Malvina Reynolds The Devil's Baptizin'
There was a man who walked like a man,
And worked as men have since time began.
But the Devil said "Black!"
And the people said "Black,"
And they named him and cursed him and loaded his back,
And that was the Devil's baptizin.
Chorus:
At the Devil's baptizin, the incense you smell
Is the sulfur from Hell arisin.
A woman there was with a mind of her own,
Said the world needed changing before it was done.
But the Devil said, "Red!"
And they branded her head,
And her children went hungry for comfort and bread,
And that was the Devil's baptizin.
(Chorus)
There was a love that was clear as the day,
And a babe like a flower that grows from the clay.
But the Devil said "Sin!"
And the people came in,
And they offered the woman for sale to the men,
And that was the Devil's baptizin.
(Chorus)
There was a child who walked all alone,
And reached for the bread and rejected the stone.
But the Devil said, "Crime!"
And the kid served his time,
And he came out of prison all covered with slime,
And that was the Devil's baptizin.
(Chorus)
