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Murder Ballads (1996) |
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Have mercy on me, sir |
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Allow me to impose on you |
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I have no place to stay |
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And my bones are cold right through |
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I will tell you a story |
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Of a man and his family |
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And I swear that it is true |
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Ten years ago I met a girl named Joy |
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She was a sweet and happy thing |
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Her eyes were bright blue jewels |
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And we were married in the spring |
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I had no idea what happiness and little love could bring |
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Or what life had in store |
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But all things move toward their end |
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All things move toward their their end |
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On that you can be sure |
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La la la la la la la la la la |
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La la la la la la la la la la |
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Then one morning I awoke to find her weeping |
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And for many days to follow |
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She grew so sad and lonely |
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Became Joy in name only |
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Within her breast there launched an unnamed sorrow |
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And a dark and grim force set sail |
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* Farewell happy fields * |
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* Where joy forever dwells * |
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* Hail horrors hail * |
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Was it an act of contrition or some awful premonition |
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As if she saw into the heart of her final blood-soaked night |
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Those lunatic eyes, that hungry kitchen knife |
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Ah, I see sir, that I have your attention! |
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Well, could it be? |
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How often I've asked that question |
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Well, then in quick succession |
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We had babies, one, two, three |
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We called them Hilda, Hattie and Holly |
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They were their mother's children |
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Their eyes were bright blue jewels |
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And they were quiet as a mouse |
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There was no laughter in the house |
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No, not from Hilda, Hattie or Holly |
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"No wonder", people said, "poor mother Joy's so melancholy" |
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Well, one night there came a visitor to our little home |
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I was visiting a sick friend |
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I was a doctor then |
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Joy and the girls were on their own |
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La la la la la la la la la la |
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La la la la la la la la la la |
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Joy had been bound with electrical tape |
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In her mouth a gag |
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She'd been stabbed repeatedly |
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And stuffed into a sleeping bag |
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In their very cots my girls were robbed of their lives |
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Method of murder much the same as my wife's |
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Method of murder much the same as my wife's |
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It was midnight when I arrived home |
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Said to the police on the telephone |
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Someone's taken four innocent lives |
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They never caught the man |
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He's still on the loose |
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It seems he has done many many more |
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Quotes John Milton on the walls in the victim's blood |
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The police are investigating at tremendous cost |
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In my house he wrote * "his red right hand" * |
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That, I'm told is from Paradise Lost |
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The wind round here gets wicked cold |
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But my story is nearly told |
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I fear the morning will bring quite a frost |
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And so I've left my home |
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I drift from land to land |
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I am upon your step and you are a family man |
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Outside the vultures wheel |
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The wolves howl, the serpents hiss |
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And to extend this small favour, friend |
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Would be the sum of earthly bliss |
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Do you reckon me a friend? |
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* The sun to me is dark * |
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* And silent as the moon * |
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Do you, sir, have a room? |
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Are you beckoning me in? |
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La la la la la la la la la la |
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La la la la la la la la la la |
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(Nota: I versi asteriscati sono del poeta John Milton) |
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It was back in '32 when times were hard |
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He had a Colt .45 and a deck of cards |
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Stagger Lee |
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He wore rat-drawn shoes and an old stetson hat |
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Had a '28 Ford, had payments on that |
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Stagger Lee |
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His woman threw him out in the ice and snow |
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And told him, "Never ever come back no more" |
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Stagger Lee |
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So he walked through the rain and he walked through the mud |
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Till he came to a place called The Bucket Of Blood |
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Stagger Lee |
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He said "Mr Motherfucker, you know who I am" |
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The barkeeper said, "No, and I don't give a good goddamn" |
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To Stagger Lee |
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He said, "Well bartender, it's plain to see |
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I'm that bad motherfucker called Stagger Lee" |
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Mr. Stagger Lee |
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Barkeep said, "Yeah, I've heard your name down the way |
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And I kick motherfucking asses like you every day" |
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Mr Stagger Lee |
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Well those were the last words that the barkeep said |
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'Cause Stag put four holes in his motherfucking head |
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Just then in came a broad called Nellie Brown |
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Was known to make more money than any bitch in town |
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She struts across the bar, hitching up her skirt |
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Over to Stagger Lee, she starts to flirt |
