How To Beat The Devil
Kris Kristofferson

It was wintertime in Nashville
Down on music city row,
And I had to find a place to get
Myself out of the cold
To warm the frozen feeling
That was eating at my bones,
Keep the chilly wind off my guitar.
My thirsty wanted whiskey
My hungry needed beans,
But it’d been a month of paydays
Since I’d earned the equal scene
So with a stomach full of empty
And a pocket full of dreams
I swallowed my pride and stepped inside a bar,
Actually you’d call it a tavern
Cigarette smoke to the ceiling
Sawdust on the floor, friendly shadows
I saw that there was just one old man sitting at the bar,
And I could see him checking me and my guitar,
He said, ‘Come up here boy and show us what you are!’
I said, ‘I’m dry.’ He bought me a beer.
He looked at my guitar and said, ‘It’s a tough life ain’it?’
I look ed at him and he said, ‘You aint making any money are you?’
I said, ‘You been reading my mail.’
He just smiled and said, ‘Let me see that guitar,
I got something you oughta hear.’
Then he laid it on me…

If you waste your time talking to
The people who won’t listen to
The things that you are saying who
Do you think’s gonna hear?
And if you should die explaining how
The things that they complain about
Are things they could be changing,
Who do you think’s gonna care?
There were other lonely singers
In a world turned deaf and blind
Who were crucified
For what they tried to show
And their voices have been scattered by
The swirling winds of time,
Because the truth remains
That no one wants to know.

The old man was a stranger
But I’d heard his workds before
Back when failure had me locked out
On the wrong side of the door,
When no one stood beside me
But my shadow on the floor
And lonesome is more than a state of mind.
See the devil haunts a hungry man
If you don’t want to join him,
You gotta beat him.
I ain’t saying I beat the devil,
But I drank his beer for nothing
And then I stole his song…

And you still can hear me singing to
The people who won’t listen to
The things that I am saying hoping
Someone’s gonna hear?
And I guess I’ll die explaining how
The things that they complain about
Are things they could be changing,
Hoping someone’s gonna care?
I was born a lonely singer
And I’m bound to die the same
But I’ve gotta feed the hunger in my soul
And if I never have a nickel
I won’t ever die ashamed,
Because I don’t believe
That no one wants to know.



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Lyrics by Kris Kristofferson

