I started out as a preacher
I was on fire for the Lord
But I found a new way of burning
Down where the whiskey is poured
That's where I met Margarita
A sad and a sweet broken soul
She could dance like the Queen of Sheba
And wail with a grief dark as coal
We took the wrong road down, boys
We took the wrong road down
We took the wrong road down, boys
We took the wrong road down
One night I told Margarita
We got to get out of this town
And go where the whiskey can't follow
Before we're pulled under and drown
She looked at me with the brightness
You sometimes see at the end
She said the lover you took me away from
Came back and claimed me again
She opened the front of her bodice
She showed me the wound in her breast
She died in my arms like an angel
Cast out of the realm of the blessed
We took the wrong road down, boys
We took the wrong road down
We took the wrong road down, boys
We took the wrong road down
Now I just drift and I wander
I sleep in the streets and the fields
And if somebody gives me some whiskey
I ascend to God's holy hill
I know the devil will catch me
I know he'll drag me down
But tonight I'm almost in glory
I can see the light of the crown
We took the wrong road down, boys
We took the wrong road down
We took the wrong road down, boys
We took the wrong road down