From a post in 2000:

I WAS RIGHT, I WAS WRONG

G                            D G
When first I saw Portland I questioned my eyes
                               C G D             D7
I was awed by the lights and a-mazed at the size,
          G          G7            C
Then a feeling of dread dropped out of the blue,
    G             C   G D             D7
As it often does when I see something new;
         G                      D   G
I was quite overcome with sus-picion and fear,
                            C G D          D7
So I stopped at a pub and I asked for a beer,
    G                G7       C
I must have been mad to go in there alone,
         G               C G C       G   C    D7
I was up to no good and I should have gone home.

Chorus:
D7    G                        D G
I was right, I was wrong all a-long,
                                  C G D
I was right, I was wrong all a-long;
          G            G7         C
I was wrong all a-long, and I knew I was wrong,
          G            D7          G
I was right, I was wrong all a-long.

The back room was full of cigar smoking gents,
And against my best judgment it's back there I went;
They offered me whiskey which I never touch,
And I frequently told them "Don't pour me too much."
It was not what I wanted and not what I planned,
But the next thing you know, there were cards in my hand;
And like many a time, though I 've often resolved
To never play cards when there's money involved...


Well, first I lost silver and then I lost gold,
And then I lost consciousness so I was told;
And when I awoke things had gone quite amiss,
I always had known it would end up like this;
There was blood and a body and bottles galore,
Lying right next to me there on the floor;
I said, "Constable, please, I'm an innocent man!"
As he pulled the revolver from out of me hand...

The judge banged his gavel and asked, "What's your plea?"?
I said, "Someone killed him but surely not me."
There was no way in hell, I was out like a light,
Though I walk in my sleep, I suppose that I might."
The jurors left the court room at the drop of a hat,
They returned with their verdict in ten minutes flat;
I was sentenced to hang by this jury of peers,
And so I've been dead for a good hundred years...

Will virtue bear fruit? You can never be sure,
Even if watered and plied with manure;
You've no hope to harvest the things that you plant,
But keep right on trying, and prove that you can't;
It's a minimal effort you need to exert,
Knowing that soon you'll be covered in dirt;
Be certain of failure and lose every fight,
And some day like me you'll be proud you was right...