I Gotta Date With The Devil

**I Gotta Date with the Devil** **[Intro]** *(Slow, lonesome acoustic guitar with a distant harmonica cry. Spoken half-sung over the picking)* Well the moon’s ridin’ high over this one-horse town, And these iron bars are colder than a banker’s heart. I can hear ‘em out there in the yard, hammerin’ away, Buildin’ my last bed ‘neath the gallows tree… Yeah, I reckon my time’s about up. **[Verse 1]** The preacher came callin’ with his Bible and his sigh, Said, “Boy, you best get right ‘fore the sun climbs the sky.” I told him save his breath for them that still got hope, ‘Cause I already sold my soul for a Colt and a rope. Sheriff’s boots are creakin’ just outside my door, Polishing that star like he’s done this before. I can smell the pine they’re cuttin’ for my box, And the devil’s in the corner, checkin’ his watch. **[Pre-Chorus]** I made my bed in the dirt and the dust, Now the hangman’s waitin’ and the debt’s come due. Ain’t no use in prayin’ when the rope is already tied, I walked the outlaw trail… now I’m fixin’ to die. **[Chorus]** I gotta date with the devil when the mornin’ light breaks, When they walk me out and the whole town wakes. I lived by the gun and I’ll swing by the noose, Paid for every sin with this ultimate truth. No more whiskey rivers, no more wild nights on the run, Just a pine box waitin’ when the deal is done. I gotta date with the devil, and the devil don’t wait, He’s been savin’ me a seat at the end of my fate. **[Verse 2]** It was a card game in Red Rock that started the slide, Some drunk called me cheater with a gun at his side. I drew faster than sin, but the story got turned ‘round, They said I murdered him when his iron was still down. I ran for the border with blood on my hands, Left a string of broke hearts from here to the Rio Grande. The posse caught me in a two-bit border town, Now these four walls are the last piece of ground. **[Pre-Chorus]** I see her face in the shadows on the wall, That brown-eyed woman I swore I’d come back for. But the devil was louder than any promise I made, And now I’m payin’ for the choice that I made. **[Chorus]** I gotta date with the devil when the mornin’ light breaks… (Yeah, the devil don’t wait) **[Verse 3]** There’s a locket in my pocket with her picture inside, A faded daguerreotype of the life I denied. She begged me to stay, said the wild would be my end, But I kissed her goodbye and rode off with the wind. Now she’s somewhere prayin’ I find peace in the end, While I’m here countin’ heartbeats till they come for me again. I wonder if she knows I’m standin’ at death’s door, Or if she’s already mournin’ the man I was before. **[Bridge]** Now the sky’s turnin’ gray and I hear the keys jangle, Deputy’s boots echo like a death knell’s clankle. They say, “It’s time, boy,” and I stand up slow, Spurs jinglin’ soft on the cold stone floor. I ain’t askin’ for mercy, I ain’t beggin’ for time, I just hope the Good Lord sees the man, not the crime. I’ll walk that last mile with my head held high, Face the devil head-on when the trap door flies. **[Outro]** I gotta date with the devil when the mornin’ light breaks… The noose is a-waitin’ and the crowd’s gatherin’ ‘round. I lived hard, I died young, and I ain’t makin’ no sound… Just the creak of the rope and the wind in the trees, As the devil collects what’s been owed to him since… *(Fading with lone guitar and a single church bell tolling slow)* I gotta date with the devil… And my time is now.