The Beat of the Night

It was cold that night from across the west and the days had lost their spark And the yellow lights split the rain so bright and the dogs had lost their bark What Hitchcock plots were hatched that night behind the shuttered door When the curtain shook and the head beat down and he quietly was withdrawn And we moved in the Beat Beat of the Night, Beat of the Night Beat of the Night So I made my way to the top of the hill and I looked on down the road And the air stood still in the frost and chill as the hours and the minutes unfold But the trees they shook and the house creeked as though seized by a violent rage And the wind bites deep and the wires shriek like a noise from beyond the grave And they moved in the Beat Swayed in the Beat Talk in the Beat The Beat of the Night The sound of women crying made me go and investigate, And I walked past a row of houses 'til I reached #48 Where the huddled neighbors stood about, frightened shocked and scared And the bleating of an ambulance cut through the thickening air And with a sickening sense of deja vu I knew what was coming next I'd been here before, but when or how, I couldn't quiet connect And from an open-windowed upstairs flat someone sang along Yes I knew the words and I knew the tune They were playing that beautiful song that went Yeah, yeah, yeah (Yeah yeah yeah)(Yeah yeah yeah) (Yeah yeah yeah) (Yeah yeah yeah) And we moved in the Beat (Yeah yeah yeah) Rocked in the Beat (Yeah yeah yeah) Talkin' in the Beat (Yeah yeah yeah) The Beat of the Night (Yeah yeah yeah) The Beat of the Night (Yeah yeah yeah) The Beat of the Night (Yeah yeah yeah) A black man slumped up against the door And a Brown man lay face down on the floor And a white woman sobbed on the second stair And all the blood was red And then they moved in the Beat Rockin' in the Beat Talkin' in the Beat The Beat of the Night [x4] Yes the tears of rage and the tears of anger flowed to the river bank And at the local disco dancehall they were cranking up the skank And the pulse of the noise went through the night into the washed-up back of my feet And I smelled the fear and I tasted blood and the soundtrack was the Beat As we moved in the Beat (Yeah yeah yeah) Rockin' in the Beat (Yeah yeah yeah) Murder in the Beat (Yeah yeah yeah) The Beat of the Night (Yeah yeah yeah) [repeat til end]