The Ballad of the Sin Eater

[Intro]
When you run, digger, runner, listener, thief
You carry it all with you

[Verse 1]
Today I woke up uncertain
And you know that gives me the fits
So I left this land of fungible convictions
Because it seemed like the pits
When I say convictions
I mean it's something to abjure
And when I say uncertain
I mean to doubt I'll not turn out a caricature

[Verse 2]
So I went off in search of my forebears
'Cause my forbearance was in need
But the only job I could get in dear old Blighty
Was working on the railway between Selby and Leeds
So I went by ferry to Belfast
Where I had cause to think
They wanted none of my armchair convictions
But nobody seemed to mind when I was putting on the drinks

[Chorus 1]
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, they hate you 'cause you're guilty

[Verse 3]
So I stayed out all night in Ibiza
By way of San Sebastian
Where they said "Yankee, you better watch what you're saying
Unless you're saying it in Basque or in Catalan"
Then all the way east to Novi Sad
Nary a bridge was to be seen
But mother Russia, she laid her pontoons on down
So I crossed over, if you know what I mean

[Verse 4]
Then on the road to Damascus
Yes, the scales, they fell from my eyes
And the simplest lesson I learned at the Mount of Olives
That everybody lies
And the French Foreign Legion
You know they did their best
But I never believed in T.E. Lawrence
So how the hell could I believe in Beau Geste, huh?

[Chorus 1]
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, they hate you 'cause you're guilty

[Chorus 2]
And you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you
Why would you think they would hate you, now would you?
Ah, but they hate you, make no mistake, they hate you

[Verse 5]
I spent a night in Kigali
In a five diamond hotel
Where maybe someday they'll do the Watusi
On down in Hutu hell
I fell in with a merchant marine
Who promised to take me home
But when I woke up all beaten and bloodied
I couldn't tell if it was Jersey or Sierra Leone

[Chorus 1]
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, they hate you 'cause you're guilty

[Chorus 2]
So you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you
Why would you think they would hate you, now would you?
Ah, but they hate you, make no mistake, they hate you

[Verse 6]
And they're knocking in my head
Just like they're knocking at my door
And maybe it was me or maybe it was my brother
But either me or me and him went down to the bar
Where I got seven powers in me
For to give me the cure
When seven Powers failed to spin me
I had to get me seven more

[Verse 7]
And when I say me
I mean my brain (When the cocaine hits me)
And when I say give me the cure
I mean to kill the pain
And when I say kill the pain
I mean to get the devil out
And when I say devil
I mean the manifestation of doubt, what about?

[Chorus 1]
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
Ah, but they hate you, they hate you 'cause you're guilty

[Chorus 2]
And you didn't think they could hate you, now did you?
You didn't think they could hate you
Why would you think they would hate you, now would you?
Ah, but they hate you, make no mistake, they hate you