I was hangin' round Nashville writin' songs and playin' them for all of the stars

Watchin' them laugh and hand 'em back livin' on hope and Hershey bars

So I pawned my guitar and bought a ticket home

And I's a headin' for the trailway bus

When I seen an old fountain pen layin' 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 movin' 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 flyin' off the ground cause I knew I found me a sure hit songrwiter pen

So the songs they just kept a pourin' out and the money kept pourin' 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

Makin' big dough workin' rodeos and TV shows me and my sure hit songwriter pen

But then one night in Wichita I was just comin' off of the stage

Folks all lined up screamin' for my autograph and Lord I was a nation rage

One little freckle faced girl was there she said I got no pencil sir

So I signed it with my songwriter 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 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 pen

So I rolled like a stone down old Skid Row where I feed 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 pen

Somewhere in Wichita some little girl who's a freckle faced and nine or ten

Is doin' 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 pen there

Write a song for me baby you got a sure hit songwriter pen

Send me some money you got a sure hit songwriter pen