Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - From Her to Eternity Album Lyrics

I stepped into an avalanche
It covered up my soul
When I am not this hunchback that you see
I sleep beneath the golden hill
You who wish to conquer pain
You must learn to serve me well

You strike my side by accident
As you go down to your goal
This cripple here that you clothe and feed
Is neither starved nor cold
He does not ask for your company
Not at the centre, the centre of the world

I who am on a pedestal
You did not raise me there
Your laws do not compel me now
To kneel grotesque and bare
For I myself am the pedestal
For this ugly hump at which you stare

You who wish to conquer pain
You must learn what makes me kind
The crumbs of love that you offer me
Are the crumbs I've left behind
Your pain is no credential here
It's just a shadow of my wound

I have begun to ask for you
I who have no greed
I have begun to long for you
I who have no need
You say you've gone away from me
But I can feel you when you breathe

Do not dress in those rags for me
I know you are not poor
And do not love me quite so fiercely now
When you know that you are not sure
It is your turn, my beloved one
It is your flesh that I wear

The captain's arm like the bunched-up rope
And Anita wriggling free on a skull and dagger
And a portrait of Christ, nailed to an anchor
Etched into his upper

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, cabin fever
Oh, oh, oh cabin fever

Slams his f*cking tin-dish down
Our captain takes time to crush
Some bloo-bottles glowin' in his gruel
With a lump in his throat, and lumpy mush
Thumbing a scrapbook stuck up with clag
And a morbid lump of love in his flags
Oh, done is the kissing, all that remain
To sail forever, upon the stain (stain, stain)

Oh, oh, cabin fever
Oh, oh, oh cabin fever

Right
Cabin fever
Cabin fever

The captains free-hand is a cleaver
He rations his beard, and he fashions his jerky
And he carves his peg outta the finest of mahogany
Yeah, yeah
Or was it ebony? It was ebony
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Tallies up his loneliness, notch by notch
'Cause the sea offers nothing for him to hold or touch
Oh, notch by notch, winter by winter
Notch by notch, winter by winter
Notch by notch, winter by winter
Notch by notch, winter by winter
Notch by notch, winter by winter
Notch by notch, winter by winter
Notch by notch, winter by winter
Notch by notch, winter by winter
Winter by winter, winter by winter
Now the captain's peg is whittled, right down to a splinter

Oh, oh, cabin fever
Oh, oh, oh cabin fever
Oh, the rolling sea keeps rolling on
Oh, the rolling sea keeps rolling on
She's everywhere now that she's gone
She's everywhere now that she's gone, gone, gone
Oh, cabin fever

Welcome to the table his beloved-unconscious
Raising her nest of hair from her crooks
She's trying to summon up one of her looks
His arm now like coiled s-s-s-snakes
(Snakes, snakes, snakes, snakes, snakes, snakes, snakes)
Whips, whips all the bottles that he's drunken
Of the cabin they'd been sailing
Of the ship they'd been sailing
Of the ship they'd been sailing

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh (cabin fever)
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Five years sunken
Oh, five years sunken

Along crags and sunless cracks I go
(Along crags and sunless cracks I go)
Up rib of rock, down spine of stone
(Down rib of rock, up spine of stone)
I dare not slumber where the night winds whistle
(I dare not slumber where the night winds whistle)
Lest her creeping-soul clutch this heart of thistle
(Lest her creeping-soul clutch home)

Oh, the same god that abandoned her
(Oh, the same god that abandoned her)
Has in turn abandoned me
(Has done gone abandoned me)
And softening the turf with my tears
(And softening the turf with my tears)
I dug a well of misery

And in that well of misery
And down that well of misery
Hangs a bucket full of sorrow
(Hangs a bucket full of sorrow)
And it swings slow and aching like a bell
(It swings slow like a bell)
Yeah, and its toll is dead and hollow
(And its toll is dead and hollow)

Oh, down that well lies the long-lost dress
(Oh, down the well lies the dress)
Of my little floating girl
(Of my little floating girl)
That muffles a tear that you let fall
(That deadens a tear that you let fall)
All down the well of misery

Put shoulder to the handle, if ya dare
(Go to the handle, if you dare)
And hoist the bucket, hither
(And hoist that bucket, hither)
Lord, crank then hoist, then hoist and crank
(Lord, crank and hoist and hoist and crank)
'Til your muscles waste and wither
('Til your muscles waste and wither)

And the same god that abandoned her
(The same god that abandoned her)
Has in turn abandoned me
(Has in turn abandoned me)
Deep in the desert of despair
(Deep in the desert of despair)
I wait at the well of misery

Ah wanna tell ya 'bout a girl
You know, she lives in room twenty-nine
Why, why? That's the one right up top a mine
I start to cry, I start to cry

Oh, I hear her walking
Walking barefoot cross the floorboards
All through this lonesome night
I hear her crying too
Hot-tears come splashing down
Leaking through the cracks
Down upon my face
I catch 'em in my mouth
Catch 'em in my mouth
Catch 'em in my mouth
I catch 'em in my mouth
Walk and cry, walk and cry
Walk and cry, I'll walk and cry

From her to eternity
From her to eternity
From her to eternity

I read her diary on her sheets
Scrutinizing every little bit of dirt
Tore out a page and stuffed it inside my shirt
I fled outta the window
And shinning it down the vine
Outta her nightmare
And back into mine
Mine, oh mine