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With Stagger Lee |
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She saw the barkeep, said, "O God, he can't be dead!" |
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Stag said, "Well, just count the holes in the motherfucker's head" |
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She said, "You ain't look like you scored in quite a time. |
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Why not come to my pad? It won't cost you a dime" |
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Mr. Stagger Lee |
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"But there's something I have to say before you begin |
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You'll have to be gone before my man Billy Dilly comes in, |
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Mr. Stagger Lee" |
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"I'll stay here till Billy comes in, till time comes to pass |
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And furthermore I'll fuck Billy in his motherfucking ass" |
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Said Stagger Lee |
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"I'm a bad motherfucker, don't you know |
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And I'll crawl over fifty good pussies just to get one fat boy's asshole" |
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Said Stagger Lee |
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Just then Billy Dilly rolls in and he says, "You must be |
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That bad motherfucker called Stagger Lee" |
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Stagger Lee |
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"Yeah, I'm Stagger Lee and you better get down on your knees |
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And suck my dick, because If you don't you're gonna be dead" |
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Said Stagger Lee |
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Billy dropped down and slobbered on his head |
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And Stag filled him full of lead |
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Oh yeah. |
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Get down, get down, little Henry Lee |
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And stay all night with me |
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You won't find a girl in this damn world |
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That will compare with me |
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And the wind did howl and the wind did blow |
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La la la la la |
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La la la la lee |
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A little bird lit down on Henry Lee |
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I can't get down and I won't get down |
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And stay all night with thee |
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For the girl I have in that merry green land |
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I love far better than thee |
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And the wind did howl and the wind did blow |
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La la la la la |
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La la la la lee |
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A little bird lit down on Henry Lee |
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She leaned herself against a fence |
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Just for a kiss or two |
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And with a little pen-knife held in her hand |
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She plugged him through and through |
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And the wind did roar and the wind did moan |
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La la la la la |
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La la la la lee |
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A little bird lit down on Henry Lee |
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Come take him by his lilly-white hands |
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Come take him by his feet |
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And throw him in this deep deep well |
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Which is more than one hundred feet |
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And the wind did howl and the wind did blow |
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La la la la la |
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La la la la lee |
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A little bird lit down on Henry Lee |
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Lie there, lie there, little Henry Lee |
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Till the flesh drops from your bones |
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For the girl you have in that merry green land |
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Can wait forever for you to come home |
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And the wind did howl and the wind did moan |
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La la la la la |
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La la la la lee |
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A little bird lit down on Henry Lee |
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Up |
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Up |
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Lovely Creature There she stands, this lovely creature |
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There she stands, there she stands |
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With her hair full of ribbons |
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And green gloves on her hands |
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So I asked this lovely creature |
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Yes, I asked. Yes I asked |
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Would she walk with me a while |
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Through this night so fast |
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She took my hand, this lovely creature |
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"Yes", she said, "Yes", she said |
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"Yes, I'll walk with you a while" |
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It was a joyful man she led |
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Over hills, this lovely creature |
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Over mountains, over ranges |
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By great pyramids and sphinxs |
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We met drifters and strangers |
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Oh the sands, my lovely creature |
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And the mad, moaning winds |
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At night the deserts writhed |
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With diabolical things |
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Through the night, through the night |
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The wind lashed and it whipped me |
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When I got home, my lovely creature |
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She was no longer with me |
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Somewhere she lies, this lovely creature |
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Beneath the slow drifting sands |
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With her hair full of ribbons |
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And green gloves on her hands |
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They call me The Wild Rose |
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But my name was Elisa Day |
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Why they call me it I do not know |
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For my name was Elisa Day |
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From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one |
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She stared in my eyes and smiled |
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For her lips were the colour of the roses |
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That grew down the river, all bloody and wild |
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When he knocked on my door and entered the room |
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My trembling subsided in his sure embrace |
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He would be my first man, and with a careful hand |
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He wiped at the tears that ran down my face |
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Chorus |
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On the second day I brought her a flower |
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She was more beautiful than any woman I'd seen |
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I said, "Do you know where the wild roses grow |
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So sweet and scarlet and free?" |
