Nick Cave : Murder Ballads

Have mercy on me, sir Allow me to impose on you I have no place to stay And my bones are cold right through I will tell you a story Of a man and his family And I swear that it is true Ten years ago I met a girl named Joy She was a sweet and happy thing Her eyes were bright blue jewels And we were married in the spring I had no idea what happiness a little love could bring Or what life had in store But all things move toward their end All things move toward their end On that you can be sure La la la la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la la la Then one morning I awoke to find her weeping And for many days to follow She grew so sad and lonely Became Joy in name only Within her breast there launched an unnamed sorrow And a dark and grim force set sail Farewell happy fields Where joy forever dwells Hail horrors hail Was it an act of contrition or some awful premonition As if she saw into the heart of her final blood-soaked night Those lunatic eyes, that hungry kitchen knife Ah, I see, sir, that I have your attention! Well, could it be? How often I've asked that question Well, then in quick succession We had babies, one, two, three We called them Hilda, Hattie and Holly They were their mother's children Their eyes were bright blue jewels And they were quiet as a mouse There was no laughter in the house No, not from Hilda, Hattie or Holly No wonder, people said, poor mother Joy's so melancholy Well, one night there came a visitor to our little home I was visiting a sick friend I was a doctor then Joy and the girls were on their own La la la la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la la la Joy had been bound with electrical tape In her mouth a gag She'd been stabbed repeatedly And stuffed into a sleeping bag In their very cots my girls were robbed of their lives Method of murder much the same as my wife's Method of murder much the same as my wife's It was midnight when I arrived home Said to the police on the telephone Someone's taken four innocent lives They never caught the man He's still on the loose It seems he has done many many more Quotes John Milton on the walls in the victim's blood The police are investigating at tremendous cost In my house he wrote, "red right hand" That, I'm told is from Paradise Lost The wind round here gets wicked cold But my story is nearly told I fear the morning will bring quite a frost And so I've left my home I drift from land to land I am upon your step and you are a family man Outside the vultures wheel The wolves howl, the serpents hiss And to extend this small favour, friend Would be the sum of earthly bliss Do you reckon me a friend? The sun to me is dark And silent as the moon Do you, sir, have a room? Are you beckoning me in? La la la la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la la la La la la la la la la la la la

Stagger Lee

It was back in '32 when times were hard He had a Colt .45 and a deck of cards Stagger Lee He wore rat-drawn shoes and an old stetson hat Had a '28 Ford, had payments on that Stagger Lee His woman threw him out in the ice and snow And told him, "Never ever come back no more" Stagger Lee So he walked through the rain, and he walked through the mud Till he came to a place called The Bucket Of Blood Stagger Lee He said "Mr Motherfucker, you know who I am?" The barkeeper said, "No, and I don't give a good goddamn" To Stagger Lee He said, "Well, bartender, it's plain to see I'm that bad motherfucker called Stagger Lee" Mr Stagger Lee Barkeep said, "Yeah, I've heard your name down the way And I kick motherfucking asses like you every day" Mr Stagger Lee Well, those were the last words that the barkeep said 'Cause Stag put four holes in his motherfucking head Just then in came a broad called Nellie Brown Was known to make more money than any bitch in town She struts across the bar, hitching up her skirt Over to Stagger Lee, she starts to flirt With Stagger Lee She saw the barkeep, said, "Oh God, he can't be dead!" Stag said, "Well, just count the holes in the motherfucker's head" She said, "You ain't look like you scored in quite a time Why not come to my pad? It won't cost you a dime" Mr Stagger Lee "But there's something I have to say before you begin You'll have to be gone before my man Billy Dilly comes in Mr Stagger Lee" "I'll stay here till Billy comes in, till time comes to pass And furthermore I'll fuck Billy in his motherfucking ass" Said Stagger Lee "I'm a bad motherfucker, don't you know? And I'll crawl over fifty good pussies just to get one fat boy's asshole" Said Stagger Lee Just then Billy Dilly rolls in and he says, "You must be That bad motherfucker called Stagger Lee" Stagger Lee "Yeah, I'm Stagger Lee, and you better get down on your knees And suck my dick because if you don't, you're gonna be dead" Said Stagger Lee Billy dropped down and slobbered on his head And Stag filled him full of lead Oh yeah

Henry Lee

Get down, get down, little Henry Lee

And stay all night with me You won't find a girl in this damn world

That will compare with me

And the wind did howl and the wind did blow

La la la la la

La la la la lee

A little bird lit down on Henry Lee I can't get down and I won't get down And stay all night with thee For the girl I have in that merry green land I love far better than thee And the wind did howl and the wind did blow La la la la la La la la la lee A little bird lit down on Henry Lee She leaned herself against a fence Just for a kiss or two And with a little penknife held in her hand She plugged him through and through And the wind did roar and the wind did moan La la la la la La la la la lee A little bird lit down on Henry Lee Come take him by his lily-white hands Come take him by his feet And throw him in this deep deep well Which is more than one hundred feet And the wind did howl and the wind did blow La la la la la La la la la lee A little bird lit down on Henry Lee Lie there, lie there, little Henry Lee Till the flesh drops from your bones For the girl you have in that merry green land Can wait forever for you to come home And the wind did howl and the wind did moan La la la la la La la la la lee A little bird lit down on Henry Lee

