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Nick Cave

Murder Ballads (1996)

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INDICE

 

  1. Song Of Joy
  2. Stagger Lee
  3. Henry Lee (with PJ Harvey)
  4. Lovely Creature
  5. Where The Wild Roses Grow (with Kylie Minogue)
  6. The Curse Of Millhaven
  7. The Kindness Of Strangers
  8. Crow Jane
  9. O'Malley's Bar
  10. Death Is Not The End
  11. The Ballad of Robert Moore and Betty Coltrane
  12. King Kong Kitchee Kitchee Ki-Mi-O
  13. The Willow Garden (vocals by Conway Savage)
  14. Knoxville Girl

       

Song Of Joy

 

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 and little love could bring

Or what life had in store

But all things move toward their end

All things move toward their 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 * "his 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

(Nota: I versi asteriscati sono del poeta John Milton)

 

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, "O 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 pen-knife 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 lilly-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

Up

Up

 

Lovely Creature

 

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

 

Where The Wild Roses Grow (TRADUZIONE)

 

They call me The Wild Rose

But my name was Elisa Day

Why they call me it I do not know

For my name was Elisa Day

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

She stared in my eyes and smiled

For 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 at the tears that ran down my face

Chorus

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

Said: "Will you give me your loss and your sorrow"

I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed

He said, "If I show you the roses, will you follow?"

Chorus

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 (stood smiling) above me with a rock in his fist

On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow

And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief

And I kissed her goodbye, said, "All beauty must die"

And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

Chorus

 

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 town turn to gold

It's around about 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 around 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 got 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 all the wailing and moaning

La la la la La la la lie

Even little Billy Blake's boy, he had to die

Then Professor O'Rye from Millhaven High

Found nailed to his door his prize-winning terrier

Then 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

Even 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 that 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

There were all 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 wee 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 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 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 they all have to 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 gotta die

 

The Kindness Of Strangers

 

They found Mary Bellows cuffed to the bed

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

O poor Mary Bellows

She'd grown up hungry, she'd grown up poor

She left her home in Arkansas

O poor Mary Bellows

She wanted to see the deep blue sea

She travelled across Tennessee

O poor Mary Bellows

She met a man along the way

He introduced himself as Richard Slade

O poor Mary Bellows

Poor Mary thought that she might die

When she saw the ocean for the first time

O poor Mary Bellows

She checked into a cheap little place

Richard Slade carried in her old suitcase

O poor Mary Bellows

"I'm a good girl, sir", she said to him

I couldn't possibly permit you in

O poor Mary Bellows

Slade tipped his hat and winked his eye

And turned away without goodbye

O poor Mary Bellows

She sat on her bed and thought of home

With the sea breeze whistling all alone

O poor Mary Bellows

In hope and loneliness she crossed the floor

And undid the latch on the front door

O poor Mary Bellows

They found her the next day cuffed to the bed

A rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head

O 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

O poor Mary Bellows

O poor Mary Bellows

 

Crow Jane

 

Crow Jane Crow Jane

Crow Jane

Horrors in her head

That her tongue dare not name

She lives alone by the river

The rolling rivers of pain

Crow Jane Crow Jane

Crow Jane Ah hah huh

There is one shining eye on a hard-hat

The company closed down the mine

Winking on waters they came

Twenty hard-hats, twenty eyes

In her clapboard shack

Only six foot by five

They killed all her whiskey

And poured their pistols dry

Crow Jane Crow Jane

Crow Jane Ah hah huh

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 street

Crow Jane Crow Jane

Crow Jane Ah hah huh

"O Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson

Why you close up shop so late?"

"Just fitted out a girl who looked like a bird

Measured .32, .44, .38

I asked that girl which road she was taking

Said she was walking the road of hate

But she stopped on a coal-trolley up to New Haven

Population: 48"

Crow Jane Crow Jane

Crow Jane Ah hah huh

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 hah huh

 

O'Malley's Bar

 

I am tall and I am thin

Of an enviable hight

And I've been known to be quite handsome

In a certain angle and in 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

Huh! Hmmmmmm

"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

But for which the whole world yearns

I'm marked by darkness and by blood

And one 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's 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 down

And amongst the townfolk she was a bit of a joke

But she pulled the best beer 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

Mmmmmmmmmm Yeah Yeah Yeah

"I have no free will", I sang

As 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

As 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 weirdly, "No offense"

And then lay upon the ground

"None taken", I replied to him

To which he gave a little cough

With blazing wings I neatly aimed

And blew his head completely off

I've lived in this town for thirty years

And to no-one I am 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 St. Sebastian I thought of, and his arrows

Hhhhhhhhhh Mmmmmmmmmmmm

I said, "I want to introduce myself

And I am glad that all you 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 really 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 of 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 and remorse I had

It clung to every thing

From the raven's hair upon my head

To the feathers on my wings

Remorse sqeezed my hand in it's fradulent claw

With it's golden 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

"Did you know I lived in your street?" I said

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 that hat right off the house

Hmmmmmm Uh Uh

Well, I caught my eye in the mirror

And 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! Fear me!"

But no one did cause they were dead

Huh! Hmmmmmmmmm

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 chamber of my gun

Saw I had one final bullet left

My hand, it looked almost human

As I raised it to my head

"Drop your weapon and come out!

Keep your hands above your head!"

