| D | G | |
| I don't look the way the average cowboy singer looks |
| I'll admit I've taken things that I never should'a took |
| A | |
| You can | read a different story in a lot of different books |
| G | |
| But e | ven then you won't really know |
| A | D | |
| How it | was a long time ag | o |
| VERSE TWO: |
| Women have been my trouble since I found out they weren't men |
| In spite of that I stopped and took a wife now and then |
| They built their fences high, but they couldn't hold me in |
| I was born with a fire down below |
| And I learned to fly a long time ago |
| VERSE THREE: |
| Don't ask me about the years I spent out in the rain |
| About the ones I spent in love or the ones I spent insane |
| Don't ask me who I gave my seat to on that plane |
| I think you already know |
| I told you that a long time ago |
| VERSE FOUR: |
| KEY CHANGE TO 'E' |
| E | |
| Me and ol' Willie, Lordy, we've been sold and bought |
| A | |
| I | guess y'all heard about some kind of system that we fought |
| B | |
| We | ain't the only outlaws, just the only ones they caught |
| A | |
| They | tried to run us off but Willie's slow |
| E | |
| I quit runnin' a long time |
| ago |