Dealing with the Devil

Here is a song I have been keeping back for a long while. It is purely an album track, if it makes it onto the album. Maybe better as a B-side?

It is one of those songs bands play to show their roots and to appease their hardcore fans.

It harks back to a time when I thought if I wrote for a band it wouldn’t be about vampires with kink-unicorn tendencies but would be basically a Robert Johnson, country/bluegrass outfit.They all have one song about the Dealing with the Devil, don’t they?

Course they do!

So, for the hardcore fans of the band here is a treat:

Dealing with the Devil

 

I walked out with nothing but my dog from the life I once had led

Through the fields, past the farm trucks, over hills from the old homestead

I never looked back, and neither did my faithful hound

We headed with the sun toward the red rust track, that familiar railroad sound

 

I had nothing anymore,

But I had nothing really before

So I figure I was evens on the deal

 

So there I was waiting at the station made of real dry wood,

My dog hollered by the signal post when the Devil before us both stood,

The devil made an offer on my soul for a little fortune in return:

Life would be better, riches brighter, but on a promise, my soul would surely burn

 

I was not my own anymore,

But I was no one’s really before

So I figure I was evens on the deal

 

Well the Devil, my dog and me got on the locomotive, southern bound

To pass the time the Devil cut cards and we played for the bent metal I found

The Devil, well, he kept winnin’ but I was sure he was cheatin’

Because if my luck was improved then by my countin’ it seemed at best fleetin’

 

I was not in the North anymore

But I was never really there before

So I figure I was evens on the deal

 

When the train made its destination, the Devil left me in old Mexico town

He said, “Now boy, look after yourself, be mindful whose loaded dice you throw down”

He turned into a snake and I lost sight of it some ten feet away

When by me a Mexican girl with curled hair gave a walk making her hips sway

 

I may never see a girl like that anymore

But I’d never seen a girl like that before

So I figure I was evens on the deal

 

[Guitar solo]

 

I’m lying at the stoggie end of my death bed, by me is my ever darling wife,

Saying: “I don’t want you to go, though we’ll meet up in Heaven where we’ll share eternal life”

But I see the Devil leaning on a cane with a glint in the corner of the room:

He says of my departing life: “You’ve had your fun, and I’ll have my share soon”

 

I had no way out from fate anymore,

But I had planned no escape before

So I figure I was evens on the deal

 

I played Jack betting with my soul and now the Devil has it won,

I think back through my time: girls, glory and wine, was it worth what I’d done?

The Devil spoke: “See, old man, it’s about time we were going, the train’s at the station”

I feel pale breath, the Devil’s cold glee, “Now for the never-ending damnation”

 

I had no path to Heaven anymore,

But I’d not asked for directions before

So I figure I was evens on the deal

 

Oh-oh-oh! With the Devil’s dice, it don’t matter what you roll

Sevens or snake-eyes, they numbers always come up for losing your soul

Oh-oh! With the Devil’s cards, it don’t matter how many of the aces are in your hand

Hearts, Clubs, Spades, Diamonds: all burn the same wherever they land.

 

Oh-oh-oh! The Devil will tempt away your life’s opportunity

With sins of lust and greed on a spin “it’s a man’s dream” the devil will say

Oh-oh! But it’s a conjuring trick in plain sight, no sleeves, for your soul he to steal

To make you figure you are evens on his deal. Evens on his Deal!