In the deepest night
I was feeling half past dead
I just needed somewhere
To rest and lay my head.
I said ‘mister, could you tell me
Somewhere I could lay my head?’
He put his arm round my shoulder
And this is what he said:
“Take a load of famine
Take a load of greed
I’ll see you right my son,
If you just put your load on me.”
I walked with him down the street
He says “this Jester’s my brother,”
And so we continued to walk
Fool on one side, devil on the other.
I asked him what he was doing out
When it was a good quarter to twelve
And he just smiled and said, “Son,
Sometimes you have to think of someone other than yourself,
Now let’s go and get you some food –
Take a load of spam, take a load of beef
Take a load of chewing tobacca
And then put your weight on me.”
When we went to a little saloon
And I asked him why he did what he did
He just sipped his drink
Then said, ‘hey listen kid’
There’s a lot of people in this world
Who are only out for themselves today
They’re so consumed with their problems
They just can’t seem to see the way.
There’s so much greed around
There’s so much fear –
Sometimes I sit and think
Well, where do we go from here?”
Then he looked at me
Then he leaned a little to
And said, ‘I’m a man of the world’
And I know what we got to do.
We got to help one man at a time
Unlike religion we can’t save them altogether
One soul at a time my friend, come
And see what I mean down on the heather”
So we went down past the brush
Past people walking around
They had their own trajectory and problems
They commuted without a sound.
‘I see what you mean’ I said
‘Everyone’s too full of their own concern’
And the little man just smiled at me
‘That’s something you’re going to have to learn’
But just because it’s happening, doesn’t mean it can’t change
So take a load of greed,
Take all the things that hurt you
And put your load on me.”
He said “tell me all your troubles,
That’s how we defeat the greed
I’ll be there to listen ‘til they’re gone.
Feel free to put your load on me.”