T may be for Texas
or T for Tennessee
but there is no state I can find
that's home for Richard Lee

I first saw him standing in front of Lyons' bar
shouting out Corinne Corinna
and playing on a steel guitar
A crowd had gathered 'round him
and they hung on every word
They knew he was a stranger
no voice so sweet they'd heard

T may be for Texas
or T for Tennessee
but there is no state I can find
that's home for Richard Lee

Then the bar man came out running
saying "What's this fuss about?
You're breaking up my business
you better pack up and get out
If you've a mind for settling here
you better get it out of your head"
Then the bar man took his blackjack
and he left him there for dead

The policemen they found him
so hurt he couldn't see
so they picked him up and they hauled him off
on the charge of vagrancy

The judge he found him guilty
the sentence thirty days
When asked to state his own defence
He said "I'll turn the other way"

T may be for Texas
or T for Tennessee
but there is no state I can find
that's home for Richard Lee

"and this is not the life I choose
I feel like I've been misused
Sometimes when you learn to gamble
You gotta learn to lose"

The last time that I saw him
he was in a losing game
playing cards with Billy Lyons
many killings to his name
He said "I could have been your savior
so what do you think about that?
Now I'm going to take your life, Billy,
because you won my Stetson hat"

T may be for Texas
or T for Tennessee
but there is no state I can find
that's home for Richard Lee