If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough
When you get knocked down, you gotta get back up
I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer but I know enough to know
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

I lit my brain with rotgut whiskey
'Til my pain was chicken fried
And I had dudes with badges kiss me
Teach me how to swallow pride

I took advice no fool would take
I got some habits I can't shake
I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer but I know enough to know
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough
When you get knocked down, you gotta get back up
That's the way it is in life and love
So if you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

I've been up and down and down and out
I've been left and right and wrong
They'll walk the walk and I'll run my mouth
We've been the short end for too long

But if they gave medals for honky-tonk wars (honky-tonk wars)
I'd spend mine on booze and whores
With my IRS bills and all that stuff
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough
When you get knocked down, you gotta get back up
I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer but I know enough to know
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough
(If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough)
When you get knocked down, you gotta get back up
(Up, up, up, up, up, up, up)
I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer but I know enough to know that
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough
(If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough)
When you get knocked down, you gotta get back up
(Up, up, up, up, up, up, up)
I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer but I know enough to know that
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough