Waylon Jennings - To Beat the Devil lyrics

It was winter time in Nashville Down on Music City Row I was lookin' for a place to get Myself out of the cold To warm the frozen feelin' That was eatin' at my soul And keep the chilly winds off my guitar. My thirsty wanted whiskey And my hunger needed beans But I guess it'd been a month of payday Since I heard that eagle scream So with a stomach full of empty And a pocket full of dreams I left my pride and stepped inside a bar Actually I guess you'd call it a tavern Cigarette smoke to the ceiling Sawdust on the floor friendly shadows. I saw that there was just An old man sittin' at the bar In the mirror I could see him Checkin' me and my guitar He said come up here boy Show us what you are I said I'm dry, he bought me a beer He nodded at my guitar. Said it's a tough life ain't it I just looked at him And he said you ain't Makin' any money are you I said you been readin' my mail He just smiled and said let me see that guitar I got somethin' you oughta hear Then he laid it on me. If you waste your time a talkin' To the people who don't listen To the things that you are sayin' Who do you thinks gonna hear And if you should die explainin' How the thing they complain about Or the things they could be changing Who do you thinks gonna care. There were lots of other singers In the world turned deaf and blind Who were crucified for what they tried to show Now their voices have been scattered By the swirling winds of time And the truth remains that no one wants to know. Well, the old man was a stranger But I'd've heard his song before Back when failure had me locked out On the wrong side of the door No one stood behind me but my shadow on the floor And lonesome was more than a state of mind You see the devil haunts a hungry man And if you don't wanna join him Well, he's gotta figure out someway to beat him And I ain't sayin' I beat the devil But I drink his beer for nothin' And then I stole his song You can still hear me singin' To the people who don't listen To the things that I am sayin' Prayin' someone's gonna hear And I guess I'll die explaining How the things that they complain about Are things they could be changin' Hopin' someone's gonna care. I was born to be a singer And I'm bound to die the same But I've got to feed this hunger in my soul If I never have a nickel I won't even die in shame 'Cause I don't believe that no one wants to know...