Seven years of hard luck comin' down on me
from a motor boat, yes, up in Nashville, Tennessee.
I worked in every joint you can name, yes, every honky tonk.
They all come to see yankee slicker saying, baby, you're what I want.

Want you to sign the contract,
want you to sign the date.
Gonna give you lots of money
workin' for MCA.

Oh, nine thousand dollars just to sow to the wind.
Come to smile at the yankee slicker with a big old southern grin.
They're gonna take me out to California, gonna make me a super star.
Just pay me all my money, mister, maybe you won't get a star.

Want you to sign the contract,
want you to sign the date.
Gonna give you lots of money
workin' for MCA.

Slickers steal my money since I was seventeen,
if it ain't no pencil pusher then it got to be a honky tonk queen.
But I signed my contract, baby, and I want you people to know
that every penny I make, I gotta see where my money goes.

Want you to sign the contract,
want you to sign the date.
Gonna give you lots of money
workin' for MCA.