The Ballad (Live) Lyrics

I was born into a spare bedroom in 1989

Pulled from the womb by the leather hand of my evil gypsy nan

First sound I heard was her cackling laugh

But I did not weep nor cry

She told my mother he's got the curse

You should shove him back inside

He should remain

From whence he came

This boy is the devil

First sound I heard was her cackling laugh

But I did not weep nor cry

I see not this hand before my face

I have a set of broken eyes

I kept no friends throughout my youth

I'd sit and speak to trees

I'd go home, wake in the middle of the night

With demons in my dreams

What's wrong with him

Why can't he see

This boy is a freak

I see not this hand before my face

I have a set of broken eyes

But my father said there's a world out there

You can't sit and stay inside

With your head stooped low and your mouth sewn shut

Drawing pictures day and night

It's a hard world, boy

It's just a fact of life

You gotta go and join the fight

What had he done

To deserve such a weak son

This boy is a coward

My father said there's a world out there

You can't sit and stay inside

My mother said you're a dirty sod

You gotta stay inside and scrub

So I went outside and I stayed inside

I got clean and I got mean

Got myself a girl

Got myself a job

But that life did not want me

How could this be

What had they done

This boy is an animal

My mother said you're a dirty sod

You gotta stay inside and scrub

My brother said you're a loser kid

You gotta come with me and drink

You gotta come with me and chase the quid

I can show you how to win

So i drank his drink and I chased his quid

And I didn't win a thing

Why can't he learn

To win like us

This boy is a fool

My father said through his wine blue teeth

Lighten up boy, drink with me

But my gut spoke up and it said flee

And so I fled down to the sea

I chased a girl to the red clay cliffs

And I gave that girl my heart

But she stole my heart to the big bad city

And left me there to rot

Why can't he make

A good girl stay

This boy is dead weight

I chased my heart to that big bad city

And my mind began to rot

I sold my soul to the devil in the suit

I deserve what then I got

I drank his drink and I made his girls

I was wronged by every job

No man or woman in this city could be saved

From this unearthly gob

The deed was done

He had become

The right hand to the devil

To the devil

Here's the end

This boy is the devil