The Winner

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.