Bobby Bare – The Winner (Guitar)

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Chords

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.