Written by: Steve Earle
Performed by: The Highwaymen (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash & Kris Kristofferson)
Appears on: The Road Goes on Forever-1995 & The Road Goes on Forever (10th Anniversary Edition)-2005.
[Cash:]
About the time my daddy left to fight the big war,
I saw my first pistol in the general store.
The general store, when I was thirteen,
Thought it was the finest thing I ever had seen.
[Nelson:]
I asked if I could have one some day when I grew up.
Mama dropped a dozen eggs, she really blew up.
She really blew up and I didn't understand.
Mama said the pistol is the devil's right hand.
[All 4:]
The devil's right hand, the devil's right hand.
Mama said the pistol is the devil's right hand.
[Kristofferson:]
My very first pistol was a cap and ball Colt.
Shoots like lightin' but it loads a-might slow.
Loads a-might slow and soon I found out.
It can get you into trouble but it can't get you out.
[Jennings:]
So then I went and bought myself a Colt 45.
Called a "peacemaker," but I never knew why.
I never knew why, I didn't understand.
Mama said the pistol is the devil's right hand.
[All 4:]
The devil's right hand, the devil's right hand.
Mama said the pistol is the devil's right hand.
The devil's right hand, the devil's right hand.
Mama said the pistol is the devil's right hand.
[Instrumental break.]
[Jennings:]
I got into a card game in a Cumberland town.
Caught a miner cheatin' and I shot the dog down.
[Nelson:]
Shot the dog down, watched the man fall.
Never touched his holster never had a chance to draw.
[Kristofferson:]
The trial was in the mornin' and they drug me out of bed.
Asked me how I pleaded, "Not guilty." I said.
"Not guilty." I said, "you've got the wrong man."
Nothing touched the trigger but the devil's right hand.
[All 4:]
The devil's right hand, the devil's right hand.
Nothing touched the trigger but the devil's right hand.
The devil's right hand, the devil's right hand.
Nothing touched the trigger but the devil's right hand.
Mama said the pistol is the devil's right hand.
