My people tried to warn me about hands of fate
All too late, all to late.
The scene was set and the page have been turned,
I was gonna learn by being burned.

So when I hooked up with the hoodlum game,
My future changed, rearragned.
When the town found out and the truth was told
Even mamma woudn't claim me at the gallows pole.

She said I bet you didn't know that the ways of sin
They would do you in, they would do you in.
I'll bet you didn't know that the ways of sin
They would do you in, they would do you in, yeah.

I was the one who had to get ahead
Alive or dead, alive or dead.
They took me back by the railroad track
To the cold jail cell, living hell.

I tried to be the one with the famous name
All in vain, all in vain.
I swear I had to do what they told me to
But they hung me down at the edge of town.

They said I bet you didn't know that the ways of sin
They would do you in, they would do you in.
I'll bet you didn't know that the ways of sin
They would do you in, they would do you in.
I'll bet you didn't think that the things you do
Would turn on you, turn on you.
I'll bet you didn't know that the ways of sin
They would do you in, they would do you in.

I was the one the town talked about
Whose luck ran out, whose luck ran out.
And in the final chapter, at the big showdown
Noone cared to look so they closed my book.

They said I bet you didn't know that the ways of sin
They would do you in, they would do you in.
I'll bet you didn't know that the ways of sin
They would do you in, they would do you in.
I'll bet you didn't think that the things you do
Would turn on you, turn on you.
I'll bet you didn't know that the ways of sin
They would do you in, they would do you in.