Along about eighteen twenty-five I left Tennessee very much alive I never would have got through the Arkansas mud If I hadn't been a-ridin' on the Tennessee Stud I had some trouble with my sweetheart's pa And one of her brothers was a bad outlaw I sent her a letter by my Uncle Bud 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 We drifted on down into no man's land We crossed that river called the Rio Grande I raced my horse with the Spaniard's foal 'Til I got me a skin full of silver and gold Me and a gambler, we couldn't agree We got in a fight over Tennessee We jerked our guns, and he fell with a thud And I got away on the Tennessee Stud I got just as lonesome as a man can be Dreamin' of my girl in Tennessee The Tennessee Stud's green eyes turned blue 'Cause he was a-dreamin' of a sweetheart, too We loped right back across Arkansas I whupped her brother and I whupped her pa I found that girl with the golden hair And she was a-riding on the Tennessee Mare Stirrup to stirrup and side by side We crossed the mountains and the valleys wide We came to Big Muddy, then we forded the flood On the Tennessee Mare and the Tennessee Stud A pretty little baby on the cabin floor A little horse colt playing 'round the door I love that girl with the golden hair And the Tennessee Stud loves the Tennessee Mare