Bobby Bare - The Winner Lyrics
The WinnerThe hulk of a man with a beer in his hand looked like a drunk old foolAnd I knew if I hit him right, why I could knock him off a that stoolBut everybody they said, “Watch out, hey that’s Tiger Man McCoolHe’s had a whole lot of fights, and he’s always come out a winner.â€Yeah, he’s a winnerBut I’d had myself about five too many and I walked up tall and proudI faced his back and I faced the fact that he had never stooped or bowedI said, “Tiger Man, you’re a *****catâ€, and a hush fell on the crowdI said let’s you and me go outside and see who’s a winnerWell he gripped the bar with one big hairy hand and he braced against the wallHe slowly looked up from his beer, my God that man was tallHe said, “Boy, I see you’re a scrapper, so just before you fallI’m gonna tell you just a little, ‘bout what it means to be a winner.â€He said, “Now you see these bright white smiling teeth, you know they ain’t my ownMine rolled away like Chiclets down the street in San AntoneBut I left that person, cursin’, nursin’ seven broken bonesAnd he, uh, only broke, uh, three of mineThat makes me the winnerHe said, “Now behind this grin I got steel pins, that holds my jaw in placeA trophy of my most successful motorcycle raceAnd each morning when I wake and touch this scar across my faceIt reminds me of all I got by being a winnerNow this broken back was a dyin’ act of a handsome Harry ClayThat sticky Cincinnati night I stole his wife awayBut that woman she gets uglier, and she gets meaner every dayBut I got her, boy, and that make me a winnerHe said, “You gotta speak loud when you challenge me, son“Cause it’s hard for me to hearWith this twisted neck and these migraine painsAnd this big old cauliflower earAnd if it wasn’t for this glass eye of mine, why I’d shed a happy tearTo think of all your gonna get by being a winnerI got ar-th-rit-ic elbows, son I got dislocated kneesFrom picking fights with thunderstorms and chargin’ into treesAnd my nose’s been broken so often, I might lose it if I sneezeAnd son, you say you still wanna be a winner?Now you remind me of my younger days with your knuckles a-clenchin’ whiteBut boy, I’m gonna sit right here and sip this beer all nightAnd if there’s somethin’ that you gotta gain or proveBy winning some silly fightWell, OK, I quit, I lose, you’re the winnerOh, I stumbled from that barroom, not so tall and not so proudAnd behind me I still hear the hoots and laughter of the crowdBut my eyes still see and my nose still worksAnd my teeth are still in my mouthAnd you know, I guess that makes me the winner
