Little Jesse was a gambler, night and day
He used crooked cards and dice
He was a sinful guy; good-hearted, but he had no soul
His heart was hard and cold like ice

Jesse was a wild, reckless gambler, won a gang of change
Although many a gambler's heart he left in vain
Little Jesse began to spend and lose his money, began to be blue
His heart had even turned to stone

What broke Jesse's heart while he was blue and all alone
Sweet Lorena had packed up and gone

Police walked up and shot my friend Jesse down
Boy, he's gotta to die today
He had a gang of crapshooters and gamblers at his bedside
Here are the words he had to say:

Guess I ought to know how I wanna go
(How you wanna go, man?)

Nine crapshooters to be my pallbearers
Let 'em be veiled down in black
Nine men going to the graveyard, bubba
But eight men comin back
I want a gang of gamblers gathered on my coffin-side
Crooked card printed on my hearse
Don't say the crapshooters'll never grieve over me
My life been a doggone curse

Send poker players to the graveyard
Dig my grave with the ace of spades
Twelve polices in my funeral
With the sheriff playin' blackjack in the parade

I want the judge and soliciter who jailed me 14 times
Put a pair of dice in my shoes
Let a deck of cards be my tombstone
I got the dyin' crapshooter's blues

Sixteen real good crapshooters
Sixteen bootleggers to sing a song
Nine racket men gamblin'
Couple tend bar while i'm rollin' along

He wanted 22 women outta the Hamilton Hotel
26 off-a South Bell
29 women outta North Atlanta
Know that little Jesse didn't pass out so swell

His head was achin', heart was thumpin'
Jesse went to hell bouncin' and jumpin'
Folks, don't be standin' around ole Jesse cryin'
He wants everybody to do the charleston whilst he dyin'
One foot up, a toenail dragging
Threw my buddy Jesse in the hoodoo wagon
Come now, mama, with that can of booze
The dyin crapshooter's leavin' the world
The dyin' crapshooter's goin' down slow
With the dyin' crapshooter's blues