Down by the river where you ought not go,
Live a man and a monkey on Bottom Road.
He's got a mojo workin' on a black cat bone,
John the Conqueroo, gonna take it home.
Gonna tune my banjer, tap with the bone,
Sprinkle with the water, gonna make it groan.

Tar-paper shack with a kettle out back,
Cookin' up somethin', smoke curlin' black.
Y'know the mudflats was buzzin' in the late afternoon.
Hush fell, storm clouds comin' soon.
Dust in the air and lightnin' in the sky,
But the old man sees through clouded eye.

Don't want money, don't want corn pone...
Looked me in the eye, said "Somethin' you own."
So I handed him the knife that my papa handed me.
Turned his back, said "Let me be."
I ran through thre bramble and I ran through the reed,
And I swan to the day he's a-followin' me.