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"