The Tennessee Kid

On Mardi Gras day, the Tennessee kid Awoke in a puddle of his own worst fears Haunted by the ghost of vague remembrance No corporeal beast he could name So the kid invoked Lucifer himself With oaths most grievously discourteous And charged him submit forthwith to atone At the crossroads celebrated in song, come on Up jumped the devil in the middle of the thoroughfare “Who dares to utter my most secret name?," he roared The kid yielded not so much as an inch to uncertainty Steadfast he rejoined the enemy in kind Old [?], Satan, Mephistopheles, Beelzebub By any other name, you ain’t nothin’ like a rose Then he girded his loins for the ensuing onslaught But the devil only shrugged And the kid shuddered when he hissed "Hey hey hey hey Hey hey hey hey Hey hey hey hey The balance comes due someday" "Wait just one goddamn minute!" cried the kid from the Cumberland "You never mentioned nothin’ about no kind of note" Just said, "Sign here! It’s just a soul, you’ll never miss it" I ain’t set foot in a church since I was just a little old thang Reckoned I was headed straight to hell by the highway No matter how long and how hard that I prayed So I might as well just learn how to make this guitar talk Somebody said old Bob Johnson came down this way And the devil say "Hey hey hey hey Hey hey hey hey Hey hey hey hey The balance comes due someday" And the monster raised himself up to the fullness of his stature Black wings eclipsing a sanguine Mississippi moon Behold behemoth the trampler of infidels He who sweeps away nations with a flick of his tail Theopolis, Agrrippa, Faustus, Paganini Lurid and long is the tale of my prey Question not the ironclad bond of my surety Set down here in blood in your very own hand And the Tennessee kid cast an eye On the list where his mark was indeed clearly inscribed And he fell to his knees, but it was too late to pray And with his very last breath he did say "Hey hey hey hey Hey hey hey hey Hey hey hey hey The balance comes due someday"