[Verse 1]
Well that label man said son
Now can you sing a little bit more clear
Your voice might be too genuine
And your song's a little too sincere
Can you sing a little more about outlaws
And the way things used to be?
He told me you just worry about writing them songs
Leave everything else to me

[Verse 2]
Daddy was a Highwayman
But he never wrote any old country songs
Papaw never stayed out
Raising hell til the break of dawn
But he raised a proud coal miners daughter
And I'm proud to be her son
She told me boy I don't care if you hit it big
'Cause you’re already #1

[Chorus]
That's the way it goes
In this day and age
You ain't gotta read between the lines
You just gotta turn the page
Well the most outlaw thing that I've ever done
Was give a good woman a ring
But that's the way it goes
Life ain't fair and the world is mean
[Bridge]
Well I still got the wife and the dog
But I swapped the truck out for a van
Gonna hit the road find the end of that
Long white line in The Promised Land
Won’t hear my song on the radio
'Cause that new sounds all the rage
But you can always find me in a smokey bar
With bad sound and a dim lit stage

[Chorus]
That's the way it goes
In this day and age
You ain't gotta read between the lines
You just gotta turn the page
Well the most outlaw thing that I've ever done
Was give a good woman a ring
But that's the way it goes
Life ain't fair and the world is mean

[Outro]
That's the way it goes
Life ain't fair and the world is mean