  \   A Moment of Forever   A Song I'd Like To Sing   A Song I'd Like To Sing   Aguila Del Norte   Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground   Anthem '84   Anthem '84   Back In My Baby's Arms   Back In My Baby's Arms   Bad Love Story   Bandits Of Baverly Hills   Best Of All Possible Worlds   Best Of All Possible Worlds   Between Heaven & Here   Between Heaven And Here   Bigger The Fool (the Harder The Fall)   Bigger The Fool, The Harder The Fall   Billy Dee   Blame It On The Stones   Blame It on the Stones   Blessing In Disguise   Blue As I Do   Border Lord   Born To Love Me   Bread For The Body   Breakdown   Breakdown (a Long Way From Home)   Bring on the Sunshine   Broken Freedom Song   Burden Of Freedom   Casey's Last Ride   Casey's Stand   Casey's Last Ride   Chase The Feeling   Closer To The Bone   Come Sundown   Come Sundown [#][*]   Crippled Crow   Crossing The Border   Daddy's Song   Daddy's Song   Dakota (The Dancing Bear)   Darby's Castle   Darby's Castle   Desperados Waiting For A Train   Devallier   Devil To Pay   Don't Cuss The Fiddle   Don't Let The Bastards   Don't Let the Bastards (Get You Down)   Don't Cuss The Fiddle   Down To Her Socks   Duvalier's Dream   Duvalier's Dream   Eagle And The Bear   Easter Island   Easy Come On   Easy, Come On   Eddie The Eunuch   El Coyote   El Gavilan   El Gavilan (The Hawk)   Enough For You   Epitaph   Epitaph (black And Blue)   Evergreen (Love Theme From "A Star Is Born") [Repr...   Everything   Everything's Beautiful (in Its Own Way)   Everything's Beautiful (In Its Own Way)   Fallen Angel   Feeling Mortal   Fighter   Final Attraction   For The Good Times   Forever In Your Love   From Here To Forever   From The Bottle To The Bottom   Funny How Time Slips Away   Gettin' By, High And Strange   Gettin' By, High And Strange   Getting By, High, and Strange   Give It Time To Be Tender   Golden Idol   Good Christian Soldier   Good Love   Good Love (Shouldn't Feel So Bad)   Good Morning John   Good Times   Hall Of Angels   Happy Happy Birthday Baby   Happy, Happy Birthday Baby   He's A Pilgrim   Heart   Hellacious Acres   Help Me   Help Me Make It Through The Night   Help Me Make It Through the Night [DVD]   Help Me Make It Through the Night [DVD][*]   Help Me Make It Throught the Night   Help Me Make It Trough the Night   Here Comes That Rainbow Again   Hero   Highwayman   Highwayman - Johnny Cash   Highwayman (Johnny Cash cover)   Highwayman (With Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson & ...   Holy Creation   Holy Woman   Hoola Hoop   How Do You Feel   How Do You Feel (about Foolin' Around)   How Do You Feel About Foolin' Around   I Believe in Love   I Fought The Law   I Got A Life Of My Own   I May Smoke Too Much   I Never Cared For You   I'd Rather Be Sorry   I'd Rather Be Sorry (With Rita Coolidge)   I'll Take Any Chance I Can With You   I'm Down, but I Keep Falling   I've Got a Life of My Own   I've Got to Have You   I'd Rather Be Sorry   I'll Take Any Chance I Can With You   I'm Down, But I Keep Falling   I've Got To Have You   If It's All The Same To You   If It's All The Same To You   If You Don't Like Hank Williams   If You Don't Like Hank Williams (Kiss My Ass)   If You Don't Like Hank Williams   If You Don’t Like Hank Williams   In The News   It Sure Was   It Sure Was (Love)   It's All Over, All Over Again   It's Never Gonna Be The Same Again   It's All Over, All Over Again   It's Never Gonna Be The Same Again   Jesse Jackson   Jesse Younger   Jesus Was A Capricorn   Jesus Was a Capricorn (Owed to John Prine)   Jody & The Kid   Jody & The Kid   Jody And The Kid   Johnny Lobo   Josie   Just The Other Side Of Nowhere   Just The Other Side Of Nowhere   Killer Barracuda   Killing Time   Kiss The World Goodbye   Last Time   Late Again   Late Again (gettin' Over You)   Late John Garfield Blues   Law Is For Protection Of The People   Lay Me Down   Lay Me Down (And Love The World Away)   Let The Walls Come Down   Letters Have No Arms   Lights Of Magdala   Little Girl Lost   Little Things   Living Legend   Long Way From Home   Lost Inside of You   Love Don't Live Here Anymore   Love Don't Live Here Anymore   Love Is The Way   Love Of Money   Lover Please   Lovin' Her Was Easier   Lovin' Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do ...   Loving Her Was Easier   Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do   Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do ...   