Jimmy Driftwood - Tennessee Stud

Along about eighteen and twenty-five

I left Tennessee very much alive

I never woulda 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

The Tennessee stud was long and lean

The colour of the sun and his eyes were green

He had the nerve and he had the blood

And there never was a horse like the Tennessee stud

One day I was a-ridin' through a beautiful land

When I ran smack into an Indian band

They jumped their nags with a whoop and a yell

And away we went like a bat outta hell

I circled their camp for a time or two

To show 'em what a Tennessee horse can do

Them Redskin boys couldn't get my blood

'Cause I was a-ridin' on the Tennessee stud

The Tennessee stud was long and lean

The colour of the sun and his eyes were green

He had the nerve and he had the blood

And there never was a horse like the Tennessee stud

We drifted on down into no man's land

We crossed the river called the Rio Grande

I raced my horse with a Spaniard 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

The Tennessee stud was long and lean

The colour of the sun and his eyes were green

He had the nerve and he had the blood

And there never was a horse like the Tennessee stud

Well I got 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 dreamin' of his sweetheart too

We loped right on across Arkansas

I whupped her brother and whupped her Pa

I found that girl with the golden hair

And she was a-ridin' on a Tennessee mare

The Tennessee stud was long and lean

The colour of the sun and his eyes were green

He had the nerve and he had the blood

And there never was a horse like the Tennessee stud

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

A pretty little baby on the cabin floor

A little horse colt playin' round the door

I love the girl with the golden hair

And the Tennessee stud loves the Tennessee mare

The Tennessee stud was long and lean

The colour of the sun and his eyes were green

He had the nerve and he had the blood

And there never was a horse like the Tennessee stud

• Artist:Jimmy Driftwood