| Mama gimme a nickel and a deck of cards
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| Said go on and play in the back yard
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| Walking down the alley come my Uncle Lonnie
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| Said lemme teach ya about Three-card Monte
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| Take the ace of hearts and two black queens
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| Flip 'em over so they can’t be seen
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| Spin 'em around four or five times
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| Bet a nickel find the ace and win a dime
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| Ten minutes later I had thirty five dollars
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| Singing ain’t misbehaving by the great Fats Waller
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| I believe I’m gonna count my blessings
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| I believe I’m gonna count my blessings
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| Now I saw a black crow on a fence post
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| Singing away like Sam Hopkins’s ghost
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| He sang when you see I ain’t breathing no more
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| Nail my feathers to an old barn door
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| Or drag my carcass out behind the shed
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| Just make sure you’re pretty sure I’m dead
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| Ask an Ouija board if you can’t quite tell
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| Or if I start to stink like the floors in hell
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| Go to Navasota after I’m done dying
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| It don’t do you no good sitting around crying
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| So I got me a pencil and a moleskin book
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| When I heard Bertha Franklin shot and killed Sam Cooke
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| Wrote down December 11, 1964
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| Ain’t gonna be twisting the night away no more
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| It took 15 minutes for the jury to decide
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| 'Cause of death’s justified homicide
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| Liza Boyer wasn’t called by the prosecution
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| Later on she’s arrested for prostitution
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| La Hacienda motel had a busted down door
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| Sam’s wallet and his money was never accounted for |