The Hitter Lyrics

Come to the door Ma, and unlock the chain

I was just passin’ through, I got caught in the rain

There’s nothing I want, nothin’ that you need say

Just let me lay down for a while and I’ll be on my way¡

I was no more than a kid, when you put me on. the Southern Queen

With the police on my back, I fled all the way down to New Orleans

I fought in the dockyards, and with the money I made

I knew the fight was my home, and blood was my trade

Baton Rouge, Ponchitoula, and Lafayette town

Well, they paid me their money Ma, and I knocked the men down

I did what I did, well it came easily

Restraint and mercy Ma were always strangers to me

I fought champion Jack Thompson, in a field full of mud

The rain poured through the canvas tent,and mixed with our blood

In the twelfth I slipped my tongue, over my broken jaw

and I stood over him, I pounded his bloody body,

right into the floor

Well the bell rang and rang, and still I kept on and on and on

‘Till I felt my glove leather, slip between his skin and bone

Then the women and the money came fast and the days I lost track

The women red, the money green, but the numbers were black

I fought for the men in their silk suits, to lay down their bets

I took my good share Ma, ya see I, I have no regrets

Then I took the fix at the state armory, with big John McDowell

oh, From high in the rafters, I watched myself fall

As they raised his arm my stomach twisted. and the sky it went black

I stuffed my bag with their good money ma, and I never looked back

So understand, in the end Ma, every man plays the game

If you know me one different, then speak out his name

Ma, if my voice now, now you don’t recognize

Then just open the door, and look into your dark eyes

I ask of you nothin, not a kiss, not a smile,

Just open the door and let me lay down for a while

Now the gray rain is fallin’, my ring fightin’s done

So in the work fields and alleys,ya see I, I take all who come

If you’re a better man than me, then come on,

and step up to the line, step right to the line

Show me your money , and speak out your crime

Now there’s nothin’ I want Ma, nothin’ that you need say

Just let me lay down for a while and I’ll be on my way

Tonight in a shipyard, a man draws a circle in the dirt

I move to the center, and I take off my shirt

I study him for the cuts, the scars, the pain,

Man no time can erase

I move hard to the left, and I strike to the face