Dealin’ With Old Nick

Well one hot day I was wanderin’, just wanderin’,

tryin’ to see just what to do.

Guitar on my back and cheap whiskey in my gut,

Lord I just wanna play some soul filled blues.

But everytime I ask, barman just says that same damn thing,

“Get ‘long now Mr. Johnson, ain’t no one here,

ain’t one damn soul what likes your sound.”

Now you know a man gets tired,

‘is soul gets broke, wastin’ his time,

just wastin’ all his time all footin’ around

tryin’ to find a place to play his tunes.

But all this aside, you know I just got one thing,

only that one thing weighin’ on my mind;

Gonna be the only one, only one ‘round

makes a guitar sing worthy of that Delta sound.

And now ya’ll now I been tryin’

frettin’ my fingers all up and down that neck.

two black widows wrappin’ up they prey

Ain’t nothin’ happenin’, can’t get that sound I need.

Reckon I just gotta, reckon I gotta sell my soul,

Sell it right to the hands of that mean bastard Ol’ Nick.

Gonna tell him my price, gotta be the best with a pick.

Oh and I know the story gonna be heard,

gonna be heard far and wide,

‘bout what I got to do

Hell, let ‘em hear, let ‘em talk, ‘cause anything worth doin’

well, it’s worth doin’ through and through.

Tonight I’ll be found walkin’

Walkin’ down to them crossroads in the fadin’ light.

‘Cause you know when that sun goes down

and the stars all shinin’ on them creatures of the night,

Devil starts makin’ deals, makin’ them left and right.

After that price gets paid, and them hands been shaked,

all them folk what shunned me before, they all gonna ask

“Oh my, Mr. Johnson, how’d you get so good?

How’d you get so mean with them six strings?

I’m gonna tell ‘em face to face, tell ‘em eye to eye

“Devil made an offer, waved my soul goodbye.”

Oh and I know they gonna ask me,

Know they gonna ask me time and time again,

“Was it worth it Mr. Johnson, what you had to lose?”

And I’m gonna laugh and howl, look ‘em in the eye and smile

“Course it was, I’m the King of the Delta Blues.”