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