Crow Jane

Crow Jane, Crow Jane Crow Jane, Crow Jane Crow Jane, ah-ha-ha Well, horrors in her head That her tongue dare not name Lived all alone by the river The rolling rivers of pain Crow Jane, Crow Jane Crow Jane, ah-ha-ha There is one shining eye on a hard-hat The company closed down the mine Winking on the waters they came With twenty hard-hats, twenty eyes In her clapboard shack, man Only six foot by five Well, they killed all her whiskey Poured their pistols dry Crow Jane, Crow Jane Crow Jane, ah-ha-ha Seems you've remembered How to sleep, how to sleep The house dogs are in your turnips And your yard dogs are running all over the streets Crow Jane, Crow Jane Crow Jane, ah-ha-ha Oh, Mr Smith and Mr Wesson Why you close up shop so late? We just fitted out a girl who looked like a bird Measured .32 .44 .38 I asked that girl which road she was taking She said she's walking the road of hate But she hopped on a coal trolley up to the new town Population 48 Crow Jane, Crow Jane Crow Jane, ah-ha-ha Your guns are drunk and smoking They've followed you right back to your gate Laughing all the way back from the new town Population now 28 Crow Jane, Crow Jane Crow Jane, ah-ha-ha Ah-ha-ha, ah-ha-ha Ah-ha-ha, ah-ha-ha Ah-ha-ha

The Curse Of Millhaven

I live in a town called Millhaven

And it's small and it's mean and it's cold

But if you come around just as the sun goes down

You can watch the whole thing turn to gold

It's around then that I used to go a-roaming

Singing la la-la la, la la-la lie

All God's children they all gotta die My name is Loretta but I prefer Lottie I'm closing in on my fifteenth year And if you think you have seen a pair of eyes more green Then you sure didn't see them round here My hair is yellow and I'm always a-combing La la-la la, la la-la lie Mama often told me we all have to die You must have heard about the Curse of Millhaven How last Christmas Bill Blake's little boy didn't come home They found him next week in One Mile Creek His head bashed in and his pockets full of stones Well, just imagine the wailing and moaning La la-la la, la la-la lie Even little Billy Blake, he had to die Then Professor O'Rye from Millhaven High Found nailed to his door, his prize-winning terrier The next day the old fool brought little Biko to school And we all had to watch as he buried her His eulogy to Biko had all the tears a-flowing La la-la la, la la-la lie Even God's little creatures, they have to die Our little town fell into a state of shock A lot of people were saying things that made little sense Then the next thing you know the head of Handyman Joe Was found in the fountain of the Mayor's residence Foul play can really get a small town going La la-la la, la la-la lie All God's children all have to die Then, in a cruel twist of fate, old Mrs Colgate Was stabbed but the job was not complete The last thing she said before the cops pronounced her dead Was, "My killer is Loretta and she lives across the street!" Twenty cops burst through my door without even phoning La la-la la, la la-la lie The young ones, the old ones, they all gotta die Yes, it is I, Lottie, the Curse of Millhaven I've struck horror in the heart of this town Like my eyes ain't green and my hair ain't yellow It's more like the other way around I gotta pretty little mouth underneath all the foaming La la-la la, la la-la lie Sooner or later we all gotta die Since I was no bigger than a weavil they've been saying I was evil That if "bad" was a boot then I'd fit it That I'm a wicked young lady, but I've been trying hard lately O fuck it! I'm a monster! I admit it! It makes me so mad my blood really starts a-going La la-la la, la la-la lie Mama always told me that we all gotta die Yeah, I drowned the Blakey kid, stabbed Mrs Colgate, I admit Did the handyman with his circular saw in his garden shed But I never crucified little Biko, that was two junior high school psychos Stinky Bohoon and his friend with the pumpkin-sized head I'll sing to the lot, now you got me going La la-la la, la la-la lie All God's children have all gotta die Then there were all of the others, all our sisters and brothers You assumed were accidents, best forgotten Recall the children who broke through the ice on Lake Tahoo? Everyone assumed the "Warning" signs had followed them to the bottom Well, they're underneath the house where I do quite a bit of stowing La la-la la, la la-la lie Even twenty little children, they had to die And the fire of '91 that razed the Bella Vista slum There was the biggest shit-fight this country's ever seen Insurance companies ruined, land lords getting sued All cause of a wee little girl with a can of gasoline Those flames really roared when the wind started blowing La la-la la, la la-la lie Rich man, poor man, all got to die Well I confessed to all these crimes and then they put me on trial I was laughing when they took me away Off to the asylum in an old black Mariah It ain't home, but you know, it's fucking better than jail It ain't such a bad old place to have a home in La la-la la, la la-la lie All God's children they all gotta die Now I got shrinks that will not rest with their endless Rorschach tests I keep telling them they're out to get me They ask me if I feel remorse and I answer, "Why of course! There is so much more I could have done if they'd let me!" So it's Rorschach and Prozac and everything is groovy Singing la la-la la, la la-la lie All God's children have all gotta die La la-la la, la la-la lie I'm happy as a lark and everything is fine Singing La la-la la, la la-la lie Yeah, everything is groovy and everything is fine Singing la la-la la, la la-la lie All God's children they all gotta die

