Betty drove the semi, she pulled up to the pump
I thought I wanted a Coca-Cola and I started out on a jump
She said, "Hold it Dave, come quick, there's something you got to see
That man has got a dancing bear tied up to that old tree"

I said, "Dance, dance, Dakota dance all around the country store"
Me and sweet Betty ain't never seen
A bear that could dance before
Well, it's one step, two steps, three steps four
A bottle of soda and he'll dance some more
Dance, dance Dakota dance all around the country store

Well, these hippies walked up to the cage
Givin' pills to that ole bear
I don't know what it was they was giving to him
It had him pulling out his hair
I tried to keep time with the music,
Lord with the beat on my tambourine
Gave him some wine from a mason jar and we all began to sing

We said, "Dance, dance, Dakota dance all around the country store"
Me and sweet Betty ain't never seen
A bear that could dance before
Well, it's one step, two steps, three steps four
A bottle of soda and he'll dance some more
Dance, dance Dakota dance all around the country store

Well, I went out to Los Angeles, California and I saw a semi truck along the side of the road. it said 'D - kota The Dancing Bear' on the side of it.
Now they charged you 50 cents to watch this bear dance around a truck.
So I turned to Arlo and I said "Arlo, we ought to get down off these motorcycles and walk over there and see if that's the same bear that Betty told us about
When she was driving the semi truck for us back in Nashville, Tennessee."
So we got down off our motorcycles and we walked over there eatin' our pickles.
Now there was four or five hundred thousand of these hippies freaks standin' around waitin' on a rock festival.
It did appear that David Allan Coe, Kris Kristofferson and the Grand Funk Railroad was playin' in town that day
And their airplane had got hijacked somewhere over Chicago, Illinois.
So it turned out that the people with short hair started throwin' rocks at the people that had long hair.
And the people with long hair started throwing the rocks back.
We come to find out in California when they had a rock festival you're supposed to carry your own rocks.
Well I walked out to bear's cage, the bear looked at me and said:
"I know you, you're David Allan Coe that's Arlo Gufrey who sings Country & Western music on jukebox, radio, and television.
And y'all gave me some acid when I was in Nashwille and started dancing around this truck.
And I said that's right son, that's why I am here because you signed a contract with me, and you owe me 20 percent of all the money you've been making since you've been out here on the road.
He said "Man, I ain't got no money". I said "What did you do with it?" he pointed to the next cage and there was a female bear over there shooting up heroin.
And before I could say a thing, I turned around I saw a greyhound bus painted black and white,
And it said the David Allan Coe show, the mysterious rhinestone cowboy and the Tennessee Hat Band on the side of it.
And there was a woman driving the bus, and sure enough it was ol' Pusher Betty
And she didn't have no bra on, and she said to me, she said
"Hey Dave, come here quick, there's something you gotta see, that man has got a dancing bear, tied up to that old tree"

She said, "Dance, dance, Dakota dance all around the country store"
Me and sweet Betty ain't never seen
A bear that could dance before
Well, it's one step, two steps, three steps four
A bottle of soda and he'll dance some more
Dance, dance Dakota dance all around the country store