Lyrics:

Well, that label man said, 'Son, now can you sing a little bit more clear
Your voice might be too genuine and your song's a little too sincere
Can you sing a little more about outlaws and the way things used to be'
He told me, 'You just worry about writing them songs leaving everything else to me'

Daddy was a Highwayman but he never wrote any old country songs
Papa never stayed out raising hell till the break of dawn
But he raised a proud coal miners daughter and I'm proud to be her son
She told me, 'Boy, I don't care if you hit it big 'cause you're already number one'

That's the way it goes in this day and age
You ain't gotta read between the lines you just gotta turn the page
Well, the most outlaw thing that I've ever done was give a good woman a ring
But that's the way it goes, life ain't fair and the world is mean

Well, I still got the wife and the dog but I swapped my truck out for a van
Gonna hit the road find the end of that long white line in the promise land
Won't hear my song on the radio 'cause that new sounds all the rage
But you can always find me in a smokey bar with bad sound and a dim lit stage

That's the way it goes in this day and age
You ain't gotta read between the lines you just gotta turn the page
Well, the most outlaw thing that I've ever done was give a good woman a ring
But that's the way it goes, life ain't fair and the world is mean
That's the way it goes, life ain't fair and the world is mean