The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest Lyrics - Singles - Jerry Garcia

Well, Frankie Lee and Judas Priest 

They were the best of friends 

So when Frankie Lee needed money one day 

Judas quickly pulled out a roll of tens 

And placed them on a footstool 

Just above the plotted plain 

Sayin', "Take your pick, Frankie Boy 

My loss will be your gain" 

Well, Frankie Lee, he sat right down 

And put his fingers to his chin 

But with the cold eyes of Judas on him 

His head began to spin 

"Would you please not stare at me like that," he said 

It's just my foolish pride 

But sometimes a man must be alone 

And this is no place to hide 

Well, Judas, he just winked and said 

"All right, I'll leave you here 

But you'd better hurry up and choose 

Which of those bills you want 

Before they all disappear" 

I'm gonna start my pickin' right now 

Just tell me where you'll be 

Judas pointed down the road 

And said, "Eternity" 

"Eternity," said Frankie Lee 

With a voice as cold as ice 

"That's right," said Judas Priest, "Eternity 

Though you might call it Paradise" 

"I don't call it anything" 

Said Frankie Lee with a smile 

"All right," said Judas Priest 

I'll see you after a while 

Well, Frankie Lee, he sat back down 

Feelin' low and mean 

When just then a passing stranger 

Burst upon the scene 

Saying, "Are you Frankie Lee, the gambler 

Whose father is deceased? 

Well, if you are 

There's a fellow callin' you down the road 

And they say his name is Priest" 

"Oh, yes, he is my friend" 

Said Frankie Lee in fright 

I do recall him very well 

In fact, he just left my sight 

"Yes, that's the one," said the stranger 

As quiet as a mouse 

Well, my message is, he's down the road 

Stranded in a house 

Well, Frankie Lee, he panicked 

He dropped everything and ran 

Until he came up to the spot 

Where Judas Priest did stand 

"What kind of house is this," he said 

Where I have come to roam? 

"It's not a house," said Judas Priest 

It's not a house, it's a home 

Well, Frankie Lee, he trembled 

He soon lost all control 

Over everything which he had made 

While the mission bells did toll 

He just stood there staring 

At that big house as bright as any sun 

With four and twenty windows 

And a woman's face in every one 

Well, up the stairs ran Frankie Lee 

With a soulful, bounding leap 

And, foaming at the mouth 

He began to make his midnight creep 

For sixteen nights and days he raved 

But on the seventeenth he burst 

Into the arms of Judas Priest 

Which is where he died of thirst 

No one tried to say a thing 

When they carried him out in jest, 

Except, of course, the little neighbor boy 

Who carried him to rest 

And he just walked along, alone 

With his guilt so well concealed 

And muttered underneath his breath 

Nothing is revealed 

Well, the moral of the story 

The moral of this song 

Is simply that one should never be 

Where one does not belong 

So when you see your neighbor carryin' somethin' 

Help him with his load 

And don't go mistaking Paradise 

For that home across the road