I was born in a pool, they made my mother stand
And I spat on that surgeon and his trembling hand
When I felt the light I was worse than bored
I stole the doctor's scalpel and I slit the cord
Refrain:
I was a Catholic boy,
Redeemed through pain,
Not through joy
I was two months early they put me under glass
I screamed and cursed their children when the nurses passed
Was convicted of theft when I slipped from the womb
They led me straight from my mother to a cell in the Tombs
Repeat Refrain.....
They starved me for weeks, they thought they'd teach me fear
I fed on cellmates' dreams, it gave me fine ideas
When they cut me loose, the time had served me well
I made allies in heaven, I made comrades in Hell
I was a Catholic child
The blood ran red
The blood ran wild
I make angels dance and drop to their knees
When I enter a church the feet of statues bleed
I understand the fate of all my enemies
Just like Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
Repeat Refrain....
I watched the sweetest psalm stolen by the choir
I dreamed of martyrs' bones hanging from a wire
I make a contribution, I get absolution
I make a resolution to purify my soul
Repeat Refrain.....
They can't touch me now
I got every sacrament behind me:
I got baptism,
I got communion,
I got penance,
I got extreme unction
I've got confirmation
'Cause I'm a Catholic child
The blood ran red
The blood ran wild!
Now I'm a Catholic man
I put my tongue to the rail whenever I can.
I want the angel
Whose dreams are fatal
They cause the snake's milk to run and curdle
I want the angel
Whose darkness doubles
It absorbs the brilliance of all my troubles
I want the angel
That will not shatter
Every time I whisper, "Girl it does not matter"
I want the angel
Who's got the proof
She signals her devotion from the rails on the roof
I want the angel
That comes to stay
She don't let lawyers and ambition lead her away
I want the angel
Whose eyes are raving
Who takes what I'm giving and not what I'm saving
I want the angel
Whose bones are so sharp
That they can break through their own excuses
Well, to be a blind man,
Hey, that would be a fine thing
Then I could dream at night of total strangers
And all the music would be so spaceless
And all the women would be so faceless,
They'd be so faceless they'd be like old film
Just like old film I never did process
I want the angel
That knows the sky
She got virtue, she got the parallel light in her eye
I want the angel
That's partly lame
She filters clarity from her desperate shame
I want the angel
That knows rejection
Who's like a whore in love with her own reflection
I want the angel
Whose touch don't miss
When the blood comes through the dropper like a thick red kiss
If I could break through I could be certain
But this obsession is like some fiery curtain
All the numbers reduced to zero
And those who died young, they are my heroes
They are my heroes, they took the walk
Where the heart made sense and the mind can't talk
I want the angel
Whose child don't weep
She's got dreams designed for eternal sleep
I want the angel
That will not change
Into a four-legged monster in love with the strange
I want the angel
That never chooses
And don't come running back every time she loses
But I want the angel that never loses