[m/l van Dyk]

Peter and Mary, drive cross-country

Entering Desperation, Nevada

Red lights flash and their destines changed

As the patrol car pulls behind them

Collie Etrangian, arm of the law

Stops them and searches the back of their car

There in the trunk, some drugs in a bag

And they find themselves arrested

Pulled them over, to the side of the road

With a body that's bloated and bursting; too old

"We'll get this sorted out in Desperation

Tak!

Hated is burning, under his skin

And an evil power that eats from within

He bleeds from his eyes as he drives them by

The biggest mine in North America

Technology working anew in the depths

The soul of the mine now disturbed from its rest

Answers will be found in Desperation

There's a little dead girl, lying on the steps of the jail

And Collie guns down Peter as he stares into her eyes

The Carver family hears the shot from the cell

And wonders why their daughter had to die

Ralph and Ellie Carter, and their son, David, too

Staring from within the cell like animals in a zoo

Something brought them here to Desperation

With them is Tom, the only one from the town

His alcoholic's spirit is beaten and worn down

And Mary joins this group in Desperation.