The Saint of Lost Causes - Justin Townes Earle

I’m a bad dream

I’m not a nightmare, I’m too goody for that

Let’s just say I’m the last thing you wanna see coming

I’m the reason they say watch your back

For so long, I was like a wounded hound

Backed into a chainlink fence

The world at large was just a big, mean kid

Poking me through the fence with a stick

Ain’t nobody goin' back

It takes a whole lotta hurt

Therein lies one of life’s biggest lessons

Ain’t got nothin' to do with deserve

Just pray to the Saint of Lost Causes

Now it’s a cruel world

But it ain’t hard to understand

You got your sheep, got your shepherds

Got your wolves amongst men

It can be hard to tell

You might find a wolf in shepherd’s clothes

And now and then you’re gonna find sheep

In amongst all those troubled souls

You know the folks that’s most afraid of the wolf

If you really stop and think

Throughout time, between a wolf and a shepherd

Who do you think has killed more sheep?

Nah, there’s nothing can be done

It’s just the way it goes

First you get bad, then you get mean

Then there’s nothing left but to grow cold

And pray to the Saint of Lost Causes

Some will say I’ve got no feeling

No heart, and surely no shame

Truth is that this has been with me so long

That I, I must admit I kinda like the pain

How many encounters do you ever have

But again, how many wolves you ever seen?

You got about as much chance of seeing one of them

As you do running into me

Still take nothing for granted

Might live on the best block in Beverly Hills

Be sure you lock up tight at night

'Cause you know poor folks ain’t got nothing to steal

Just pray to the Saint of Lost Causes