The Mercy Beat

There's a high wind blowin'

And the stars are shinin' 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

And my thin body's tremblin'

Beneath the bedclothes

My heart's beatin' against the roof of my mouth

It's almost time to get out of this house

I got one hand on the radio

And one hand on the wheel

I got my right foot on the floorboards

I'm preparin' to kill or be killed

There's a high wind blowin'

And the stars are shinin' bright

And the rain upon the tarmac

Helps me sail through the traffic lights

I'm headin' down to the dock of the bay

To feel the power of the waves

I'm gonna move up close to that wind

And wrestle with the thoughts

Solitude always brings

Y'see I'm stuck between hell

And the deep blue sea

And I know that water's sucked under

Better men than me

I was just another Western guy

With desires that couldn't be satisfied

One day I asked the angels for inspiration

But the Devil bought me a drink

And 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 strugglin' to hang onto hope

Like a drunken sailor in a tugboat

With a bottle of vodka in my overcoat

And 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 'round the bones of necessity

Or the soul on fire scribblin' 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 and crows

Are fixin' up some tombstones

But they won't be chewin' the meat off my bones

There's a high wind blowin'

And the stars are shinin' bright

Me and Him are gonna have a little knife fight

In the bowels of the big city skyline

Oh, this feeling inside runs dark and deep

Tonight my heart's not thumpin' a mercy beat

Yeah, I was just another western guy

With desires that couldn't be satisfied

Oh, what a night this is gonna be

The world can sleep without me

The world can sleep without me

The world can sleep without me