Red Right Hand

Take a little walk to the edge of town
And go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms like a bird of doom
As it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires
In the humming wires

Hey man, you know you're never coming back
Past the square, past the bridge
Past the mills, past the stacks
On a gathering storm comes a tall, handsome man
In a dusty black coat with a red right hand

He'll wrap you in his arms
Tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams
It took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole
To heal your shrinking soul

But there won't be a single thing that you can do
He's a god, he's a man
He's a ghost, he's a guru
They're whispering his name through this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat is a red right hand

You don't have no money?
He'll get you some
You don't have no car?
He gets you one
You don't have no self-respect?
You feel like an insect?

Well don't you worry, buddy 'cause here he comes
Through the ghettos and the barrio
And the Bowery and the slums
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of green paper in his red right hand

You'll see him in your nightmares
You'll see him in your dreams
He'll appear out of nowhere
But he ain't what he seems
You'll see him in your head
On the TV screen

And hey buddy, I'm warning you to turn it off
He's a ghost, he's a god
He's a man, he's a guru
You're one microscopic cog in this catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by his red right hand

His red right hand
His red right hand