Where The Wild Roses Grow

Capo:

III

They call me the wild rose

But my name was Eliza Day

Why they call me that I do not know

For my name was Eliza Day

From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one

She stared in my eyes and smiled

Her lips were the colour of the roses

That grew down the river, all bloody and wild When he knocked on my door and entered the room My trembling subsided in his sure embrace He would be my first man, and with a careful hand He wiped up the tears that ran down my face They call me the wild rose But my name was Eliza Day Why they call me that I do not know For my name was Eliza Day On the second day, I brought her a flower She was more beautiful than any woman I'd seen I said do you know where the wild roses grow So sweet and scarlet and free On the second day he came with a single red rose He said, give me your loss and your sorrow I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed If I show you the roses will you follow alone They call me the wild rose But my name was Eliza Day Why they call me that I do not know For my name was Eliza Day On the third day he took me to the river He showed me the roses, and we kissed And the last thing I heard, was a muttered word As he knelt above me with a rock in his fist On the last day I took her, where the wild roses grow As she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief And I kissed her goodbye, said all beauty must die And I leant down and planted a rose 'tween her teeth They call me the wild rose But my name was Eliza Day Why they call me that I do not know For my name was Eliza Day My name was Eliza Day For my name was Eliza Day

Lovely Creature

There she stands, this lovely creature There she stands, there she stands With her hair full of ribbons And green gloves on her hands So I asked this lovely creature Yes, I asked. Yes, I asked Would she walk with me a while Through this night so fast She took my hand, this lovely creature Yes, she said, yes, she said Yes, I'll walk with you a while It was a joyful man she led Over hills, this lovely creature Over mountains, over ranges By great pyramids and sphinxs We met drifters and strangers Oh the sands, my lovely creature And the mad, moaning winds At night the deserts writhed With diabolical things Through the night, through the night The wind lashed and it whipped me When I got home, my lovely creature She was no longer with me Somewhere she lies, this lovely creature Beneath the slow drifting sands With her hair full of ribbons And green gloves on her hands

The Kindness Of Strangers

They found Mary Bellows cuffed to the bed

With a rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head

Oh poor Mary Bellows She'd grown up hungry, she'd grown up poor She left her home in Arkansas Oh poor Mary Bellows She wanted to see the deep blue sea She travelled across Tennessee Oh poor Mary Bellows She met a man along the way He introduced himself as Richard Slade Oh poor Mary Bellows Poor Mary thought that she might die When she saw the ocean for the first time Oh poor Mary Bellows She checked into a cheap little place Richard Slade carried in her old suitcase Oh poor Mary Bellows I'm a good girl, sir, she said to him I couldn't possibly permit you in Oh poor Mary Bellows Slade tipped his hat and winked his eye And turned away without goodbye Oh poor Mary Bellows She sat on her bed and thought of home With the sea breeze whistling all alone Oh poor Mary Bellows In hope and loneliness she crossed the floor And undid the latch on the front door Oh poor Mary Bellows They found her the next day cuffed to the bed A rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head Oh poor Mary Bellows

