It started with a dumb mistake
Didn't mean to hurt no one
When he robbed a liquor store
And that clerk pulled out a gun
He shot him without thinkin'
The gun smoked in his hand
Opened up the register
Took the money and he ran

He drove on through the night
Trying not to be seen
With eighty-seven dollars and a bottle of Jim Beam
He didn't know it then
But it was much too late
For the things he'd set in motion
Had already sealed his fate

He was a man, he was a villain

From Reno to El Paso, now he was a wanted man
Occupation of armed robbery
He had dealt his own hand
But of killin' and stealin'
It was nothing to be proud
And scraping by on loose change
Under a darkness covered shroud

He was a man, he was a villain

Then, flashing lights around him
And sirens they did wail
A road block up ahead
And three troopers on his tail

He tried to think clearly now
This was the final test
When he stepped outside the car
They put twelve bullets in his chest

He was a man, he was a villain