I was hanging round Nashville writing songs
And playing them for all of the stars
Watching them laugh and hand them back
Living on hope and Hershey bars
So I pawned my guitar and bought a ticket home
And I's a heading for the trailway bus
When I seen an old fountain pen laying in the gutter
So I stopped and picked it up
It was worn out and bent and cast aside
Kinda sorta like myself
So I sat down on the curb and wrote a little song
That told the world how both of us felt
Then I run that song down the Music Row
And before I had time to spit
It's pitched and sold and cut for a record
And moving up the charts and damned it's a hit
So I wrote me another winner
Then I wrote me a smash again
And it's a flying off the ground
Cause I knew I found
Me a sure hit songwriter's pen
So the songs they just kept a pouring out
And the money kept pouring in
Oh, I just couldn't miss
All it took was a twist
Of my sure hit songwriter's pen
Remember when I won the Grammy
Then I won it again and again
Well, none of you knew it was all due
To my sure hit songwriter's pen
I was a darling of all of the ladies
I was a hero among the men
Making big dough, working rodeos and TV shows
Me and my sure hit songwriter's pen
But then one night in Wichita
I was just coming off of the stage
Folks all lined up screaming for my autograph
And Lord, I was a national rage
One little freckle faced girl was there
She said I got no pencil sir
So I signed it with my songwriter's pen
And then handed the pen back to her
Four o'clock that morning I woke up
With the shakes and the bends
With terror in my eyes cause good God, I realized
I'd lost my sure hit songwriter's pen
I offered rewards in papers
And I pleaded on the sympathy line
And a whole lotta folks sent a whole lotta pens
But none of them pens was mine
So my songs got worse and my money ran out
And so did all my good time friends
And there was no doubt I was nothing without
My long lost sure hit songwriter's pen
So I rolled like a stone down old Skid Row
Where I fed my blues on wine
And I rest my chops in a two-bit flop
And I tell my story for a drink or a dime
And I sleep with my shoes underneath my head
Dream about days back then
When I blazed my name across the sky
With my sure hit songwriter's pen
Somewhere in Wichita some little girl
Who's a freckle faced and nine or ten
Is doing her arithmetic homework tonight
With the sure hit songwriter's pen
I'll say God bless you honey
You got yourself a sure hit songwriter's pen there
Write a song for me baby
You got a sure hit songwriter's pen
Send me some money
You got a sure hit songwriter's pen