So mothers keep your girls at home

Don't let them journey all alone

Tell them this world is full of danger

And to shun the company of strangers

Oh poor Mary Bellows

O'Malley's Bar

I am tall and I am thin, of an enviable height And I've been known to be quite handsome from a certain angle and in a certain light Well I entered into O'Malley's, said, "O'Malley I have a thirst" O'Malley merely smiled at me, said "You wouldn't be the first" I knocked on the bar and pointed to a bottle on the shelf And as O'Malley poured me out a drink, I sniffed and crossed myself My hand decided that the time was nigh and for a moment it slipped from view And when it returned, it fairly burned with confidence anew Well the thunder from my steely fist Made all the glasses jangle When I shot him, I was so handsome It was the light, it was the angle "Neighbours!" I cried, "Friends!" I screamed, I banged my fist upon the bar "I bear no grudge against you!" and my dick felt long and hard "I am the man for which no God waits, for which the whole world yearns I'm marked by darkness and by blood and a thousand powder-burns" Well, you know those fish with the swollen lips that clean the ocean floor? When I looked at poor O'Malley's wife, that is exactly what I saw I jammed the barrel under her chin and her face looked raw and vicious Her head it landed in the sink with all the dirty dishes Her little daughter Siobhan pulled beers from dusk till dawn And amongst the town-folk, she was a bit of a joke but she pulled the best beers in town I swooped magnificent upon her as she sat shivering in her grief Like the Madonna painted on the church-house wall in whale's blood and banana leaf Her throat it crumbled in my fist And I spun heroically around To see Caffrey rising from his seat I shot that mother fucker down "I have no free will," I sang, and I flew about the murder Mrs Richard Holmes, she screamed, you really should have heard her I sang and I laughed, I howled and I wept, I panted like a pup I blew a hole in Mrs Richard Holmes and her husband stupidly stood up And he screamed, "You are an evil man" and I paused a while to wonder "If I have no free will then how can I be morally culpable, I wonder" I shot Richard Holmes in the stomach, and gingerly he sat down And he whispered wearily, "No offense" and lay upon the ground "None taken," I replied to him, to which he gave a little cough With blazing wings I neatly aimed, blew his head completely off I've lived in this town for thirty years, to no one am I a stranger And I put new bullets in my gun, chamber upon chamber And I turned my gun on the bird-like Mr Brookes I thought of Saint Francis and his sparrows And as I shot down the youthful Richardson It was Sebastian I thought of, and his arrows I said, "I want to introduce myself and I am glad that you all came" And I leapt upon the bar and shouted out my name Well Jerry Bellows, he hugged his stool, closed his eyes and shrugged and laughed And with an ashtray as big as a fucking big brick I split his head in half His blood spilled across the bar like a steaming scarlet brook And I knelt at it's edge on the counter, wiped the tears away and looked Well, the light in there was blinding, full of God and ghosts and truth I smiled at Henry Davenport who made an attempt to move Well, from the position I was standing, the strangest thing I ever saw The bullet entered through the top of his chest and blew his bowels out on the floor Well I floated down the counter showing no remorse I shot a hole in Kathleen Carpenter, recently divorced But remorse I felt, remorse I had, it clung to every thing From the raven hair upon my head to the feathers on my wings Remorse squeezed my hand in its fraudulent claw, with its gold hairless chest And I glided through the bodies and killed the fat man Vincent West Who sat quietly in his chair, a man become a child And I raised the gun up to his head, executioner-style He made no attempt to resist, so fat and dull and lazy "Do you know I lived in your street?" I cried, and he looked at me as though I were crazy "O", he said, "I had no idea" And he grew as quiet as a mouse And the roar of the pistol when it went off Near blew the hat right off the house Well, I caught my eye in the mirror, gave it a long and loving inspection "There stands some kind of man", I roared, and there did, in the reflection My hair combed back like a raven's wing, my muscles hard and tight And curling from the business end of my gun was a query mark of cordite Well I spun to the left, I spun to the right And I spun to the left again "Fear me! Fear me!" But no one did cause they were dead And then there were the police sirens wailing and a bull-horn squelched and blared "Drop your weapons and come out with your hands held in the air" Well, I checked the chambers of my gun, saw I had one final bullet left My hand, it looked almost human as I raised it bravely to my head "Drop your weapon and come out! Keep your hands above your head!" I had one long hard think about dying, and did exactly what they said There must have been fifty cops out there in a circle around O'Malley's bar "Don't shoot", I cried, "I'm a man unarmed!" So they put me in their car And they sped me away from that terrible scene And I glanced out of the window Saw O'Malley's bar, saw the cops and the cars And started counting on my fingers Aaaaaaaaah One Aaaaaaaah Two Aaaaaah Three Aaaah Four O'Malley's bar O'Malley's bar

Death Is Not The End

When you're sad and when you're lonely

And you haven't got a friend

Just remember that death is not the end

And all that you held sacred

Falls down and does not mend

Just remember that death is not the end

Not the end, not the end

Just remember that death is not the end When you're standing on the crossroads That you cannot comprehend Just remember that death is not the end And all your dreams have vanished And you don't know what's up the bend Just remember that death is not the end Not the end, not the end Just remember that death is not the end When the storm clouds gather round you And heavy rains descend Just remember that death is not the end And there's no-one there to comfort you With a helping hand to lend Just remember that death is not the end Not the end, not the end Just remember that death is not the end

For the tree of life is growing

Where the spirit never dies

And the bright light of salvation

Up in dark and empty skies When the cities are on fire With the burning flesh of men Just remember that death is not the end When you search in vain to find Some law-abiding citizen Just remember that death is not the end Not the end, not the end Just remember that death is not the end Not the end, not the end Just remember that death is not the end