DESPERATE MAN

I was born in a boxcar at the bottom of the sea
With a blank sign around my neck and a ticket stub clenched between my teeth
I came and I went and I thought of my home
And the scars on my skin that surrounded my bones
How I break like a baby in times clumsy hands
I'm small and I'm frightened I'm a desperate man
Well the things that I knew best are deep in the ground
And the people I've loved are lost in a new crowd
I'm just trying to make it back to myself
Before this wilderness kills itself
The good Lord he tries but he just can't understand
I'm hurt and I'm hungry I'm a desperate man

I starve when I'm hungry and I thirst when I'm dry
I've fought the good fight and I lost sometimes
My banner is small and my words they are few
But the message is always clear that my voice isn't new
I try to stand in the middle and do what I can
But I'm weak and I'm tired I'm a desperate man
I come and I go and I do what I please
I swim in the swamp and I believe I am free
While the water in the river keeps rushing by me
And I swear I saw you there you were reaching out for me
But I bombed when I blew up in the palms of your hands
I'm lowdown and trifling I'm a desperate man

I rambled this country in someone else’s chains
And all that I've seen were two masks for one face
An eye for an eye and both out of place
And you're looking at me maybe you're feeling the same way
But you can't stand forever on a mountain of sand
Have mercy! Lord help me I'm a desperate man
The whole world is holding lanterns and starting fires with its clothes
Just trying to stay warm while waving the ships back home
And I stood on the shoreline ringing a bell
Blending in perfectly with the crap the salesmen were trying to sell
So what do I care if the whole world be damned
It's pointless I'm useless I'm a desperate man

I want to be simple but I want everything
I don't want to stick out too much but I still want to be king
Why can't we just talk why do I always have to sing
I'm just trying to tell you that I'm caught in between
Like a rabbit some magician pulls out of his hat
You got me I'm guilty I'm a desperate man
Yeah I've counted my blessings but they're never enough
I feel my two fists trying fit into the same cheap glove
Let's just make love in the junkyard on a dirty boxspring
You can be you and I can be me
But it's gonna take a strong woman to make me an honest man
I'm lost and lonesome I'm a desperate man

Yeah I was warned and you were warned about the ceiling of glass
But nobody said a word about the false floor right beneath our ass
Everything is lost and I can't even cry
I'm a little bit worried and a little bit resigned
I don't know what I'm gonna do I don't know who I am
I'm broke and downhearted I'm a desperate man