Only Ticket Out

Shudder up 'round midnight
Dirty hammers in my head
I'm sticky razed and shakin'
Stinkin' like the dead

Five shots of gutter whiskey
Gets me into the shower
Dress for a cold night of menace
I gotta score in an hour

Still the clock keeps on tickin'
And I begin to figure out
Gettin' right in my soul mister
May be my only ticket out

This raw edge I've been skatin'
Has not been good to me
Piles of dirty money vanish
False friends in misery

Where do I turn to leave
A bankrupt life behind
Made a snarling jigsaw puzzle
Of my foolish damaged mind

Gonna rise up this mountain
Cast the chains of shame and doubt
Gettin' straight in my soul mister
May be my only ticket out

Raise a glass of Mad Dog
The dark pills they're all for me
Snort four fat lines of my best friend's ashes
And pretend I'm feelin free
Hell that ain't no way to be

Blacked out cold in an alley
Full of NyQuil and stale dope
Two men carry me to a church basement
I smell hot coffee, I smell hope

These strangers seem a bit like me
And have learned to live without
The booze, the drugs, the madness
So I try to stick it out

And rise up from disaster
Cast the chains of shame and doubt
I was not born to surrender
Seem like hope's the only ticket out

And rise up lord lift me up now
Cast these chains of shame and doubt
Was not born to surrender
Seem like hope's the only ticket out

Yes some hope good souls and hot coffee
May be my only ticket out
May be my only ticket out
May be my only ticket out