Take a little walk to the edge of town
Go across the tracks

Where the viaduct looms
Like a bird of doom
As it shifts and cracks

Where secrets lie in the border fires

In the humming wires

Hey man, you know

You're never coming back

Past the square, past the bridge

Past the mills, past the stacks

On a gathering storm comes

A tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat

With a red right hand

[Verse 2: Nick Cave]

He'll wrap you in his arms
Tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams
It took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole
Heal your shrinking soul
But there won't be a single thing that you can do

He's a god, he's a man
He's a ghost, he's a guru

They're whispering his name

Through this disappearing land

But hidden in his coat
Is a red right hand

[Verse 3: Nick Cave]

You don't have no money?

He'll get you some

You don't have no car?

He'll get you one

You don't have no self-respect

You feel like an insect

Well don't you worry buddy

Cause here he comes

Through the ghettos and the barrio

And the Bowery and the slums

A shadow is cast wherever he stands

Stacks of green paper

In his red right hand

[Organ Solo 1]

[Verse 4: Nick Cave]

You'll see him in your nightmares

You'll see him in your dreams

He'll appear out of nowhere but

He ain't what he seems

You'll see him in your head

On the TV screen

And hey buddy, I'm warning

You to turn it off

He's a ghost, he's a god

He's a man, he's a guru

You're one microscopic cog

In his catastrophic plan

Designed and directed

By his red right hand