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On the second day he came with a single red rose |
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Said: "Will you give me your loss and your sorrow" |
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I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed |
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He said, "If I show you the roses, will you follow?" |
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Chorus |
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On the third day he took me to the river |
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He showed me the roses and we kissed |
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And the last thing I heard was a muttered word |
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As he knelt (stood smiling) above me with a rock in his fist |
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On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow |
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And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief |
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And I kissed her goodbye, said, "All beauty must die" |
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And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth |
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Chorus |
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I live in a town called Millhaven |
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And it's small and it's mean and it's cold |
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But if you come around just as the sun goes down |
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You can watch the whole town turn to gold |
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It's around about then that I used to go a-roaming |
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Singing La la la la La la la lie |
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All God's children they all gotta die |
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My name is Loretta but I prefer Lottie |
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I'm closing in on my fifteenth year |
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And if you think you have seen a pair of eyes more green |
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Then you sure didn't see them around here |
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My hair is yellow and I'm always a-combing |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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Mama often told me we all got to die |
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You must have heard about The Curse Of Millhaven |
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How last Christmas Bill Blake's little boy didn't come home |
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They found him next week in One Mile Creek |
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His head bashed in and his pockets full of stones |
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Well, just imagine all the wailing and moaning |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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Even little Billy Blake's boy, he had to die |
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Then Professor O'Rye from Millhaven High |
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Found nailed to his door his prize-winning terrier |
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Then next day the old fool brought little Biko to school |
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And we all had to watch as he buried her |
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His eulogy to Biko had all the tears a-flowing |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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Even God's little creatures, they have to die |
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Our little town fell into a state of shock |
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A lot of people were saying things that made little sense |
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Then the next thing you know the head of Handyman Joe |
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Was found in the fountain of the Mayor's residence |
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Foul play can really get a small town going |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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Even God's children all have to die |
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Then, in a cruel twist of fate, old Mrs Colgate |
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Was stabbed but the job was not complete |
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The last thing she said before the cops pronounced her dead |
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Was, "My killer is Loretta and she lives across the street!" |
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Twenty cops burst through my door without even phoning |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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The young ones, the old ones, they all gotta die |
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Yes, it is I, Lottie. The Curse Of Millhaven |
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I've struck horror in the heart of this town |
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Like my eyes ain't green and my hair ain't yellow |
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It's more like the other way around |
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I gotta pretty little mouth underneath all the foaming |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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Sooner or later we all gotta die |
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Since I was no bigger than a weavil they've been saying I was evil |
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That if "bad" was a boot that I'd fit it |
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That I'm a wicked young lady, but I've been trying hard lately |
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O fuck it! I'm a monster! I admit it! |
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It makes me so mad my blood really starts a-going |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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Mama always told me that we all gotta die |
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Yeah, I drowned the Blakey kid, stabbed Mrs. Colgate, I admit |
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Did the handyman with his circular saw in his garden shed |
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But I never crucified little Biko, that was two junior high school psychos |
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Stinky Bohoon and his friend with the pumpkin-sized head |
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I'll sing to the lot, now you got me going |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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All God's children have all gotta die |
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There were all the others, all our sisters and brothers |
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You assumed were accidents, best forgotten |
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Recall the children who broke through the ice on Lake Tahoo? |
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Everyone assumed the "Warning" signs had followed them to the bottom |
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Well, they're underneath the house where I do quite a bit of stowing |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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Even twenty little children, they had to die |
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And the fire of '91 that razed the Bella Vista slum |
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There was the biggest shit-fight this country's ever seen |
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Insurance companies ruined, land lords getting sued |
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All cause of wee girl with a can of gasoline |
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Those flames really roared when the wind started blowing |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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Rich man, poor man, all got to die |
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Well I confessed to all these crimes and they put me on trial |
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I was laughing when they took me away |
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Off to the asylum in an old black Mariah |
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It ain't home, but you know, it's fucking better than jail |
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It ain't such bad old place to have a home in |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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All God's children they all gotta die |
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Now I got shrinks that will not rest with their endless Rorschach tests |
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I keep telling them they're out to get me |
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They ask me if I feel remorse and I answer, "Why of course! |
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There is so much more I could have done if they'd let me!" |
