The Devil Took the Rest

Broke down by the levee way on out on river road
Sarah heard their voices saw them driving by real slow
That's all she remembered, Doc said it would be some time
Before she put together what they left her of her mind
Me and brother Billy waited hoping for the best
Saying, "Lord have mercy on her soul, 'cause the devil took the rest"

A deputy found those good old boys a little later on that night
There was three of them in a Mercedes Benz and a couple of grams of white
The judge said he could not convict unless Sarah testified
But she never had the ghost of a chance, she took a handful of pills and she died
I begged that judge on bended knee, but he was not impressed
He said, "Lord have mercy on her soul, 'cause the devil took the rest"

So Billy got his shotgun, I got fifty feet of rope
We found those boys in a house uptown drinking wine and sniffing dope
We took them out to the levee down by a place we all knew well
And we strung them up like poison fruit hanging from the trees of hell
And I heard Billy say as the rope cut into their necks
"Lord have mercy on your souls, 'cause the devil took the rest"

Next morning we drove back to town down the middle of main street
We loaded their bodies out the back of our truck, and we laid them at the judge's feet
He said, "Boys, you've done a terrible thing, and you have to understand
We've got to make you an example, can't take the law in your own hands"
We just stood and stared at him, we had no regrets
He said, "Lord have mercy on your souls, 'cause the devil took the rest"

Now here we stand together again, in the next room waits the chair
The warden and the judge, a preacher and us, and some newsmen starting to stare
Someone asks, "Ain't you got nothing to say, can you tell us how you feel?"
Me, I look at Billy, and Billy looks at me

And I say, "Me and my brother Billy, we just took care of our own
I ain't no judge and jury, but I know when that switch is thrown
Every one of you will be as guilty as us, and one day you'll be just as dead
So you all better hope God is merciful, 'cause I think he is fair instead
You break God's law in the name of man's, and you call it righteousness
Well, Lord have mercy on your souls, 'cause the devil took the rest
I said Lord have mercy on your souls, and the devil take the rest"

Broke down by the levee way on out on river road
Sarah heard their voices saw them driving by real slow
That's all she remembered