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"