The Tennessee Kid - Steve Earle & The Dukes, The Dukes, Steve Earle

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

But the kid yielded not so much as an inch

To uncertainty

Steadfast he rejoined the enemy in kind

«old patch then, 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 he said

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 mention nothin'

‘bout no kinda 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 ol' 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 learn how to make

This guitar talk

Somebody said ol' Bob Johnson

Came down this way

Devil say

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