Hairshirt - R.E.M.

I am not the type of dog

That could keep you waiting

For no good reason

Run a carbon-black test on my jaw

And you will find it’s all been said before

I can swing my megaphone and long arm the rest

It’s easier and better

To just beat it from the chest

Of desire

I could walk into this room

And the waves of conversation are enough

To knock you down in the undertow

So alone, so alone in my life

Feed me banks of light

And hang your hairshirt on the lowest rung

It’s a beautiful life

And I can hang my hairshirt

Away up high in the attic of the wrong dog’s life chest

Or bury it at sea

All my life I’ve searched for this

Here I am, here I am in your life

It’s a beautiful life

My life

It’s a beautiful life

Your life