Dustin Welch, Super Rooster Music (SESAC); Jeremiah Nelson, CanopyAgency (BMI); Micky Braun, Picky IO Micky Music (BMI)
Things ain’t what they used to be, you act less like you than me
I never thought about it then, call it growing old or shedding skin
You place the target for the blame, like a camera taking aim
It hits you like a sedative, when you hear the shutter click
First you showed up with the key and said, “You should probably come with me.” Next thing I knew I can’t recall what life was like before it all
Then I’ll be the last to leave, nights getting drunk and losing speed
I second guess the life I lead, but nothing else comes naturally
Chorus
Saint Lucy’s eyes lead me through the dark
This life I lead, it’s not for the faint of heart
Shaking off a nervous dream, trying not to think of anything
I’m giving everything I’ve got just to scare the demons off
I wander down the corridors, the housekeeping doing their chores
I mumble something casually, cause nothing else comes naturally
Repeat Chorus
I close my eyes and try to breathe as I feel my chest tightening
Only I know where I’ve been, I refuse to let the silence in
My dreams are full of things I’ve seen, to the point and frightening
I pray for daylight quietly, cause nothing else comes naturally
Repeat Chorus
Things ain’t what they used to be, you act less like you than me
I second guess the life I lead, but nothing else comes naturally
Dustin Welch: lead vocals, banjo; Jeremy Nail: electric guitar; Scotty Bucklin: piano; Steve Bernal: bass; Eldridge Goins: drums, background vocals
Year two at Steel Bridge, I was rooming with Jeremiah and we wrote a small handful of stuff. The week had ended, but we didn’t need to be back in Madison for another couple days for a few gigs he’d lined up, so we hung around and had the hotel basically to ourselves. The first three verses of this song came out in a matter of about 45 min. I put it to the same chord progression as another new song of mine called ‘Man Of Stone’, and we cut it in one of the hotel room studios.
A few months later back in Austin, I brought the thing over to Micky Braun who was writing for their new Motorcars record. He started talking about how he’d always wanted a ‘Saint’ song, how everybody has a ‘Saint’ song (specifically his brothers in Reckless Kelly), and it was high time he had one for himself. We got looking through a book of different Saints, and came across a painting of a woman holding a platter with two eyeballs on it. Naturally, this was to be the one we were looking for.
Saint Lucy, the Patron Saint of the Blind, was not an easy woman to dispose of. After refusing to marry her pagan bridegroom and dispersing her dowry to the poor, her captors tried to burn her with no effect and even after hitching her to a team of oxen could not move her an inch. They gouged out her eyes with a fork and were thus able to finally execute her, preserving her name in martyrdom.