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Up Jumped the Devil 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 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
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 wares
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's 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
...
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
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
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
Nailing my face to the hitching fence
Who's that milling 'round the courthouse steps?
Up jumped the Devil and off we crept
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
Like I was the brunt of some hilarity
Who's that yonder laughing at me?
Well up jumped the Devil, 1, 2, 3
We hit the cat houses and we sampled their wares
We got as drunk as a couple of Czars
That night I swallowed my lucky stars
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's your man, I got proof"
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
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
...
Song Info
Submitted by
dressed2depress On Jun 26, 2006
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So at first I thought this song was mad goofy... the whole "devil" kinda theme seemed really hokey. But it grows on you. Sure, it's over-stylized and overdramatic, but it's pretty catchy and sort of an interesting story. Plus there's just something so magnetic about the whole dark tone of it... like reading a good scary book or watching a horror movie. Can't help but enjoy it. =)
this song is so damn good, sinister like
That's the beauty of this song. It starts almost cartoonish with the whole "I was born on the day That my poor mother died I was cut from her belly With a stanley knife My daddy did a jig With the drunk midwife" and the devil bit but then at the end it's really quite chilling: "Up jumped the Devil and he took my soul from me" and "Down we go For Eternity"
This song is hilariously dark. I love the exaggerated metaphors.
I'm pretty sure it should be: "My blood was blacker Than the chambers of a dead nun's heart"
"Up jumped the Devil and off we crept"
and "That night I swallowed my lucky star."
the "swallowed my lucky star" line has always struck me as odd... is this based on some british or aussie figure of speech ?
a look at the life of someone the calvanists would surely call "reprobate"
"younder" should be "yonder" "villains" = "villain's" "Than the of a dead nun's heart" = "Than the chambers of a dead nun's heart" (missed word) "cathouse" should be plural: "cathouses" "And sampled their whares" = "And we sampled their wares" (missed word, and "wares") "One night I spat out / My lucky stars" = "That night I swallowed / My lucky star" (One=That, spat out=swallowed, stars=star) "got a proof" = "got proof" "I straight" = "Is straight" "eyes are hollow" = "eyes are puffed"? (Puffed or popped, but definitely not "hollow")
Actually one of my favorite bits in this song is the word "whares".
Actually one of my favorite bits in this song is the word "whares".
It's seem to me to be a deliberate portmanteau of the words "whores" and "wares", I suppose because the "wares" of a cathouse would be whores. All this just to rhyme it up with Czar :P
It's seem to me to be a deliberate portmanteau of the words "whores" and "wares", I suppose because the "wares" of a cathouse would be whores. All this just to rhyme it up with Czar :P