Lyric 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.