[Verse 1] She stood like a wolf in the doorway The others laid bare on the ground And now she makes her bed Out in Brooklyn instead And I sleep with the goddamn hounds Her voice for a moment of lenience And her words for the coin in your jar And while she pays her dues As another man's muse I still can't tell my head from my heart [Chorus] I cannot know all that I am Lest I forget I'm a decent man [Verse 2] Now she drinks and I smoke as we please to
While the other men fall to their knees And a trifling part In the back of my heart Says if ever that coward is me Maybe if I begged some old saint for her patience And then sold it to pay for her time Til I wake up one day And to all my dismay That old face in the coffin is mine [Chorus] I cannot know all that I am Lest I forget I'm a decent man Oh, I'm a decent man She stood like a wolf in the doorway