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