Joe Jackson - The Man Who Wrote Danny Boy Lyrics
It happened one nightAt three in the morningThe devil appeared in my studio roomAnd he said Im your palAnd Ill make you a dealBlow away your struggleAnd Ill take your soul for a toyAfter rubbing my eyesI looked all around meAt the half-finished drivel Id worked on for daysAnd I told him my dreamWas to live for all timeIn some perfect refrainLike the man who wrote danny boyAnd I said if youre real, then Ill ask you a questionWhile most of us turn into ashes or dustJust you and that other guy go on foreverBut who writes the historyAnd who do I trust?He gave me a winkAnd he said it was funnyHow mortals would pour all their blood, sweat and tearsOnto tape, onto paperOr into the airTo be lost and forgottenOutside of his kind employThen I thought I could hear a great sound in the distanceOf whiskey-soaked singingAnd laughter and cheersAnd theyre saying, that song could bring tears to a glass eyeSo pass me the papers, Ill sign them in bloodAnd the smell of the brimstone was turned into greasepaintAnd the roar of the crowd like the furies of hellAnd I hear the applause and I hear the bells ringingAnd the sound of a womans voice from the next roomSaying come to me nowCome lay down beside meWhatever youre doing youre too gone to seeYou cant hold onto shadows, no more than to yearsSo be glad for the pleasuresWere young enough to enjoySo maybe Im drunkOr maybe a liarOr maybe were all living inside a dreamYou can say what you likeWhen Im gone, then youll seeIll be down in the darkDown undergroundWith shakespeare and bachAnd the man who wrote danny boy