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So it's Rorschach and Prozac and everything is groovy |
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Singing La la la la La la la lie |
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All God's children they all have to die |
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La la la la La la la lie |
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I'm happy as a lark and everything is fine |
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Singing La la la la La la la lie |
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Yeah, everything is groovy and everything is fine |
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Singing La la la la La la la lie |
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All God's children they gotta die |
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They found Mary Bellows cuffed to the bed |
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With a rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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She'd grown up hungry, she'd grown up poor |
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She left her home in Arkansas |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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She wanted to see the deep blue sea |
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She travelled across Tennessee |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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She met a man along the way |
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He introduced himself as Richard Slade |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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Poor Mary thought that she might die |
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When she saw the ocean for the first time |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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She checked into a cheap little place |
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Richard Slade carried in her old suitcase |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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"I'm a good girl, sir", she said to him |
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I couldn't possibly permit you in |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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Slade tipped his hat and winked his eye |
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And turned away without goodbye |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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She sat on her bed and thought of home |
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With the sea breeze whistling all alone |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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In hope and loneliness she crossed the floor |
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And undid the latch on the front door |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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They found her the next day cuffed to the bed |
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A rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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So mothers keep your girls at home |
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Don't let them journey all alone |
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Tell them this world is full of danger |
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And to shun the company of strangers |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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O poor Mary Bellows |
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Crow Jane Crow Jane |
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Crow Jane |
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Horrors in her head |
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That her tongue dare not name |
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She lives alone by the river |
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The rolling rivers of pain |
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Crow Jane Crow Jane |
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Crow Jane Ah hah huh |
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There is one shining eye on a hard-hat |
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The company closed down the mine |
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Winking on waters they came |
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Twenty hard-hats, twenty eyes |
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In her clapboard shack |
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Only six foot by five |
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They killed all her whiskey |
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And poured their pistols dry |
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Crow Jane Crow Jane |
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Crow Jane Ah hah huh |
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Seems you've remembered |
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How to sleep, how to sleep |
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The house dogs are in your turnips |
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And your yard dogs are running all over the street |
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Crow Jane Crow Jane |
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Crow Jane Ah hah huh |
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"O Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson |
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Why you close up shop so late?" |
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"Just fitted out a girl who looked like a bird |
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Measured .32, .44, .38 |
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I asked that girl which road she was taking |
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Said she was walking the road of hate |
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But she stopped on a coal-trolley up to New Haven |
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Population: 48" |
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Crow Jane Crow Jane |
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Crow Jane Ah hah huh |
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Your guns are drunk and smoking |
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They've followed you right back to your gate |
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Laughing all the way back from the new town |
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Population, now, 28 |
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Crow Jane Crow Jane |
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Crow Jane Ah hah huh |
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I am tall and I am thin |
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Of an enviable hight |
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And I've been known to be quite handsome |
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In a certain angle and in certain light |
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Well I entered into O'Malley's |
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Said, "O'Malley I have a thirst" |
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O'Malley merely smiled at me |
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Said "You wouldn't be the first" |
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I knocked on the bar and pointed |
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To a bottle on the shelf |
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And as O'Malley poured me out a drink |
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I sniffed and crossed myself |
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My hand decided that the time was nigh |
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And for a moment it slipped from view |
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And when it returned, it fairly burned |
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With confidence anew |
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Well the thunder from my steely fist |
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Made all the glasses jangle |
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When I shot him, I was so handsome |
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It was the light, it was the angle |
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Huh! Hmmmmmm |
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"Neighbours!" I cried, "Friends!" I screamed |
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I banged my fist upon the bar |
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"I bear no grudge against you!" |
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And my dick felt long and hard |
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"I am the man for which no God waits |
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But for which the whole world yearns |
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I'm marked by darkness and by blood |
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And one thousand powder-burns" |
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Well, you know those fish with the swollen lips |
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That clean the ocean floor |
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When I looked at poor O'Malley's wife |
