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 Oh what a night, this is gonna be-- I think I'll let the world sleep without me Oh what a night, this is gonna be-- I think I'll let the world sleep without me