Me and my buddy got us a wild hair
And figured we wanted to go somewhere
So we loaded up in my ragtop Chevrolet
We had a little bit of money and a whole lot of show
And with Hank Junior blaring on the radio
We got a tank full of gas and we was on our way

We figured we'd go down to New Orleans
We were barrelling' down old 17
When a man with a blinking red light was on our tail
He said, "You were doin' 60 in a 45
But I'm gonna let you go this time
But if I catch you again, I'm gonna slap you in the county jail"

We said, "Thank you sir, you sure been nice
And you ain't gonna have to tell us twice"
And we were Southbound and down with the wind blowing in our faces
We kept on rolling and pretty soon
The radio was cooking out a haggard tune
And we were pulling into Houston and checking out all the places

I was feeling dry and I said, "I think
We ought to stop and get ourselves a drink"
Old Jim said, "Yeah 'cause we got time to kill"
We kept on rolling and I seen this spot
We pulled into the parking lot
Of this place called, 'The Cloud Nine Bar and Grill'

We walked through the door and the place was jammed
The lights were low, they had a punk rock band
And some orange haired feller singing about suicide
I said, "Jim, this ain't our kind of place
He said, "Well, let's just have one round anyway"
So against my better judgment we walked on inside

Went up to the bar and we sat down
This feller walked up and said, "I'll buy this round"
And he sat down on the barstool next to Jim
He looked like a girl but he talked like a guy
He had lipstick on and mascara in his eyes
And everybody in that place looked just about like him

I said, "Jim, this ain't our kind of bar
Let's just go on out and get back in the car
'Cause there's gonna be trouble, ain't no sense in taking a chance"
We was getting up, getting ready to leave
When somebody grabbed old Jim by the sleeve
And this good looking girl, she was asking my buddy to dance

I said, "Jim, don't do it, there's something missing
There's fellers dancing and fellers kissing
There's a feller in high heeled shoes wearing panty hose"
He said, "Partner, I just can't turn this down
You just go over there and have one more round
I'll dance with the lady and we'll get on down the road"

So he walked away and left me alone
But this funny looking feller kept coming on
And he was making me mad with some of the things he said
Then he put his hand on my knee
I said, "If you don't get your paw off me
I'm gonna locate your nose around the other side of your head"

He said, "I love it when you get that fire in your eye
I said, "Well, partner try this on for size"
And I unloaded on him and he went out like a light
Everybody in that place must have been his friend
They all headed for me, I said, "This is the end"
But where I come from, we don't give up without a fight

They were screaming and yelling and scratching and clawing
I was punching and hitting and kicking and pawing
I was holding my own, 'cause I've been in a scrap or two
Old Jim come running up out of the blue
And that gal he was with, come running up too
And proceeded to beat on me with a high heel shoe

I grabbed her by the hair it came off in my hand
And that beautiful girl was just a beautiful man
And old Jim just got sick right there on the floor
He dropped that dude like a shot from a gun
Smeared his lipstick, made his makeup run
And me and old Jim started fighting our way to the door

Man, we lit out of there in that Chevrolet
I put in on the floor and it stayed that way
We was going' down the highway doing about a hundred and ten
We were headed for home and we was getting nearer
Then a red light came on the rear view mirror
And that same blame cop was pulling us over again

Now I'm sitting' here in this county jail
I had to call my Daddy to go our bail
But I learned me a lesson that I never will forget again
I've done give up drinking', I've give up bars
And running around the country in souped up cars
I'm going back where the women are women and the men are men


Lyrics submitted by Rampart

Uneasy Rider '88 Lyrics as written by Charlie Daniels Charles Fred Hayward

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Uneasy Rider song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

2 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment

    This is easily one of the most hilarious songs I've ever heard. Most people think of Charlie Daniels as Country to the core, but he gets his jabs every now and then and this is a classic story of a long-haired liberal guy turning the tables on some Mississippi rednecks using just his wits (and his car, a little bit).

    I don't know how long Charlie worked on the lyrics, but he came up with some really funny phrases. His diatribe about the green-toothed man being a spy is laced with them, and then "havin' 'em all out there steppin' and fetchin' like their heads was on fire and their asses was catchin'," is totally a classic. I play this song so often in my car that I have it memorized and I never fail to end up with a huge smile on my face as I sing/talk along.

    Some of the lyrics are specific to the time the song was written, but even if you don't get all the references it's still funny. I like Charlie's other songs but this one is my favorite.

    law4on November 19, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Agree Law4, this is one of the funniest and most clever stories ever told. It is always a pleasure to hear it and managed to catch him do it live a couple times.

    Always wondered if Charlie meant to mess up the count of rednecks. Originally it was "five big dudes, one old drunk chick and some fella with green teeth" = 7. Then later it's "'Specially when there was three of them and only one of me". It was either an oversight or it sounded better saying 3 instead of 7. Only Charlie probably knows...or not!

    Dizbusterson July 27, 2014   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Album art
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Magical
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.