I’ve done a bad thing it’s okay
I’m going down to the river today
And the river’s gonna wash my sins away
Til I’m born again tomorrow
Oh to get over my head
Make me forget my sorrow

I’m going down to the river alone
Don’t tell mama and daddy I’m gone
And if they cry when I don’t come home
Just lie and tell them I’m funnin’
Whoa to get out of my eyes
Into the river wide I’m runnin’

And I can’t swim
But it’s alright
‘Cause all my sin will drag me down even if I could
And if it weren’t for him and the love that night
I’d be living for the light like a good girl should
‘Cause a good girl should

The same chords progression goes for the rest of the song

The song can also be played using E, Am, and B7 instead of G, Cm, and D (D7) with a
capo on the 2nd fret for it to sound like the original song.

I heard about the venom
At a broke down Five and Dime
The rain cried down the window
Just like those tears of mine

Just then a gray haired woman
Sat down right next to me
She heard me cry and looked in my eye
And said, “Baby, I got what you need”

You need a snakebite
And once you get that venom in your veins
They’ll come alive
I know just what you go through every day
That pain inside, I can make it right
With the snakebite

She handed me a map with streets
I said, “I’ve never seen”
And she told me, “My friend, this town has secrets
Darker than you could ever dream”

I went to some back alley
Behind a liquor store
If someone had told me how tight it would hold me
I never would have open the door

I got the snakebite
And once I had that venom in my veins
I came alive
Oh, you don’t know what I go through everyday
The pain inside, I’m gonna make it right
With the snakebite

My momma told me
Baby, be wary of evil ones
Who want to ensnare the heavy hearted
Into their webs and feed upon their souls
Oh momma, I hope you never know

It hasn’t been a year now
And all my hair is gray
You know, it’s funny
But I don’t remember my own name

I’d go and hurt that woman
Who put this pain in me
But my heart is weak, it wants that venom
She comes around ‘cause she knows I need

The snakebite
Oh, I gotta get that venom in my veins
To feel alive
Oh, you don’t know what I go through every day
This pain inside, I’m gonna make it right
With the snakebite
Oh, I gotta get that venom in my veins
And come alive
Oh, you don’t know what I go through every day
That pain inside, I’m gonna make it right
With the snakebite
Oh, I got the snakebite