Idiot Wind

Someone's got it in for me

They're planting stories in the press

Whoever it is, I wish they'd cut it out quick

But when they will I can only guess

They say I shot a man named Gray

And took his wife to Italy

She inherited a million bucks

And when she died it came to me

I can't help it if I'm lucky

People see me all the time

And they just can't remember how to act

Their minds are filled with big ideas

Images and distorted facts

Even you, yesterday

You had to ask me where it was at

I couldn't believe after all these years

You didn't know me any better than that

Sweet lady

Idiot wind blowing every time you move your mouth

Blowing down the back-roads, headin' south

Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth

You're an idiot, babe

It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe

I ran into the fortune-teller

Who said, "Beware of lightning that might strike"

I haven't known peace and quiet for so long

I can't remember what it's like

There's a lone soldier on the cross

Smoke pourin' out of a boxcar door

You didn't know it, you didn't think it could be done

In the final end he won the war

After losing every battle

I woke up on the roadside

Daydreamin' 'bout the way things sometimes are

Visions of your chestnut mare

Shoot through my head and are makin' me see stars

You hurt the ones that I love best

And cover up the truth with lies

One day you'll be in the ditch

Flies buzzin' around your eyes

Blood on your saddle

Idiot wind blowing through the flowers on your tomb

Blowing through the curtains in your room

Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth

You're an idiot, babe

It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe

It was gravity which pulled us down

And destiny which broke us apart

You tamed the lion in my cage

But it just wasn't enough to change my heart

Now everything's a little upside-down

As a matter of fact, the wheels have stopped

What's good is bad, what's bad is good

You'll find out when you reach the top

You're on the bottom

I noticed at the ceremony

Your corrupt ways had finally made you blind

I can't remember your face anymore

Your mouth has changed, your eyes don't look into mine

The priest wore black on the seventh day

And sat stone-faced while the building burned

I waited for you on the running boards

Near the cypress trees, while the spring-time turned

Slowly into autumn

Idiot wind blowing like a circle around my skull

From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol

Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth

You're an idiot, babe

It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe

I can't feel you anymore

I can't even touch the books you've read

Every time I crawl past your door

I been wishin' I'd been somebody else instead

Down the highway, down the tracks

Down the road to ecstasy

I followed you beneath the stars

Hounded by your memory

And all your raging glory

I been double-crossed now for the very last time

And now I'm finally free

I kissed goodbye the howling beast

On the borderline which separated you from me

You'll never know the hurt I suffered

Nor the pain I rise above

And I'll never know the same about you

Your holiness or your kind of love

And it makes me feel so sorry

Idiot wind blowing through the buttons of our coats

Blowing through the letters that we wrote

Idiot wind blowing through the dust upon our shelves

We're idiots, babe

It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves