Bessie Smith Follow

Face it in you or me

We carry a sensitive cargo
Below the waterline
Tickin' like a time bomb
With a primitive design

Behind the finer feelings
This civilized veneer
The heart of a lonely hunter
Guards a dangerous frontier

The balance can sometimes fail
Strong emotions can tip the scale

Don't want to silence a desperate voice
For the sake of security
No one wants to make a terrible choice
On the price of being free

I don't want to face the killer instinct
Face it in you or me
So we keep it under lock and key
Lock and key

It's not a matter of mercy
It's not a matter of laws
Plenty of people will kill you
For some fanatical cause

It's not a matter of conscience
A search for probable cause
It's just a matter of instinct
A matter of fatal flaws

No reward for resistance
No assistance, no applause

I don't want to face the killer instinct
Face it in you or me
So we keep it under lock and key

I don't want to face the killer instinct
Face it in you or me
So we keep it under lock and key
Lock and key

I don't want to silence a desperate voice
For the sake of security
No one wants to make a terrible choice
On the price of being free

I don't want to face the killer instinct
Face it in you or me
So we keep it under lock and key

I don't want to face the killer instinct
Face it in you or me
So we keep it under lock and key
Lock and key

We don't want to be victims
On that we all agree
So we lock up the killer instinct
And throw away the key

Face it in you or me