Well the night was deep and the night was dark  And I was at the old dance-hall on the edge of town  Some big ceremony was going down  Dancers writhed and squirmed and then,  Came apart and then writhed again  Like squirming flies on a pin  In the heat and in the din  Yes, in the heat and in the din  I fell to thinking about brand new wife of mad John Finn  Well, midnite came and clock did strike  And in she came, did John Finn's wife  With legs like scissors and butcher's knives  A tattooed breast and flaming eyes  And a crimson carnation in her teeth  Carving her way through the dance floor  And I'm standing over by the bandstand  Every eye gaping on John Finn's wife  Yeah, every eye gaping on John Finn's wife  Now John Finn's wife was something of a mystery  In a town where to share a sworn secret was a solemn duty  I had brass knuckles and a bolo knife  Over near the bandstand with John Finn's wife  She got perfumed breasts and raven hair  Sprinkled with wedding confettis  And a gang of garrotters were all giving me stares  Armed, as they were, with machetes  And the night through the window was full of lights  Winking and awatching at John Finns' wife  Winking and awatching at John Finns' wife  Next came the cops, all out on the town  But it don't look like no trouble there  As they had for the bar in their lumpy suits  And I slip my hand between the things of John Finn's wife  And they seemed to yawn awake, her things  It was a warm and very ferocious night  The moon full of blood and light  And my eyes grew small and my eyes grew tight  As I plotted in the ear of John Finns' wife  Enter John Finn in his shrunken suit  With his quick black eyes and black cheroot  With his filled-down teeth and a hobnail boot  And his fists full of pistols in his pockets  Aiming at me and aiming at his wife  The band fall silent fearing for their lives  And with fear in my guts like tangled twine  Cause all I got is brass knuckles and a bolo knife  And mad John Finns' wife is all  And the three of us walk out of the hall  Now the night bore down upon us all  You could hear the crickets in the thickets call  And guns did flare and guns did bawl  And I planted my bolo knife in the neck  Of mad John Finn. I took his wretched life  Now I'm over near the bandstand  Every hand moving on John Finns' wife  Every hand moving on John Finns' wife  And John Finns' wife  Took all the flowers down  From her hair  And threw them on the ground  And the flies did hum  And the flies did buzz around  Poor John Finn  Lying dead upon the ground  Lying dead upon the ground