From a town in Louisiana on the wrong side of the tracks
Came a rowdy ragin' Cajun by the name of Rupernac
He was harder than a hickory long and thinner than a rail
He was faster than a Copperhead and he weren't afraid of hell
He turned eighteen in the Parish courthouse facin' ten to life
About some altercation in a beer, joint with a knife
He said, "Judge, I mean your honor, I hope you'll understand
But if it happened here today, I think I'd do it all again
'Cause you don't get up in my face, you don't call my mama names
You don't whistle in my kitchen, you don't pull my big dog's chain
I don't mean no disrespect, but I been stubborn, all my life"
He'd been two years in prison when his cousin Jay came down
Said his sister was in trouble in some far off Northern town
He broke out of jail that night and left a note behind
I'll see ya'll in a week or so, till then I'm hard to find
He found her in a tavern up in west side Buffalo
Gave her a one way ticket home and pushed her out the door
Said, "I'm lookin' for the man who done my little sister harm
He's a soul destroying punk that stuck a needle in her arm"
And some pimp back in the corner, started makin' himself small
But he grabbed him by the collar and he pushed him to the wall
He said you try to run away, you gone regret it, all your life
The Cajun started laughin' when the pimp pulled out a knife
He said I oughta k** ya, but I'm gonna spare your life
With one sledgehammer fist he knocked him sprawlin' on the floor
And then he kicked him in his forked end and he headed for the door
He walked on down the sidewalk and hit the Southern trail
He went back to Louisiana and he walked into the jail
He said, "I had some business up above the bunkie line
But my debts have all been settled and I've come to do my time
And I hope I didn't cause no trouble, I wasn't tryin' to run away
But a feller owed me somethin' and I had to make him pay
Besides I'm kind of proud, I been a coona** all my life"