Monkey On My Back

I have this monkey on my back

I dare not even mention its name

But it clambered aboard sometime back

On the road to my El Alamein

My sweetheart she swore it was a poison

Turning my blood into brine

But I knew for a fact that behind my back

It was you on my track all the time

I caught this disease from the bottle and the bed

but to them I assign no blame

They were only performing their duty

It was I who fell into the flame

It was I who drank from the irrigation ditch

It was I who buckled up in pain

Now I dither & I ache & I drag my feet

Come hail sleet sunshine or rain

So come along here mister!

Put your tiny conscience to rest

It was I who ascended your sister

It was I who attended her breast

It was I who knelt before the graven image

It was I who did murder her ghost

But it hurt so much just to love her

(You hurt the ones you love the most)

Well now we are sitting at separate tables

Somehow things just aren`t quite the same!

But I wish you well and I wish you luck

And I drink to your health just the same

And I drink to the names of the ones who have died

To be washed away into the rain

But I`m damned if I do and I`m damned if I don`t

even mention your Holy Name

If thine offends thee,pluck it out

If it bothers thee,throw it away

Rip it out quick and clean by the root

Don`t crawl back to me the next day

For I have this monkey on my back

Its webbed fingers they cover my eyes

Heck its scratching its track in the small of my back

And cutting me right down to size