Album: Hard Time Hungrys/The Winner and Other Losers by Bobby Bare

Written by Shel Silverstein.


    C                                             G
The hulk of a man with a beer in his hand, looked like a drunk old fool
                                           C
And I knew if I hit him right, why I could knock him off-a that stool
                         C7                     F
But ever'body they said "Watch out, Hey, that's tiger Man McCool"
           G                                              C
He's had a whole lot of fights and he's always come out a WINNER

Yea!, he's WINNER.

G run   C                                    G
But I'd had myself about five too many and I walked up tall and proud
                                                  C
I faced his back and I faced the fact that he had never stooped or bowed
                             C7              F  
I said, "Tiger Man, you're a p***ycat" and a hush fell on the crowd
             G                                    C
I said let's you and me go outside and see who's A WINNER.

G run    C                                              G
Well, he gripped the bar with one big hairy hand and he braced against the wall
                                      C
He slowly looked up from his beer, My God, that man was tall
                            C7          F
He said boy, I see you're a scrapper so just before you fall
          G                                                  C 
I'm gonna tell you just a little 'bout what it means to be A WINNER.

G run    C                                                 G
He said "Now you see these bright white smiling teeth, you know they ain't my own
                                        C
Mine rolled away like Chiclets down the street in San Antone
                        C7               F
But I left that person, cursin', nursin' seven broken bones
        G                                                    C
And he, uh, only broke, uh, three of mine, that makes me THE WINNER."

G run    C                                           G
He said "Now behind this grin, I got steel pins that holds my jaw in place
                               C
A trophy of my most successful motorcycle race
                        C7                  F
And each morning when I wake and touch this scar across my face
     G                                C
It reminds me of all I got by being A WINNER."

G run     C                                G
"Now this broken back was a dying act of a handsome Harry Clay
                               C
That sticky Cincinnati night I stole his wife away
                        C7                  F
But that woman she gets uglier and she gets meaner every day
      G                                   C
But I got her, boy that's what makes me A WINNER


Change to ...(D)

A run        D                                                          A
He said "You gotta speak loud when you challenge me son 'cause it's hard for me to hear
                                                        D
With this twisted neck and these migrane pains and this big old cauliflower ear
                          D7                          G
And if it wasn't for this glass eye of mine, why, I'd shed a happy tear
   A                                        D
To think of all you're gonna get by being A WINNER."

A run D                               A
I got ar-th-rit-ic elbows, son, I got dislocated knees
                                           D
From pickin' fights with thunderstorms and chargin' into trees
                            D7             G
And my nose's been broke so often, I might lose it if I sneeze
         A                            D
And son, you say you still wanna be A WINNER."

A run      D                                          A
"Now you remind me a lot of my younger days with your knuckles a-clenchin' white
                                               D
But boy, I'm gonna sit right here and sip this beer all night
                                  D7                     G
And if there's somethin' that you gotta gain or prove by winnin' some silly fight
      A                              D
Well, OK, I quit, I lose, you're THE WINNER."

A run D                                 A
Oh, I stumbled from that barroom not so tall and not so proud
                                         D
And behind me I still hear the hoots and laughter of the crowd
                             D7                      G
But my eyes still see and my nose still works and my teeth are still in my mouth
        A                               G
And you know, I guess that makes me THE WINNER.


G run
e|---------|
B|---------|
G|---------|
D|---------|
A|---0-2-3-|
E|-3-------|

A run
e|---------|
B|---------|
G|---------|
D|-------0-|
A|-0-2-4---|
E|---------|