The Winner Lyrics

The hulk of a man with a beer in his hand he looked like a
drunk old fool
And I knew if I hit him right why I could knock him off of
that stool
But everybody they said watch out hey that's the Tiger Man
McCool
He's had the whole lotta fights and he's always come out
winner yeah he's a winner
But I 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 the winner
Well he gripped the bar with one big hairy hand then 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 smilin' teeth you
know they ain't my own
Mine rolled away like Chicklets down the street in San
Antone
But I left that person cursin' nursin' seven broken bones
And he only broke ah three of mine that makes me the winner
He said now behind this grin I got a steel pin 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 bein' a winner
Now this broken back was the dyin' 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
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 migraine pains and this big
ole cauliflower ear
And if it wadn't for this glass eye of mine why I'd she'd a
happy tear
To think of all that you gonna get by bein' a winner
I got arthritic elbows boy I got dislocated knees
From pickin' fights with thunderstorms and chargin' into
trees
And my nose been broke so often I might lose if I sneeze
And son you say you still wanna be a winner
Now you remind me a lotta 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 to prove by
winnin' some silly fight
Well okay I quit I lose you're the winner
So I stumbled from that barroom not so tall and not so proud
And behind me I still hear the hoots of laughter of the
crowd
But my eyes still see and my nose still works and my
teeth're still in my mouth
And you know I guess that makes me the winner