Tennessee Stud - Ramblin' Jack Elliot

Along about eighteen and twenty-five 
I left Tennessee very much alive 
I never would have made it through the Arkansas mud 
If I hadn't been a-riding on the Tennessee Stud 


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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 horse like 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 Thud 
And I rode away on the Tennessee Stud 

One day I was riding in a beautiful land 
I run smack into an Indian band 
They jumped their nags with a whoop and a yell 
And away we rode like a bat out of Hell 

I circled their camp for a time or two 
Just to show what a Tennessee horse can do 
The redskin boys couldn't get my blood 
'Cause I was a-riding on the Tennessee Stud 

I drifted on down into no man's land 
I crossed the river called the Rio Grande 
I raced my horse with the Spaniards bold 
'Til I got me a skinful 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 

Well I got as lonesome as a man can be 
A-dreaming of my girl in Tennessee 
And the Tennessee Stud's green eyes turned blue 
'Cause he was a-dreaming of a sweetheart too 

I loped on back across Arkansas 
And I whupped her brother and I whupped her pa 
I found that girl with the golden hair 
And she was a-riding on a Tennessee Mare 

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 
And a little horse colt playing 'round the door 
I love the girl with the golden hair 
And the Tennessee Stud loves the Tennessee Mare.