The Devil You Know Lyrics - Todd Snider

Helicopters over the house again 

We got the projects two or three blocks from here 

They pull the kids over for driving while African 

And the ones with the warrants always run in fear 

So I sit here waiting for the coast to clear 

Wishing once again I had a gun around here 

Turn on the news and what do I hear 

Some kid shot the bank up on gallatin road 

Ran away from the cops while he was trying to reload 

He beat them up to East land street on feet 

Now he's probably reloaded and running down my street 

Better turn the alarm on and lock myself in 

Helicopters over the house again 

Sometimes you rise above it 

Sometimes you sneak below 

Somewhere in between believing in heaven 

And facing the devil you know 

Poor kid probably never had a chance to give a fuck 

Wouldn't know good luck from a debutant 

He's gotta find a way to be Steve Mcnair or young buck 

Or he's just tough luck looking for a prison to haunt 

And you can fuck getting any kind of job you want 

Unless you really want to work in a fast food restaurant 

And who wants to do that? do you want to do that? 

I wouldn't trade that for my crooked hat 

Or my gang or my gun or my waist full of pagers 

For a job deep frying shit, for richer teen agers 

If that's where it's at and no one's gonna help 

How you gonna blame a man for helping himself 

There's a war going on that the poor can't win 

Helicopters over the house again 

Sometimes you rise above it 

Sometimes you sneak below 

Somewhere in between believing in heaven 

And facing the devil you know 

Black and white cops shining lights in the bushes 

Can't see how this kid is gonna get very far 

Unless he finds a way to make it back over to Barry street 

And he can't do that unless he steals a car 

Man the way things are they just don't seem right 

All the white people talking 'bout the hope and the light 

There ain't no hope in sam levy just guns and drugs 

We ain't building bridges we're just training thugs 

Then I hear a terrifying kick at my back door 

And in comes this kid I say hey I've seen this kid before 

I see him all the time at that bar on woodland street 

Now he's bleeding in my kitchen tracking mud off his feet 

And he's looking at me like I'll either help him or die 

Until he sees in my eyes that I'm on his side 

I hand him my keys I say you better move fast 

There's a J in the ashtray and plenty of gas 

He throws me the cash and says I'll be back for this 

I say yeah well don't be surprised if there's a little bit of it missing 

His gold teeth glistened with a big old grin 

He said we'll talk about that when I see you again 

He shook my hand I shook his back 

I felt like I was about to have a heart attack 

Until he finally drove away I thought "goddamn" 

Helicopters over the house again 

Sometimes you rise above it 

Sometimes you sneak below 

Somewhere in between believing in heaven 

And facing the devil you know