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