Well, Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
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They were the best of friends
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So when Frankie Lee needed more money one day
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Judas quickly pulled out a roll of tens
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And placed them on a footstool
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Just above the plotted plain
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Sayin', "Take your pick, Frankie Boy
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My loss will be your gain".
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Well, Frankie Lee, he sat right down
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And put his fingers to his chin
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But with the cold eyes of Judas on him
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His head began to spin
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"Would ya please not stare at me like that", he said
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"It's just my foolish pride
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But sometimes a man must be alone
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And this is no place to hide".
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Well, Judas he just winked and said
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"All right, I'll leave you here
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But you'd better hurry up and choose
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Which of those bills you want
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Before they all disappear"
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"I'm gonna start my pickin' right now
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Just tell me where you''ll be".
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Judas pointed down the road
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And said, "Eternity"
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"Eternity ?" said Frankie Lee
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With a voice as cold as ice
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"That's right", said Judas Priest, "Eternity
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Though you might call it Paradise"
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"I don't call it anything"
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Said Frankie Lee with a smile
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"All right", said Judas Priest
|
"I'll see you after a while".
|
|
Well, Frankie Lee, he sat back down
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Feelin' low and mean
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When just then a passing stranger
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Burst upon the scene
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Saying, "Are you Frankie Lee, the gambler
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Whose father is deceased ?
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Well, if you are
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There's a fellow callin' you down the road
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And they say his name is Priest".
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"Oh yes, he is my friend"
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Said Frankie Lee in fright
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"I do recall him very well
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In fact, he just left my sight"
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Yes, that's the one", said the stranger
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As quit as a mouse.
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"Well, my message is, he's down the road
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Stranded in a house".
|
|
Well, Frankie Lee he panicked
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He dropped ev'rythimg and ran
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Until he came up to the spot
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Where Judas Priest did stand
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"What kind of a house is this", he said
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"Where I have come to roam ?"
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"It's not a house", said Judas Priest
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"It's not a house, it's a home".
|
|
Well, Frankie Lee he trembled
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He soon lost all control
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Over ev'rything which he had made
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While the mission bells did toll
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He just stood there starring
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At that big house as bright as any sun
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With four and twenty windows
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And a woman's face in ev'ry one.
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Well, up the stairs ran Frankie Lee
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With a soulful bounding leap
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And foaming at the mouth
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He began to make his midnight creep
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For sixteen nights and days he raved
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But on the seventeenth he burst
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Into the arms of Judas Priest
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Which is where he died of thirst.
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No one tried to say a thing
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When they carried him out in jest
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Except of course, the little neighbor boy
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Who carried him to rest
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And he just walked along alone
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Whit his guilt so well concealed
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And muttered underneath his breath
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"Nothing is revealed".
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Well, the moral of the story
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The moral of the song
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Is simply that one should never be
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Where ones does not belong
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So when you see your neighbor carryin' somethin'
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Help him with his load
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And don't go mistaking Paradise
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For that home across the road.
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|
-----------------
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The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest
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Bob Dylan |