When I walk beside her, I am the better man When I look to leave her, I always stagger back again Once I built an ivory tower so I could worship from above When I climbed down to be set free, she took me in again [Chorus:] There's a big, a big hard sun Beating on the big people In the big hard world When she comes to greet me, she is mercy at my feet When I see her bitter charm, she just throws it back at me Once I dug an early grave to find a better land She just smiled and laughed at me and took her blues back again [Chorus 2x] When I go to cross that river, she is comfort by my side When I try to understand, she just opens up her hands [Chorus] Once I stood to lose her when I saw what I had done Bound down and threw away the hours of her garden and her sun So I tried to warn her, I turned to see her weep Forty days and forty nights and it's still coming down on me [Chorus 8x]