Devil’s Grace in Midnight

Lyrics

[Intro] [Warm grand piano, sparse blues guitar, intimate analogue sound] [Male: restrained warm high tenor, smoky chest voice, slight rasp] I knew the rules before I knew your name, kept my hands clean, kept my heart the same. Never crossed a line I couldn't see, I was doing fine— [spoken, teasing] till you taught me better. [Verse 1] [Piano, soft bass, restrained drums; subtle Hammond enters] [Male: tender gritty tenor, controlled gospel inflections] I wore my Sunday manners every night, said the proper words and held myself just right. Then you came laughing through an open door, and suddenly the things I shouldn't want I wanted more. You never asked me to become someone new, you just smiled like you already knew. [Pre-Chorus] [Drums strengthen; Hammond swells; rolling rock piano] [Male: growing chest voice, restrained rasp] There was a match beneath my skin, you didn't strike it— [band stop] [whisper] you just let the air in. [Chorus] [Full drums, pounding piano, Hammond, blues guitar, subtle strings] [Male: powerful open-throated rock-gospel belt, bent vowels] You bring the devil out in me, and heaven knows I like him. You take the man I ought to be and turn the lights out behind him. Oh, I walked the straightest line till your hand found mine— If loving you is trouble, let trouble set me free. You bring the devil— [playful growl] sweet little devil— [full belt] OUT IN ME! [Instrumental] [Wild 1950s rock piano; Hammond answers; dirty blues guitar bends] [Bridge] [Drop to piano and Hammond] [Male: intimate, almost spoken] I don't need saving. I don't need changing. I don't need angels telling me where I belong. I only need that look you're giving, the one that makes behaving feel so damn wrong. [Kick returns; piano hammers; distant gospel choir] [Male: preacher cadence] Oh, come on now— [shouted] I SPENT MY WHOLE LIFE BEING GOOD! [Choir] Being good! [Male: preacher shout] And what did being good ever do— [Choir] Tell us! [Male: rising scream] —if I never got to be good— [stop] AT BEING BAD WITH YOU?! [Band explodes: pounding piano, screaming Hammond, guitar, huge drums, full gospel choir] [Final Chorus] [Male: ecstatic raspy high-tenor scream-belt] YOU BRING THE DEVIL OUT IN ME! [Choir] Out in me! And heaven knows— HEAVEN KNOWS I LIKE HIM! [Choir] He likes him! You take this careful heart of mine and make it beat like sin! I walked that straight and narrow road, Lord, I walked it faithfully— [drop] But if loving you is trouble— [band crash] THEN TROUBLE'S WHERE I'LL BE! [Male] You bring the devil— [Choir] Bring him out! [Male] You bring the devil— [Choir] Bring him out! [Male: long ecstatic scream] YOU BRING THE DEVIL OUT IN MEEEE! [Break] [Only quiet Hammond] [Male: breathless, intimate] And baby— [pause] [low mischievous growl] don't you dare put him back. [Final Reprise] [Wild gospel-rock piano, Hammond, drums, guitar; choir claps] [Male: laughing shout] OH, COME ON! [Male + Choir] You bring the devil out in me, and heaven knows I like him! [Choir] He likes him! [Male: ecstatic yelp] OH, I LIKE HIM! [spoken preacher shout] PIANO, TESTIFY! [Piano solo: pounding 1950s triplets and glissandos] [False Ending] [Huge chord, crash, fade] [pause] [Male: distant shout] ONE MORE TIME! [Band slams back] [Male + Choir] YOU BRING THE DEVIL OUT IN MEEEE! [Choir] Bring him out! Bring him out! [Male: screaming, laughing] Sweet little devil— stay right here— WITH MEEEEEEEE! [Final crash, piano glissando, Hammond and guitar feedback] [Male: breathless, softly spoken] That's better.