Dustin Welch

Lyrics & Stories Tijuana Bible

Track 08

St. Lucy's Eyes

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 meI never thought about it then, call it growing old or shedding skinYou place the target for the blame, like a camera taking aimIt 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 allThen I'll be the last to leave, nights getting drunk and losing speedI second guess the life I lead, but nothing else comes naturally

ChorusSaint Lucy's eyes lead me through the darkThis life I lead, it's not for the faint of heart

Shaking off a nervous dream, trying not to think of anythingI'm giving everything I've got just to scare the demons offI wander down the corridors, the housekeeping doing their choresI mumble something casually, cause nothing else comes naturally

Repeat chorus

I close my eyes and try to breathe as I feel my chest tighteningOnly I know where I've been, I refuse to let the silence inMy dreams are full of things I've seen, to the point and frighteningI 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 meI second guess the life I lead, but nothing else comes naturally

Played by

  • Dustin Welchlead vocals, banjo
  • Jeremy Nailelectric guitar
  • Scotty Bucklinpiano
  • Steve Bernalbass
  • Eldridge Goinsdrums, background vocals

The story

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.