looked like a drunk old fool
And I knew if I hit him right
Why I could knock him off-a that stool
But ever'body they said Watch out,
Hey, that's Tiger Man McCool
He's had a whole lot of fights
And he's always come out a winner
Yea!, he's a winner.
But I'd had myself about five too many
And I walked up tall and proud
I faced his back and I faced the fact
That he had never stooped or bowed
I said, Tiger Man, you're a pussycat
And a hush fell on the crowd
I said let's you and me go outside and see
Who's a winner.
Well, he gripped the bar with one big hairy hand
And he braced against the wall
He slowly looked up from his beer
My God, that man was tall
He said boy, I see you're a scrapper
So just before you fall
I'm gonna tell you just a little
'Bout what it means to be a winner.
He said Now you see these bright white smiling teeth
You know they ain't my own
Mine rolled away like chiclets
Down the street in San Antone
But I left that person, cursin'
Nursin' seven broken bones
And he, uh, only broke, uh, three of mine
That makes me the winner.
He said Now behind this grin, I got steel pins
That holds my jaw in place
A trophy of my most successful
Motorcycle race
And each morning when I wake and touch
This scar across my face
It reminds me of all I got
by being a winner.
Now this broken back was a dying act
Of a handsome Harry Clay
That sticky Cincinnati night
I stole his wife away
But that woman she gets uglier
And she gets meaner every day
But I got her, boy
that's what makes me a winner
Change to D
He said You gotta speak loud when you challenge me son
'Cause it's hard for me to hear
With this twisted neck and these migrane pains
And this big old cauliflower ear
And if it wasn't for this glass eye of mine
Why, I'd shed a happy tear
To think of all you're gonna get
By being a winner.
I got ar-th-rit-ic elbows, son
I got dislocated knees
From pickin' fights with thunderstorms
And chargin' into trees
And my nose's been broke so often
I might lose it if I sneeze
And son, you say you
still wanna be a winner.
Now you remind me a lot of my younger days
With your knuckles a-clenchin' white
But boy, I'm gonna sit right here
And sip this beer all night
And if there's somethin' that you gotta gain or prove
by winnin' some silly fight
Well, OK, I quit, I lose
You're the winner.
Oh, I stumbled from that barroom
Not so tall and not so proud
And behind me I still hear
the hoots and laughter of the crowd
But my eyes still see and my nose still works
And my teeth are still in my mouth
And you know, I guess that
Makes me the winner.