Comes a maiden, shoulders laiden with a wrong she cannot right How in sweet Emmanuel's name am I supposed to sleep tonight? So I told her Weeping's for the weary, and you don't seem the type To withhold my happy ending - gimme something better to write Forgive me, Chester, yesterday's bread Is all I can afford today Brother you hang tight, don't let the melancholy bite And I'll chase the sinners away Comes a man with scars bone-deep and a conscience far from clean Though he wore them proud and spoke rather loudly of things I had never seen See tales like his make the world go 'round, for not even I am immune To the pain of a life well-lived hiding under a Sunday tune Forgive me, Chester, yesterday's bread Is all I can afford today Brother you hang tight, don't let the melancholy bite And I'll chase the sinners away Comes a boy with ribs the cage of a beast I cannot tame Though the lines on his face left no space for a stranger to write his name So days I sat with the boy, and not for lack of attempt Did my pen stay dry and his story remain exempt Forgive me, Chester, yesterday's bread Is all I can afford today Brother you hang tight, don't let the melancholy bite And I'll chase the sinners away Brother you hang tight, don't let the melancholy bite And I'll chase the sinners away