Lyric discussion by jadius 

Cover art for To Beat The Devil lyrics by Kris Kristofferson

This part of the lyrics are wrong:

"My thirsty wanted whiskey My hungry needed beans, But it’d been a month of paydays Since I’d earned the equal scene"

It should read:

"My thirsty wanted whiskey My hungry needed beans, But it’d been a month of paydays Since I’d heard that eagle scream"

The screaming eagle is a poetic reference to the eagle on the back of a dollar bill, so it's a fancy way of saying that he's too poor to buy either. "Since I'd earned the equal scene" means absolutely nothing at all.