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That's exactly what I saw |
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I jammed the barrel under her chin |
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And her face looked raw and vicious |
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Her head it landed in the sink |
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With all the dirty dishes |
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Her little daughter Siobhan |
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Pulled beers from dusk till down |
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And amongst the townfolk she was a bit of a joke |
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But she pulled the best beer in town |
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I swooped magnificent upon her |
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As she sat shivering in her grief |
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Like the Madonna painted on the church-house wall |
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In whale's blood and banana leaf |
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Her throat it crumbled in my fist |
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And I spun heroically around |
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To see Caffrey rising from his seat |
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I shot that mother fucker down |
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Mmmmmmmmmm Yeah Yeah Yeah |
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"I have no free will", I sang |
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As I flew about the murder |
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Mrs. Richard Holmes, she screamed |
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You really should have heard her |
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I sang and I laughed, I howled and I wept |
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I panted like a pup |
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I blew a hole in Mrs. Richard Holmes |
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And her husband stupidly stood up |
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As he screamed, "You are an evil man" |
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And I paused a while to wonder |
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"If I have no free will then how can I |
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Be morally culpable, I wonder" |
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I shot Richard Holmes in the stomach |
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And gingerly he sat down |
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And he whispered weirdly, "No offense" |
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And then lay upon the ground |
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"None taken", I replied to him |
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To which he gave a little cough |
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With blazing wings I neatly aimed |
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And blew his head completely off |
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I've lived in this town for thirty years |
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And to no-one I am a stranger |
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And I put new bullets in my gun |
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Chamber upon chamber |
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And I turned my gun on the bird-like Mr. Brookes |
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I thought of Saint Francis and his sparrows |
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And as I shot down the youthful Richardson |
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It was St. Sebastian I thought of, and his arrows |
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Hhhhhhhhhh Mmmmmmmmmmmm |
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I said, "I want to introduce myself |
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And I am glad that all you came" |
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And I leapt upon the bar |
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And shouted out my name |
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Well Jerry Bellows, he hugged his stool |
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Closed his eyes and shrugged and laughed |
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And with an ashtray as big as a fucking really big brick |
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I split his head in half |
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His blood spilled across the bar |
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Like a steaming scarlet brook |
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And I knelt at it's edge on the counter |
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Wiped the tears away and looked |
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Well, the light in there was blinding |
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Full of God and ghosts of truth |
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I smiled at Henry Davenport |
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Who made an attempt to move |
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Well, from the position I was standing |
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The strangest thing I ever saw |
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The bullet entered through the top of his chest |
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And blew his bowels out on the floor |
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Well I floated down the counter |
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Showing no remorse |
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I shot a hole in Kathleen Carpenter |
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Recently divorced |
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But remorse i felt and remorse I had |
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It clung to every thing |
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From the raven's hair upon my head |
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To the feathers on my wings |
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Remorse sqeezed my hand in it's fradulent claw |
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With it's golden hairless chest |
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And I glided through the bodies |
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And killed the fat man Vincent West |
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Who sat quietly in his chair |
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A man become a child |
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And I raised the gun up to his head |
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Executioner-style |
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He made no attempt to resist |
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So fat and dull and lazy |
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"Did you know I lived in your street?" I said |
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And he looked at me as though I were crazy |
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"O", he said, "I had no idea" |
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And he grew as quiet as a mouse |
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And the roar of the pistol when it went off |
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Near blew that hat right off the house |
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Hmmmmmm Uh Uh |
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Well, I caught my eye in the mirror |
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And gave it a long and loving inspection |
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"There stands some kind of man", I roared |
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And there did, in the reflection |
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My hair combed back like a raven's wing |
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My muscles hard and tight |
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And curling from the business end of my gun |
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Was a query-mark of cordite |
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Well I spun to the left, I spun to the right |
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And I spun to the left again |
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"Fear me! Fear me! Fear me!" |
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But no one did cause they were dead |
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Huh! Hmmmmmmmmm |
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And then there were the police sirens wailing |
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And a bull-horn squelched and blared |
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"Drop your weapons and come out |
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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 |
|
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 |
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
|
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 |
|
|
|
(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 |
|
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) |