Loving You Was Easier   Lucky In Love   Magdalene   Mal Sacate   Maybe You Heard   Me & Bobby McGee   Me And Bobby Mcgee   Me and Bobby McGee [DVD]   Me and Paul   Mean Old Man   Michoacan   Moment Of Forever   Moment Of Forver   Mountain Dew   My Heart Was The Last One To Know   New Game Now   New Mister Me   Night Life   Nobody Loves Anybody Anymore   Nobody Wins   Not Everyone Knows   Number One   Once More With Feeling   Once More with Feeling [DVD]   Once More with Feeling [DVD]   One Day At A Time   One For The Money   Out Of Mind Out Of Sight   Out Of Mind, Out Of Sight   Pilgrim   Pilgrim Chapter 33   Pilgrim: Chapter 33   Pilgrim's Progress   Pilgrim's Progress   Ping Pong   Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends   Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends   Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends   Prisoner   Promise   Prove It To You One More Time Again   Put It Off Until Tomorrow   Queen Bee   Rain   Rainbow Road   Ramblin Jack   Ramblin' Jack   Rescue Mission   Risky Bizness   Risky Business   Road Warrior's Ament   Road Warrior's Lament   Road Warrior's Lament   Rock And Roll Time   Rocket to   Rocket To Stardom   Rose in Paradise   Sabre And The Rose   Sam's Song   Sam's Song (Ask Any Working Girl)   Sam's Song   Same Old Song   Same Old Songs   San Francisco Mabel Joy   Sandinista   Seadream   Shake Hands With The Devil   Shandy   Shandy (the Perfect Disguise)   Shipwrecked In The 80's   Shipwrecked In The Eighties   Silver   Silver (the Hunger)   Silver Mantis   Silver Tongued Devil And I   Sister Sinead   Slouching Toward The Millenium   Slow Down   Smile At Me Again   Smokey Put The Sweat On Me   Snakebit   Somebody Nobody Knows   Someone Loves You Honey   Spooky Lady's Revenge   Spooky Lady's Revenge   Stagger Mountain Tragedy   Stairway To The Bottom   Stallion   Star - Crossed   Star Spandgled Bummer   Star Spandgled Bummer (Whores Die Hard)   Star Spangled Bummer (whores Die Hard)   Star-Crossed   Star-Spangled Bummer (Whores Die Hard)   Starlight And Stone   Stranger   Stranger I Love   Sugar Man   Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down   Sunday Morning Coming Down   Sweet Susannah   Taker   Tell Me One More Time   Thank You For A Life   The Bandits Of Beverly Hills   The Best of All Possible Worlds   The Bigger The Fool   The Bigger The Fool (the Harder The Fall)   The Bigger the Fool, the Harder the Fall   The Burden Of Freedom   The Burden Of Freedom   The Captive   The Circle   The Devil To Pay   The Eagle And The Bear   The Eye Of The Storm   The Fighter   The Final Attraction   The Golden Idol   The Heart   The Hero   The Lady's Not For Sale   The Last Thing To Go   The Last Time   The Law Is For Protection Of The People   The Little Things   The Pilgrim   The Pilgrim (Chapter 33)   The Pilgrim, Chapter 33   The Pilgrim; Chapter 33   The Pilgrim;chapter 33   The Pilgrim: Chapter 33   The Pilgrim: Chapter 33 (Hang In, Hopper)   The Pilgrim: Chapter 33 [*]   The Pilgrim: Chapter 33 [Live]   The Prisoner   The Promise   The Race   The Sabre And The Rose   The Show Goes On   The Silver Tongued Devil and I   The Silver-Tongued Devil   The Stallion   The Stranger I Love   The Taker   The winner   The Woman in the Moon   The Wonder   The Year 2000 Minus 25   The Year 2003 Minus 25   They Killed Him   Things I Might Have Been   Third World War   Third World Warrior   This Old Road   To Beat The Devil   To Make A Long Story Short (She's Gone)   To Make A Long Story Short (She's Gone)   Under The Gun   Walk Our Own Road   Watch Closely Now   We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds   What About Me   What Do You Think About Lovin'   What Do You Think About Lovin'   Whatcha Gonna Do   When Are You Ever Gonna Learn   When I Loved Her   When She's Wrong   When She's Wrong   Whiskey, Whiskey   Who's To Bless And Who's To Blame   Who's To Bless And Who's To Blame   Why Me   Why Me [DVD]   Why Me Lord   Why Me Lord?   Wild American   Wild American   Worth Fighting For   Write Your Own Songs   Year 2000 Minus 25   You Don't Tell Me What To Do   You Don't Tell Me What To Do   You Left Me A Long Long Time Ago   You Left Me a Long, Long Time Ago   You Show Me Yours   You Show Me Yours (and I'll Show You Mine)   You'll Always Have Someone   You're Gonna Love Yourself (In The Morning)   You're Gonna Love Yourself In The Morning   You'll Always Have Someone   You're Gonna Love Yourself (In The Morning)

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