The Mercy Beat

There's a high wind blowin, & the stars are shining bright, Oh what a night, this is gonna be-- I think I'll let the world sleep without me. I got one eye open, one eye closed. & My thin body's trembling beneath the bedclothes, My hearts beatin' against the roof of my mouth --It's almost time to get out of this house. I got one hand on the radio, one hand on the wheel, I got my right foot on the floorboard,-- & I'm preparing to kill or be killed. There's a high wind blowin', & the stars are shining bright. & The rain upon the tarmac, --helps me sail through the traffic lights, I'm heading down to the dock of the bay, --to feel the power of the waves, I'm gonna move up close to that wind, & Wrestle with the thoughts solitude always brings. Y'see I'm stuck between hell & the deep blue sea, & I know that water's sucked under better man than me, I was just another western guy, --with desires that couldn't be satisfied, So one day, I asked the angels for inspiration, --but the devil bought me a drink, & He's been buying them ever since, He's had the liquor on my tongue --feel like the sea upon the sand, He's had me signing confessions --from this shaking hand, He's had me struggling to hang onto hope-- Like a drunken sailor in a tugboat With a bottle of vodka in my overcoat, & My dog eared bible lost--overboard Y'see he tricked me into temptation, So I've tricked him into this confrontation, I never said I was the man I appeared to be Not the flesh wrapped around the bones of necessity. Or the soul on fire--scribbling thoughts for posterity. I'm gonna have little lucifer, runnin' off to purgatory, --with his tail between his legs, I'm gonna teach him a lesson --he ain't ever gonna forget. All the vultures & crows are fixin up some tombstones But they won't be chewing the meat off my bones. There's a high wind blowin' & the stars are shining bright. Me & him are gonna have a little knife fight, --in the bowels of the big city skyline, Oh this feelin' inside runs dark & deep --Tonight my hearts not thumping --A Mercy Beat I was just another western guy, With desires that couldn't be--satisfied.