Song Lyrics

O my o my, what a wretched life
I was born on the day that my poor mama died
I was cut from her belly with a Stanley knife
My daddy did a jig with the drunk midwife

Who's that yonder all in flames?
Dragging behind him a sack of chains
Who's that yonder all in flames?
Well up jumped the Devil and he staked his claim on me

O poor heart, I was doomed from the start
Doomed to play the villains part
I was the baddest Johnny in the apple cart
My blood was blacker than the chambers of a dead nun's heart

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

O no o no, where could I go?
With my hump of trouble and my sack of woe
To the digs and the deserts of Mexico
Where my neck was safer from the lynching rope

Who's that yonder laughing at me?
Like I was the brunt of some hilarity
Who's that yonder laughing at me?
Well up jumped the Devil, 1, 2, 3

H-h-how lucky we were
We hit the cat houses and we sampled their whares
We got as drunk as a couple of Czars
That night I swallowed my lucky stars

Who's that dancing on the jail house roof?
Stamping on the ramping with a cloven hoof
Who's that dancing on the jail house roof?
Well up jumped the Devil and said, "Here is your man, I got proof"

O no, o no don't go, o slow down Joe
The righteous path is straight as an arrow
Take a walk and you'll find it's too narrow
Too narrow for the likes of me

And who's that hanging from the gallow tree?
His eyes are blocked but he looks like me
Now who's that swinging from the gallow tree?
Well up jumped the Devil and took my soul from me

Down we go
Down we go
Down we go
...

Blixa Bargeld, Kid Powers, Michael Harvey, Nicholas Cave, Roland Wolf, Thomas Wydler, Michael Joh Harvey, Nicholas Ed Cave, Tristan Brian