along about eighteen twenty five i left tennessee very much alive i never would have forded the arkansas mud if i hadn t been a riding on the tennessee stud i had a little trouble with my sweetheart s pa and one of her brothers was a bad outlaw i sent her a letter by my uncle fudd then i rode away on the tennessee stud the tennessee stud was long and lean mean the color of the sun and his eyes were green he had the nerve and he had the blood and there never was a horse like the tennessee stud we drifted on down into no man s land we crossed the river called the rio grande i raced my horse with a 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 well i got just as lonesome as a man can be dreaming of my girl in tennessee the tennessee stud s green eyes turned blue cause he was a dreaming of his sweetheart too we loped right back across arkansas i whupped her brother and i whupped her pa when i found that girl with the golden hair and she was a riding on the tennessee mare the tennessee stud was long stirrup to stirrup and side by side we crossed the mountains and the valleys wide we came to big muddy then forded the flood on the tennessee mare and the tennessee stud 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 the tennessee stud was long 