10000 Maniacs I`m Not The Man Lyrics

I`m Not The Man Lyrics

[ Merchant ]
[ bassoons: Kim Laskowski & Atsuko Sato ] 

It crawls on his back, won`t ever let him be. 
Stares at the walls until the cinder blocks can breathe. 
His eyes have gone away, escaping over time. 
He rules a crowded nation inside his mind. 

He knows that night like his hand. 
He knows every move he made. 
Late shift, the bell that rang, a time card won`t fade. 
10:05 his truck pulled home. 
10:05 he climbed his stair, about the time he was accused of being there. 

But I`m not the man. 
He goes free as I wait on the row for the man to test the rope he`ll slip
around my throat... 
and silence me. 

On the day he was tried no witnesses testified. 
Nothing but evidence, not hard to falsify. 
His own confession was a prosecutor`s prize, 
made up of fear, of rage and of outright lies. 

But I`m not the man. 
He goes free as the candle vigil glows, as they burn my clothes. 
As the crowd cries, "Hang him slow!" and I feel my blood go cold, he
goes free. 

Call out the KKK, they`re wild after me. 
And with that frenzied look of half-demented zeal, 
they`d love to serve me up my final meal. 
Who`ll read my final rite and hear my last appeal? 
Who struck this devil`s deal?