Nick Cave : Ghosteen

Once there was a song The song yearned to be sung It was a spinning song About the king of rock 'n' roll The king was first a young prince The prince was the best With his black jelly hair He crashed onto a stage in Vegas The king had a queen The queen's hair was a stairway She tended the castle garden And in the garden planted a tree The garden tree was a stairway It was sixteen branches high On the top branch was a nest Sing the high cloudy nest In the nest there was a bird The bird had a wing The wing had a feather Spin the feather and sing the wind The king in time died The queen's heart broke like a vow And the tree returned to the earth With the nest and the bird But the feather spun upward Upward and upward Spinning all the weather vanes And you're sitting at the kitchen table Listening to the radio And I love you And I love you And I love you And I love you And I love you And I love you And I love you Peace will come Peace will come Peace will come in time A time will come A time will come A time will come for us Peace will come Peace will come Peace will come in time A time will come A time will come A time will come for us

Bright Horses

Capo:

III

The bright horses have broken free from the fields They are horses of love, their manes full of fire They are parting the cities, those bright burning horses And everyone is hiding, no one makes a sound And I'm by your side and I'm holding your hand Bright horses of wonder springing from your burning hand And everyone has a heart and it's calling for something And we are all so sick and tired of seeing things as they are Horses are just horses and their manes aren't full of fire And the fields are just fields and there ain't no Lord And everyone is hidden and everyone is cruel And there is no shortage of tyrants and no shortage of fools And the little white shape dancing at the end of the hall Is just a wish that time can't dissolve at all This world is plain to see It don't mean we can't believe In something and any way My baby's coming back now On the next train I can hear the whistle blowing I can hear the mighty roar I can hear the horses prancing In the pastures of the Lord Oh the train is coming And I'm standing here to see And it's bringing my baby Right back to me Well there are some things That are hard to explain But my baby's coming home now On the 5:30 train

Waiting For You

Capo:

III

All through the night we drove

And the wind caught her hair

And we parked on the beach

In the cool evening air

Well, sometimes it's better not to say anything at all Your body is an anchor Never asked to be free Just want to stay in the business Of making you happy

Well, I'm just waiting for you

Waiting for you

Waiting for you A priest runs through the chapel All the calendars are turning A Jesus freak on the street Says He is returning Well, sometimes a little bit of faith can go a long, long way Your soul is my anchor I never asked to be freed Well, sleep now, sleep now Take as long as you need 'Cause I'm just waiting for you Waiting for you Waiting for you Waiting for you Waiting for you Waiting for you

To return

Night Raid

There's a picture of Jesus lying in his mother's arms Shuttered windows, cars humming on the street below The fountain throbbed in the lobby of the Grand Hotel We checked into room thirty-three well, well You were a runaway flake of snow You were skinny and white as a wafer, yeah I know Sitting on the edge of the bed clicking your shoes I slid my little songs out from under you And we all rose from our wonder We would never admit defeat And we leaned out of the window As the rain fell on the street On the street They were just a sigh released from a dying star They were runaway flakes of snow, yeah I know They annexed your insides in a late night raid We sent down for drinks and something to eat The cars humming in the rain on the street below A fountain throbs in the lobby of the Grand Hotel The spurting font of creativity, yeah I know Your head in a pool of your own streaming hair And Jesus lying in his mother's arms, just so Up on the wall, just so And we all rose up from our wonder We will never admit defeat And we leaned out of the window And watched the horses in the street

Sun Forest

I lay in the forest amongst the butterflies and the fireflies And the burning horses and the flaming trees As a spiral of children climb up to the sun Waving goodbye to you and goodbye to me As the past pulls away and the future begins I say goodbye to all that as the future rolls in, like a wave, like a wave And the past with its savage undertow, lets go Come on everyone, come on everyone A spiral of children climbs up to the sun To the sun, to the sun, and on each golden rung A spiral of children climbs up to the sun And a man called Jesus, he promised he would leave us With a word that would light up the night, oh the night But the stars hang from threads and blink off one by one And it isn't any fun, no it isn't any fun To be standing here alone with nowhere to be With a man mad with grief and on each side a thief And everybody hanging from a tree, from a tree And everybody hanging from a tree Come on everyone, come on everyone A spiral of children climbs up to the sun To the sun, to the sun, taking everyone A spiral of children climbs up to the sun There is nothing more valuable than beauty, they say There is nothing more valuable than love And I lie amongst the leaves and the burning trees And the fields of smoke and the black butterflies And the screaming horses and your bright green eyes so beautiful Your bright green eyes, so beautiful I am here Beside you Look for me In the sun I am beside you I am within In the sunshine In the sun

Galleon Ship

If I could sail a galleon ship Long lonely rider cross the sky Seek out mysteries while you sleep And treasures money cannot buy For you know I see you everywhere A servant girl, an empress My galleon ship would will fly and fall Fall and fly and fly and fall Deep into your loveliness And if we rise, my love Before the daylight comes A thousand galleon ships would sail Ghostly around the morning sun As the city rises up As the city rises up As the city rises up As the city rises up For we are not alone it seems So many riders in the sky The winds of longing in their sails Searching for the other side And if we rise, my love Oh my darling precious one We'll stand and watch the galleon ships Circle around the morning sun

