Murder Ballads
	Song Of Joy Stagger Lee Henry Lee Lovely Creature Where The Wild Roses Grow The Curse Of Millhaven The Kindness Of Strangers Crow Jane O'Malley's Bar Death Is Not The End Zpět

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 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 at 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 around 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 (back to top)

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't 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 everyday"
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 look like you ain't 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,
Stagger Lee"

"I'll stay here till Billy Dilly comes in, till time comes to pass
And furthermore I'll fuck Billy Dilly 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 to one fat boy's asshole"
Said Stagger Lee

Just then Billy Dilly rolls in and said, "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 sure to be dead"
Said Stagger Lee

Billy Dilly dropped down and sobbered on his head
And Stag filled him full of lead
Oh yeah.

(back to top)

Henry Lee

Vocals: NICK CAVE Vocals: PJ HARVEY

Get down, get down, little Henry Lee
And stay all night with me
You won't find a girl in this damned world
That will compare with me
And the 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 spend all night with thee
For the girl I have in that merry green land
I love far better than thee
And the 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 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

Come take him by his lilly-white hands
Come take him by his feet
And throw him down this deep deep well
Which is more than one hundred feet
And the 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 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

(back to top)

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 lead

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, throug 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

(back to top)

Where The Wild Roses Grow

Vocals, piano: NICK CAVE Vocals: KYLIE MINOGUE

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 I knew she was the one
As 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 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
As I kissed her goodbye, I said, "All beauty must die"
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

CHORUS

(back to top)

The Curse Of Millhaven

I live in a town called Millhaven
And it's samll 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 about then that I use 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 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 stone
Well just imagine all 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 burried 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, they all have to die

Then, in a cruel twist of faith, 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 that 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 hig 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 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 Bella Vista slum
There was the biggest shit-fight this country's ever seen
Insurance companies ruined, landlords 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

(back to top)

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
So she left her home in Arkansas
O poor Mary Bellows

She wanted to see the deep blue sea
She drove 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 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 out alone
Tell them this world is full of danger
And to shun the company of strangers
O poor Mary Bellows
O poor Mary Bellows

(back to top)

Crow Jane

Crow Jane Crow Jane
Crow Jane
Horrors in her head
That her tounge dare not name
Lived all 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
Company closed down the mine
Winking on the waters they came
Thenty hard-hats, twenty eyes
In her clapboard shack
Just six foot by five
They killed all her whiskey
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 streets
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
Asked the girl which road she was taking
Said she was walking on the road of hate
But she hopped 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 have followed you to the gate
Laughing all way back from the new town
Population, now, 28
Crow Jane Crow Jane
Crow Jane Ah hah huh

(back to top)

O'Malley's Bar

I am tall and I am thin
Of an enviable hight
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

Huh! Hmmmmm

"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 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 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 townfolk, she was a bit of a joke
But she pulled the best beers in town

I swooped magnificient 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 chair
I shot the motherfucker down
Mmmmmmmmm 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 he 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 wierdly, "No offense"
And lay upon the ground

"None taken", I replied to him
With 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 am I a stranger
And I put new bullets in my gun
Chamber upon chamber

And when 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

Hhhhhhhhhhhh Mmmmmmmmmm

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 streaming 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 no 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 hair upon my head
To the feathers on my wings

[...] in it's fraudulent 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
"Do you know I lived in your street?" I cried
And he looked at me as thought 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
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!"
But no one did cause they were dead

Huh! Hmmmmmmmm
And then there were the police sirens wailing
And a bull-horn squelched and blared
"Drop your weapons and come out
With your hands 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 held it to my head

"Drop your weapon and come out!
Keep your hands above your head!"
Well, 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

(back to top)

Death Is Not The End

Vocals (in order of appearance: NICK CAVE, PJ HARVEY, SHANE MacGOWAN,
KYLIE MINOGUE, THOMAS WYDLER, ANITA LANE, BLIXA BARGELD

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 is 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

And 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

(back to top)

THE BAD SEEDS are:
MICK HARVEY, BLIXA BARGELD, THOMAS WYLDER, CONWAY SAVAGE, MARTYN
P. CASEY, JIM SCLAVUNOS

(P) 1996 Mute Records Limited
(C) 1996 Mute Records Limited