Joe Jackson - The Man Who Wrote Danny Boy lyrics

It happened one night At three in the morning The devil appeared in my studio room And he said i'm your pal And i'll make you a deal Blow away your struggle And i'll take your soul for a toy After rubbing my eyes I looked all around me At the half-finished drivel i'd worked on for days And i told him my dream Was to live for all time In some perfect refrain Like the man who wrote danny boy And i said if you're real, then i'll ask you a question While most of us turn into ashes or dust Just you and that other guy go on forever But who writes the history And who do i trust? He gave me a wink And he said it was funny How mortals would pour all their blood, sweat and tears Onto tape, onto paper Or into the air To be lost and forgotten Outside of his kind employ Then i thought i could hear a great sound in the distance Of whiskey-soaked singing And laughter and cheers And they're saying, that song could bring tears to a gla** eye So pa** me the papers, i'll sign them in blood And the smell of the brimstone was turned into greasepaint And the roar of the crowd like the furies of hell And i hear the applause and i hear the bells ringing And the sound of a woman's voice from the next room Saying come to me now Come lay down beside me Whatever you're doing you're too gone to see You can't hold onto shadows, no more than to years So be glad for the pleasures We're young enough to enjoy So maybe i'm drunk Or maybe a liar Or maybe we're all living inside a dream You can say what you like When i'm gone, then you'll see I'll be down in the dark Down underground With shakespeare and bach And the man who wrote danny boy