The WINNER (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 that if I hit him right, I could knock him off that stool.
                                                                                F
But everybody said, "Watch out -- that's Tiger Man McCool.
                          G                                                                                       C
He's had a whole lot of fights, and he always come out the winner.
    G                      C
Yeah, he's a winner."

                                                                                          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'd never stooped or bowed.
                                                                                      F
I said, "Tiger Man, you're a pussycat," and a hush fell on the crowd,
                         G                                                                              C
I said, "Let's you and me go outside and see who's the winner"

                                                                                                               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.
                                                                              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 what it means to be a winner."

                                                                                                          G
He said, "You see these bright white smilin' teeth, you know they ain't my own.
                                                                             C
Mine rolled away like Chiclets down a street in San Antone.
                                                                         F
But I left that person cursin', nursin' seven broken bones.
                           G                                                                            C
And he only broke three of mine, and that make me a winner."

                                                                                          G
He said, "Behind his grin, I got a steel pin that holds my jaw in place.
                                                                 C
A trophy of my most successful motorcycle race.
                                                                                             F
And every mornin' when I wake and touch this scar across my face,
                      G                                               C
It reminds me of all I got by bein' a winner.

                                                                                      G
Now my broken back was the dyin' act of handsome Harry Clay
                                                              C
That sticky Cincinnatti night I stole his wife away.
                                                                          F
But that woman, she gets uglier and meaner every day.
                           G                                                               C
But I got her, boy, and that's what makes me a winner.

Change key to D

D                                                                                                  A
You gotta speak loud when you challenge me, son, 'cause it's hard for me to hear
                                                                                                             D
With this twisted neck and these migraine pains and this big old cauliflower ear.
                                                                                       G
'N' if it weren't for this glass eye of mine, I'd shed a happy tear
       A                                                         D
To think of all you'll get by bein' a winner.

D                                                                     A
I got ar-th-ur-tic elbows, boy, I got dislocated knees,
                                                                                          D
From pickin' fights with thunderstorms and chargin' into trees.
                                                                                 G
And my nose been broke so often I might lose it if I sneeze.
           A                                                                D
And, son, you say you still wanna be a winner?

Now you remind me alot of my younger days with your knuckles a-clenchin'white
But boy, I'm gonna sit right here and sip this beer all night
And if there's somthin' that you gotta gain or prove by winnin' some silly fight
Well, OK, I quit, I lose you're the winner.

Oh, I stumbled fromthat bar room not so tall and so proud
And behind me I still hear the hoots and laughter of the crowd
But my eyes still see and my nose still works & my teeth are still in my mouth
and you know, I guess that makes me a winner.