Devil On My Back

In moments of desperate anger,
I looked to the clouds above.
Then shook my head and tugged my hat,
And reminded myself, not to count on love.
Not from my father,
In heaven nor on earth.
I was a damned cowboy,
From the moment of my birth.
With a whore as a mother,
And a soul in disrepute.
My father led me to my damnation,
And I bit from the tainted fruit.
Fast horses,
And bloody cash.
An outlaw’s stage;
A young boy’s cast.
I shouted with youthful lungs,
And followed my father across the west.
With a pistol on my hip,
And a fire in my chest.
I shared his love of freedom,
Tasted wine and women.
Only later did I grow weary,
Of the trouble I’d be in.
When my father heaved his last breath,
and left me scared and alone.
Riding solo on the planes,
with nothing but the flesh on my bones.
When he was gone, I looked to the sky,
Kicked my boot in the dust,
And forced myself to cry.
A tear of sorrow,
A tear of hate.
Then I mounted my steed,
And accepted my fate.
A shadow of my god,
Is what I had become.
Father’s corpse slept 6 under,
As I approached the saloon’s hum.
The song of whores and sinners,
Enticed me with its lure.
From the street, I smelt its scent,
And a lust I did procure.
For woman and for dance,
For drink and for game,
And the scars on my neck,
Threatened to shout my name.
At two months shy of twenty,
it was Satan I would tempt,
Sitting in the saloon,
With eyes of contempt.
For the world that I lived in,
And for the hand that I was dealt.
I bore a mind of destruction,
And a pistol on my belt.
With twenty notches,
Carved on each side.
For the men that I’d killed,
And for the sake of my pride.
But my pride was a sword,
With a sharp, double edge,
That led me to the gallows,
For the allegiance I’d pledge.
An allegiance to the devil,
An allegiance to sin.
I sold him my soul,
To keep my hard skin.
Under the hot Texas sun,
I reveled in my corruption,
When a face in the clouds,
Brought a force of destruction.
And the voice of my father,
Filled my troubled ears,
And told me a truth,
I’d known for years.
That my fate was sealed.
That I was too far down the track.
I was an Outlaw’s son,
With the devil on my back.