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

The Tennessee Stud was long and lean
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
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