The Hitter

The Hitter

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Track 10 of Devils & Dust, 2005.

Devils & Dust (2005)
- Bruce Springsteen: vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion
- Brice Andrus: horn
- Nashville String Machine: strings
- Donald Strand: horn
- Susan Welty: horn
- Thomas Witte: horn
  - String and horn arrangements by Eddie Horst

Come to the door, Ma, and unlock the chain
I was just passing through and got caught in the rain
There's nothing I want, nothing that you need say
Just let me lie down for a while and then I'll be on my way

I was no more than a kid when you put me on the Southern Queen
With the police on my back I fled to New Orleans
I fought in the dockyards and with the money that I made
And the fight was my home and blood was my trade

Baton Rouge, Ponchatoula, and Lafayette town
Well they paid me their moon, Ma, I knocked the men down
I did what I did well it come easily
Restraint and mercy, Ma, were always strangers to me

I fought champion Jack Thompson in a field full of mud
Rain poured through the tent to the canvas and mixed with our blood
In the twelfth I slipped my tongue over my broken jaw
And I stood over him, pounded his bloody body into the floor
Well the bell rang and rang and still I kept on
'Till I felt my glove leather slip 'tween his skin and bone

Then the women and the money came fast, in the days I lost track
The women red, the money green, but the numbers were black
I fought for the men in their silk suits to lay down their bets
Well I took my good share, Ma, I had no regrets

Then I took the fix at the state armory with big John McDowell
From high in the rafters I watched myself fall
As they raised his arm, my stomach twisted and the sky it went black
I stuffed my bag with their good money and I never looked back

Understand, in the end, Ma, every man plays the game
If you know me one different then speak out his name
Ma, if my voice now you don't recognize
Then just open the door and look into your dark eyes
I ask of you nothing, not a kiss not a smile
Just open the door and let me lie down for a while

Now the gray rain's falling and my ring fighting's done
So in the work fields and alleys I take all who'll come
If you're a better man than me then just step to the line
And show me your money and speak out your crime
Now there's nothing I want, Ma, nothing that you need say
Just let me lie down for a while and I'll be on my way

Well tonight in the shipyard a man draws a circle in the dirt
Like I always do
I move to the centre and I take off my shirt
I study him for the cuts, the scars, the pain
Man, no time can erase
I move hard to the left and I strike to the face

^{Visit SpringsteenLyrics.com for other versions of this song.}