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.