“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
There never was a horse like Tennessee stud”

---

(This week’s theme, Zodiac Animals, refers to the animals in the Chinese zodiac: Rat/Ox/Tiger/Rabbit/Dragon/Snake/Horse/Sheep/Monkey/ Rooster/Dog/Pig .)

Written by Jimmie Driftwood, “Tennessee Stud” was released by Driftwood in 1959. That same year Eddy Arnold also released a version of the song, and Arnold’s version was nominated for a Grammy award in both the folk music and country music categories. Other artists who have recorded “Tennessee Stud” include Johnny Cash, Chet Atkins, Doc Watson, Hank Williams Jr., Jerry Reed, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Jimmie Driftwood (1907-1998), whose real name was James Corbitt Morris, was an American folk music songwriter and musician who wrote more than 6000 songs. His best known are “The Battle of New Orleans” and “Tennessee Stud” which tells the story of a man traveling by horseback through Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and Mexico in 1825.

Along back about eighteen and twenty five

I left Tennessee very much alive

I never would’ve made it through the Arkansas mud

If I hadn’t been riding on the Tennessee stud

Had some trouble with my sweetheart’s Pa

One of her brothers was a bad outlaw

I wrote a letter to my uncle Spud

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

There never was a horse like Tennessee stud

One day I was riding in a beautiful land

And I ran smack into an Indian band

They jumped their nags with a hoop and a yell

And away we went like a bat out of well…

 

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

Across the river called the Rio Grande

Raced my horse with the Spaniard bold

‘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 rode away on the Tennessee stud

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

There was never a horse like the Tennessee stud

Well I got as lonesome as a man can be

A’dreaming of my girl in Tennessee

The Tennessee stud’s green eyes turned turned blue

Cause he was a’dreaming of a sweetheart, too

We loped right on across Arkansas

I whupped her brother and I whupped her Pa

I found that girl with the golden hair

She was a’riding on a Tennessee mare

Stirrup to stirrup and side by side

We crossed the valleys and the mountains wide

We came to Big Muddy and we forded the flood

On the Tennessee mare and the Tennessee stud

 

Pretty little baby on the cabin floor

Little horse colt playing round the door

I love the girl with the golden hair

And the Tennessee stud loves the Tennessee mare

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

There was never a horse like the Tennessee stud

(Songwriter: Jimmy Driftwood)

---

Thanks to A Unique Title For Me for hosting this challenge again this week. It’s so much fun!