[Verse 1]
Oh my, oh 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

[Chorus 1]
Who's that yonder all in flames
Dragging behind him a sack of chains?
Who's that yonder all in flames?
Up jumped the Devil and he staked his claim on me

[Verse 2]
Oh, poor heart, I was doomed from the start
Doomed to play the villain's part
I was the baddest Johnny in the apple cart
My blood was blacker than the chambers of a dead nun's heart

[Chorus 2]
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

[Verse 3]
Oh no, oh 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 safe from the lynching rope

[Chorus 3]
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, one, two, three

[Verse 4]
Hahahahaha, how lucky we were
We hit the cathouses and sampled their wares
We got as drunk as a couple of czars
That night I swatted my lucky star

[Chorus 4]
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, I got proof"

[Verse 5]
Oh no, oh no, don't go, oh, 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

[Chorus 5]
And who's that hanging from the gallow tree?
His eyes are plucked but he looks like me
Now who's that swinging from the gallow tree?
Up jumped the Devil and took my soul from me

[Outro]
Down, down, down
Down we go, down we go
Down we go, down we go
Down below, down we go
Down we go (Down, down, down)
The Devil and me
Down we go, down we go
Down we go, yeah, the Devil and me (Down we go)
And down we go, and down we go, and down we go
(Down, down, down)
Down we go, down we go (The Devil and me)
Down we go
Yeah, the Devil and me (Down we go)