From the recording Ex Nihilo
Lyrics
Well I loved this girl from around the way, her favorite thing was this old good-luck charm — a stone that looked like the cold fist of my heart if my heart had never felt any harm. Well she loved that stone more than she loved me, and I thought of ways I could get her to stay, so I stole her charm while one night she was dreaming to help her see that I could take its place
We traced her steps down to the street and the rain started falling and she said she was blue, I said girl why you so sad when you still got me? And she said you’re unlucky and you’ll see it's true. Well I got mad cause she saw right through me, and we got quiet at the place with the railroad crossing, where stones get to slipping when the rain goes sideways and the rest of the losers keep on counting what’s costing
I'm clean like a forest fire
Stripped down to the naked wire
What do you do when you do when you should
(What do you do when you do what you should?)
And the doing makes you kill all that’s good?
Well we had hard words right there in the street, and I told her I’d thrown her charm in the river, I could feel her stone like a lie in my pocket and I begged her instead to take what I could give her, but she turned and ran up the wet black street — and the cars were merciful and the summer breeze was sweet, but the train rolled through with the wheels going crack, and right over her and she was never coming back
So now I walk on the avenue alone, although I bring for company that stone, and I knew what she meant about the weight of gone thing, and I know what an empty future can bring — Now I’m the one who’s afraid to lose it, that little black stone that looks like my HEART, and I’ve got a gun in case someone tries to steal it, because I can’t live without my good luck charm
I'm clean like a forest fire
Stripped down to the naked wire
What do you do when you do when you should
(What do you do when you do what you should?)
And the doing makes you kill all that’s good?