Pay the hound! (Woof!) Pay the hound! (Woof!)
Devil at the crossroads waving a clipboard around
I took his tail, took his pitchfork, took the clipboard too
Pay the hound! (Woof!) Pay the hound! (Woof!)
Highway Sixty-One and Forty-Nine
Hound's on my left and the Devil's in line

Midnight at the crossroads with the gravel in my teeth
Devil in a seersucker suit, smiling underneath
Slides me a contract, says, "Sign here, sweet thing"
I sign it with a bullet and I bend his wedding ring
He deals me five aces, and I deal him the floor
Told him, "Honey, I cheat better, and my mama's keeping score"
He bets me his guitar, I bet him his own name
I win the whole table and the table's in a flame
He's yelling, "That's not fair!" I said, "Sugar, you're the host"
Hound wags his tail and he's eating all your toast
Devil in the dirt with a clipboard on his chin
Hound's got the receipt, and the hound is gonna win

Devil's calling backup, better dial it right
Three (three!), two (two!)
One...
Pay!

Pay the hound! (Woof!) Pay the hound! (Woof!)
Lawyer shows up late with a briefcase and a grin
Hound ate the briefcase, and the lawyer's next, then
Pay the hound! (Woof!) Pay the hound! (Woof!)
Hell's on hold, hell's on the phone
Tell him, "Honey, the hound's got the throne!" (Ha!)

Now the hound's got a tab at every bar from Memphis to Mobile
Bites the bouncer, bites the pastor, bites the one who works the wheel
Devil called collect from a payphone in Vicksburg
I told the operator, "Honey, let him burn up in his purse"
I don't sell my soul, I rent it by the hour
Bad men pay in advance, and the rate goes up when they cower
Rooster in the rafters crowing three a.m. at noon
Whistling "Amazing Grace" to a hound that's howling tune
Every crossroads in the Delta's got my name on a sign
Every fiddle in the county's got my hound on the line
Hell's got a waiting list, and I'm the one who signs
Hound at my left boot, and he's reading all the lines

He asked me for my name, and I told him, "County!"
He asked me for my number, and I told him, "Eleven!"
He said, "That ain't a number!" I said, "Neither's your heaven!" (Ha!)

Pay the hound! (Woof!) Pay the hound! (Woof!)
Devil's at the crossroads with an empty clipboard now
Paperwork's in ashes, and the hound's got the wheel, wow
Pay the hound! (Woof!) Pay the hound! (Woof!)
Every deal he ever made, I collected on the spark
Hound's on my left, and the Devil's in the dark! (Woof!)

Pay up!