The Hitter

Come to the door Ma, and unlock the chain I was just passin' through and got caught in the rain There's nothing I want, nothin' that you need say Just let me lie down for a while and I'll be on my way? I was no more than a kid when you put me on the Southern Queen With the police on my back I fled to New Orleans I fought in the dockyards and with the money I made I knew the fight was my home and blood was my trade Baton Rouge, Poncitoula, and Lafayette town Well they paid me their money Ma I knocked the men down I did what I did well it come easily Restraint and mercy Ma were always strangers to me I fought champion Jack Thompson in a field full of mud Rain poured through the tent to the canvas and mixed with our blood In the twelfth I slipped my tongue over my broken jaw I stood over him and pounded his bloody body into the floor Well the bell rang and rang and still I kept on 'Till I felt my glove leather slip 'tween his skin and bone Then the women and the money came fast and the days I lost track The women red, the money green, but the numbers were black I fought for the men in their silk suits to lay down their bets I took my good share Ma, I have no regrets Then I took the fix at the state armory with big John McDowell From high in the rafters I watched myself fall As he raised his arm my stomach twisted and the sky it went black I stuffed my bag with their good money and I never looked back Understand, in the end Ma every man plays the game If you know me one different then speak out his name Ma if my voice now you don't recognize Then just open the door and look into your dark eyes I ask of you nothin', not a kiss not a smile Just open the door and let me lie down for a while Now the gray rain's fallin' and my ring fightin's done So in the work fields and alleys I take all who'll come If you're a better man than me then just step to the line Now there's nothin' I want Ma nothin' that you need say Just let me lie down for a while and I'll be on my way Tonight in the shipyard a man draws a circle in the dirt I move to the center and I take off my shirt I study him for the cuts, the scars, the pain Man, nor the time can erase I move hard to the left and I strike to the face