Chris Smither - The Devil's Real lyrics

The devil ain't a legend, the devil's real In the empty way he touched me, where I hardly feel In the empty hole inside me, the nothing that'll ride me Down into my grave, it does not heal Nothing is as something, it'll s** you dry As the whisper you can hardly hear that tells you why. They told me "You ain't got no problems, you're self-deceived" These seeming contradictions, well they make believe It was then that I decided my life was being guided By a second-rate dependence on first-cla** thieves They told me I was breaking through, I was breaking down By the time I learned the difference they had long left town. You know that they ain't so malicious, they ain't mean They're just vaguely well-intentioned with no love I've seen And it's the emptiness that k**s you, cold comfort that'll fill you With a sense of dread that maybe things are worse than they seem They don't tell you nothing you don't already know They just keep holding out the promise but they don't let go You know they don't let go. Well, it was hard luck and trouble, bad times too I know I had 'em coming, but I got through It was advice that you gave me in a dream that saved me You said "Get a new life contract that spells out your dues." Took good will to find it, a clear conscience to sign it Now I dream about the good times and it all comes true.