Up Jumped The Devil

(album: Tender Prey - 1988)

O My O My
What a wretched life
I was born on the day
That my poor mother died
I was cut from her belly
With a stanley knife
My daddy did a jig
With the drunk midwife

Who's that younder all in flames
Dragging behind him a sack of chains
Who's that younder all in flames
Up jumped the Devil and he staked his claim

O poor heart
I was doomed from the start
Doomed to play
The villians part
I was the baddest Johnny
In the apple cart
My blood was blacker
Than the of a dead nun's heart

Who's that milling on the courthouse steps
Nailing my face to the hitching fence
Who's that milling on the courthouse steps
Up jumped the Devil and off he crept

O no O no
Where could I go
With my hump of trouble
And my sack of woe
To the digs and deserts of Mexico
Where my neck was safe from the lynching rope

Who's that younder laughing at me
Like I was the brunt of some hilarity
Who's that younder laughing at me
Up jumped the Devil 1, 2, 3

Ha-Ha Ha Ha
How lucky we were
We hit the cathouse
And sampled their whares
We got as drunk
As a couple of Czars
One night I spat out
My lucky stars

Who's that dancing on the jailhouse roof
Stamping on the ramping with a cloven hoof
Who's that dancing on the jailhouse roof
Up jumped the Devil and said "Here is your man and I got a proof"

O no don't go O no
O slow down Joe
The righteous part
I straight as an arrow
Take a walk
And you'll find it too narrow
Too narrow for the likes of me

Who's that hanging from the gallow tree
His eyes are hollow but he looks like me
Who's that swinging from the gallow tree
Up jumped the Devil and took my soul from me

Down we go Down we go Down we go
The Devil and me Down we go down down down
Hell fire and flames Down we go Down we go
To Eternity Down we go We go down down down
Down we go we go down down down
Down we go the Devil and me to Eternity
We go down down down down down ad inferno