Ghosteen Speaks

I am beside you I am beside you I am beside you I am beside you Look for me Look for me I am beside you Look for me I try to forget To remember That nothing is something Where something is meant to be I am beside you I am beside you Look for me Look for me Well, I think they've gathered here for me I am within you You are within me I am beside you You are beside me I think they're singing to be free I think they're singing to be free I think my friends have gathered here for me I think they've gathered here To be beside me Look for me Look for me I am beside you You are beside me You are beside me Look for me

Leviathan

Oh my oh my oh my I love my baby and my baby loves me Oh my oh my oh my I love my baby and my baby loves me We talked it round and round again Then drove the car down to the sea We sat in the car park for an hour or two I love my baby and my baby loves me I love my baby and my baby loves me It's vast and wild and it's deep as the sea And as the sun sinks into the water I love my baby and my baby loves me Oh my oh my oh my Oh my oh my oh my I love my baby and my baby loves me Oh my oh my oh my Oh my oh my oh my I love my baby and my baby loves me

Ghosteen

This world is beautiful Held within its stars I keep it in my heart The stars are your eyes I loved them right from the start A world so beautiful And I keep it In my heart A ghosteen dances in my hand Slowly twirling, twirling, all around Glowing circle in my hand Dancing, dancing, dancing, all around A ghosteen dances in my hand Slowly twirling, twirling, all around A ghosteen dances in my hand Dancing, dancing, dancing, all around There goes the moonlit man Got a suitcase in his hand He's moving on down the road Things tend to fall apart Starting with his heart He kisses you lightly and he leaves Leaves your sleeping body Curled and dreaming around your smile Around your smile The three bears watch the TV They age a lifetime, O Lord Mama Bear holds the remote Papa Bear he just floats And Baby Bear he has gone Gone to the moon in a boat Oh in a boat I'm speaking about love now How the lights of love go down You're in the back room washing his clothes Love's like that you know It's like a tidal flow And the past with its fierce undertow Won't ever let us go Won't ever let you go If I could move the night I would And I would turn the world around if I could There is nothing wrong with loving something You can't hold in your hand You're sitting on the edge of the bed Smoking and shaking your head Well there's nothing wrong with loving things That cannot even stand Well, there goes your moony man With his suitcase in his hand Every road is lined with animals That rise from their blood and walk Well the moon won't get a wink of sleep If I stay all night and talk If I stay all night and talk

Fireflies

Jesus lying in his mother's arms Is a photon released from a dying star We move through the forest at night The sky is full of momentary light Everything we need is just too far We are photons released from a dying star We are fireflies a child has trapped in a jar And everything is as distant as the stars I am here and you are where you are We have lived a long time here in the forest We lie beneath the heaps of leaves We are partial to this partial light We cannot sleep and fear our dreams There is no order here, nothing can be planned We are fireflies trapped in a little boy's hand And everything is as distant as the stars I am here and you are where you are We lie among our atoms and I speak to you of things And hope sometimes that maybe you will understand There is no order here and there is no middle ground Nothing can be predicted and nothing can be planned A star is just the memory of a star We are fireflies pulsing dimly in the dark We are here and you are where you are

Hollywood

The fires continued through the night The kid with a bat face appeared at the window Then disappeared into the headlights I was halfway to the Pacific Coast I had left you in your longing In your yearning like a ghost There is little room for wonder, now And little room for wildness too We crawl into our wounds I'm nearly all the way to Malibu I'm gonna buy me a house up in the hills With a tear-shaped pool and a gun that kills Cause they say there is a cougar that roams these parts With a terrible engine of wrath for a heart That she is white and rare and full of all kinds of harm And stalks the perimeter all day long But at night lays trembling in my arms And I'm just waiting now for my time to come And I'm just waiting now for my time to come And I'm just waiting now for my place in the sun And I'm just waiting now for peace to come And I'm just waiting now for my time to come And I'm just waiting now for my time to come And we hide in our wounds And I'm nearly all the way to Malibu And I know my time will come one day soon I'm waiting for peace to come I'm nearly all the way to Malibu Oh babe, we're on the run, we're on the run Half down the Pacific Coast Well I left you sleeping like a ghost In your wounds Darling your dreams are your greatest part I carry them with me in my heart Darling your dreams were your greatest part I carry them with me in my heart Somewhere, don't know Now I'm standing on the shore All the animals roam the beaches And sea creatures rise out of the sea And I'm standing on the shore Everyone begins to run The kid drops his bucket and spade And climbs into the sun

****

Kisa had a baby but the baby died Goes to the villagers says my baby's sick Villagers shake their heads and say to her Better bury your baby in the forest quick It's a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind It's a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind Kisa went to the mountain and asked the Buddha My baby's sick! Buddha said, don't cry Go to each house and collect a mustard seed But only from a house where no one's died Kisa went to each house in the village My baby's getting sicker, poor Kisa cried But Kisa never collected one mustard seed Because in every house someone had died Kisa sat down in the old village square She hugged her baby and cried and cried She said everybody is always losing somebody Then walked into the forest and buried her child Everybody's losing someone Everybody's losing someone It's a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind It's a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind And I'm just waiting now for my time to come And I'm just waiting now for peace to come For peace to come