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
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
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
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