"Don't believe I'm right, follow me tonight", makes more sense than my earlier guess and seems the most logical, but I can't hear that he's singing those words for some reason.

This one is clear as day to me. Of course I've always known this song with the first line of that stanza, so whomever I lifted it from (maybe the Holy Modal Rounders, whose second Prestige LP was new at the time) heard it that way as well.

I don't understand "pawn you the news" phrase either, though that is what it sounds like he's singing.

Trying the mp3 again, with fewer distractions and with the volume adjusted a little, I would suggest Fred's final verse may go as per:

"Never been so drunk, I couldn't tend to my trunk
And my 900 dollars in gold."