I had one 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 I started counting on my fingers

Aaaaaah One Aaaaaah Two Aaaaaah Three Aaaaaaah 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

 

The Ballad of Robert Moore and Betty Coltrane

 

There was a thick set man with frog eyes

who was standing by the door

and a little bald man with wing-nut ears

was waiting in the car

Well Robert Moore passed the frog-eyed man

as he walked into the bar,

and Betty Coltrane she jumped under her table.

"What's your pleasure?" asked the barman

he had a face like boiled meat

"There's a girl called Betty Coltrane

that I have come to see"

"But I ain't seen that girl 'round here

for more than a week"

and Betty Coltrane she hid beneath the table.

Well, then in came a sailior with

mermaids tattooed on his arms,

Followed by the man with the wing-nut ears

who was waitin' in the car

Well, Robert Moore sensed trouble,

he'd seen it comin' from afar

and Betty Coltrain she gasped beneath the table.

Well, the sailor said "I'm looking for my wife,

they call her Betty Coltrain!"

The frog-eyed man said "That can't be;

that's my wife's maiden name."

And the man with the wing-nut ears said,

"Hey, I married her back in Spain!"

and Betty Coltrain crossed herself beneath the table.

Well, Robert Moore stepped up and said

"That woman is my wife."

and he drew a silver pistol

and a wicked bowie knife;

And he shot the man with the wing-nut ears

straight between the eyes

and Betty Coltrain, she moaned under the table.

The frog-eyed man jumped at Robert Moore,

who stabbed him in the chest

and as Mister Frog-eyes died he said

"Betty, your the girl that I loved best!"

The sailor pulled a razor,

Robert blasted it to bits

"And Betty, I know you're under the table."

"Well have no fear," said Robert Moore,

"I do not want to hurt you!"

"Never a woman did'na love me

half as much as you.

You are the blessed' sun, girl

and you are the sacred moon."

and Betty shot his legs out from under the table!

Well, Robert Moore went down heavy

with a crash upon the floor

and over to his trashin' body

Betty Coltrain she did crawl.

She put the gun to the back of head

and pulled the trigger once more

and blew his brains out all over the table!

Well Betty stood up and shook her head

and waved the smoke away.

Said, "I'm sorry Mr Barman

to leave your place this way."

As she emptied out their wallets she said,

"I'll collect my severence pay."

and then she winked and threw a dollar on the table.

 

The Willow Garden

 

Down in the willow garden, me and my love did meet

And as we sat a-courting, my love fell off to sleep

I had a bottle of burgundy wine; my love, she did not know

And so I poisoned that dear little girl along the banks below

Along the banks below

I drew my saber through her; it was a bloody night

I threw her in the river, which was a dreadful sight

My father often told me that money would set me free

And so I murdered that dear little girl whose name was Rose Connelly

Whose name was Rose Connelly

My father sits at his cabin door wiping his tear-dimmed eyes

His only son soon should walk to yonder scaffold high

My race is run beneath the sun; the scaffold now waits for me

For I did murder that dear little girl whose name was Rose Connelly

Whose name was Rose Connelly

Whose name was Rose Connelly

 

King Kong Kitchee Kitchee Ki-Mi-O

 

(Can you turn me up a bit?)

King kong kitchee kitchee ki-mi-o

Well frog went a-courtin' and he did ride

With a sword and a pistol by his side And he rode 'til he came to Miss Mouse's door

And then he knelt right down upon the floor

He said, "Little Miss Mouse, will you marry me

Way down yonder in the hollow tree

With an owl and a bat and a bumblebee?"

(Shoop shoop, shoop shoop)

Miss Mouse had suitors, three or four

And they came rushing through the door

Well they grabbed Miss Mouse and began to fight

In the hollow tree; it was a terrible night

Yeah, "Little Miss Mouse, will you marry me

Way down yonder in the hollow tree

With an owl and a bat and a bumblebee?"

Yeah! Yeah!

Mr Frog threw her suitors to the floor

And with his sword and his pistol he killed them all

And they went to the vicar the very next day

And they left on their honeymoon right away

Oh glory, glory, glory be

Way down yonder in the hollow tree

With an owl and a bat and a bumblebee

Knoxville Girl

 

I met a little girl in Knoxville

A town we all know well

And every sunday evening

In her home I'd dwell

We went to take an evening walk

About a mile from town

I picked a stick up off the ground

And I knocked that fair girl down

She fell down on her bended knees

For mercy she did cry

"Oh Willy, dear, don't kill me yet

I'm unprepared to die"

She never spoke another word

I only beat her more

Until the ground around me

With her blood did flow

I took her by her golden curls

And I dragged her 'round and 'round

Throwing her into the river

That flows from Knoxville town

Go down, go down, you Knoxville girl

With your dark and roving eyes

Go down, go down, you Knoxville girl

You can never be my bride

I started back to Knoxville

Got there about midnight

My mother, she was worried

She woke up in a fright

Saying, "Dear son, what have you done

To bloody up your clothes?"

I told my anxious mother

That I was bleading in my nose

I called for me a candle

And I called for me a bed

And I called for me a handkerchief

To bind my aching head

I rolled and thrashed the whole night through

All horrors I did see

The devil stood at the foot of my bed

Pointing his finger at me

They carried me down to Knoxville

And put me in a cell

My friends all tried to get me out

But none could grow my bail

I'm here to waste my life away

Down in this dirty old jail

Because I murdered that Knoxville girl

The girl I loved so well 

  

© Musica & Memoria 2002 / Testi di Nick Cave / Copia per usi commerciali non consentita (Vedi Disclaimer / Avvertenze)

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