From her to eternity
From her to eternity
Cry, cry, cry
Cry, cry, cry

She's wearing those blue stockings, I bet
And standing like this with my ear to the ceiling
Listen I know it must sound absurd
But I can hear the most melancholy sound I ever heard
Walk and cry, walk and cry
Kneel and cry, kneel and cry

From her to eternity
From her to eternity

Oh tell me why?
Oh tell me why? Why? Why? Why?
Oh tell me why?
Don't tell me a lie
Why the ceiling still shakes? Shake, shake, shake
And all the fixtures turn to serpents and snakes?
This desire to possess her is a wound
And it's nagging at me like a shrew
But I know, that to possess her
Is, therefore, not to desire her

Oh, then that little girl would just have to go, go
From her to eternity
Oh, go, go, go
From her to eternity
From her to eternity
From her to eternity
From her to eternity
From her to eternity
From her to eternity
From her to eternity
From her to eternity
From her to eternity
From her to eternity

Achtung

Yeah

Born of the river
Born of its ever-changing, never-changing murky water
Yeah, uh
Oh, river boat just rolling along
Through the great, great greasy city
Huck standing like a Saint, upon its deck
Well ya wanna catch a Saint
Then bait ya hook, let's take a walk

"Oh come to me, oh come to me"
Is what the dirty say to Huck, Huck

Whoa, oh, whoa, oh, ooh
Saint Huck, Huck

Straight in the arms of the city goes Huck
Down the beckoning streets of opportunity
Whistling his favorite river song
And a bad, blind nigger at the piano
Puts a sinister blue lilt into that sing-a-long
And Huck senses something's wrong

Sirens wail in the city
And little Ulysses got turned to putty
And Ol' man River's got a bone to pick
And our boys hardly got a bone to suck
He go, whoa-whoa whoa-whoa whoa-whoa whoa-whoa
Saint Huck, yeah Huck

Yeah
The moon, its huge cycloptic eye
Watches the city streets contract
Twist and cripple and crack
Saint Huck goes on a dog's leg now
Saint Huck goes on a dog's leg now

You know the story
Ya wake up one morning and ya find you're a thug
Blowing smoke rings in some dive
Ya fingers hot and itching, cracking ya knuckles
Ya bull neck bristling
Still Huck he ventures on whistling
And Death reckons Huckleberry's time is up
And whoa whoa
Saint Huck, yeah Huck, uh
Whoa oh-oh
Saint Huck

Yonder go Huck, minus pocket-watch an' wallet gone
Skin shrinks wraps his skeleton
No wonder he gets thinner, what with his skinny dinners
Saint Huck-a-Saint Elvis, Saint Huck-a-Saint Elvis
Oh, do you recall the song ya used to sing-a-long
Shifting the river-trade on that ol' steamer
Life is but a dream

But ya trade in the Mighty ol' man River
For the Dirty ol' Man Latrine
The brothel shift
The hustle and the bustle and the green-backs rustle
And all the sexy-cash
And the randy-cars
And the two dollar f*ckers
Oh oh oh ya outta luck, are you outta luck
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa
Saint Huck, yeah, yeah Huck

This is the track of deception
Leads to the heart of despair
Huck whistles like he just don't care
That in the pocket of the jacket is a chamber
Lead pellets sleeps in there
Wake up

Now Huck whistles and he kneels
And he lays down there
See ya huck, good luck
A smoke ring hovers above his head
And the rats and the dogs and the men all come
And put a bullet through his eye
And the drip and the drip and the drip of the Mississippi cryin'
And Saint Huck hears his own Mississippi just rollin' by him
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa
Saint Huck, Saint Huck, Saint Huck, Saint Huck
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa
Saint Huck, Saint Huck, Saint Huck, Saint Huck
Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa

She loves me, she loves me not
She loves me, she loves me not
She loves me, she loves me not

Well, I've spent seven days and seven nights
Trying to get sunk in this brine
Don't turn on ya water wings
'Cause I got me a pair of waterworks, right?

My insects suicide against my window
My heart goes out to those little flies
There's a bugging in my ear
But it's more of her blackmail, ham Shakespeare and her
Flies, oh, wings off flies
She loves me, oh, she loves me not
(Listen up, I'll stop when I want you to stop)

Lord, I've discovered the recipe of heaven
You get solitude and you mix with sanctuary and silence
And then bake it
Listen, I plead guilty to misanthropy
So hang me, I'd appreciate it
Witness her gate-crash my tiny hell
With some obscene tete-a-tete
If ya wanna talk to me about love and pain
See my ulcer, it'll be happy to accommodate
Wings off flies,
She loves me, She loves me not
Oh hey, Joe, another oughta do the job

Time to drown our little fire, feel free to keep the ashes
Just bye bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, now bye bye
I'll see ya in a pigs eye
I will be one, in need of no-one
On my last and deepest dive
Hey fill 'er up, Joe
I'm obliged

I am obliged
Wings off flies
Oh, she loves me, oh she loves me not

Welcome the solitary flyer
Ya see it land on the rim of my glass
It's going around and around and around
Look I just don't have the heart to let it back
I grabbed it in my paw
Snatched it up
And then I held it to my ear, you could hear it scream
Could hear it scream and scream and scream
'Til it screamed not
Hey Joe, ya wanna hear about this scream?

Who'll build a box for Black Paul?
I'm enquirin on behalf of his soul
I'd be beholdin to ya all
For a lil' information, just a little indication

Just who will dig the hole?
When ya done ransackin' his room
Grabbin' any damn thing that shines
Throw the scraps down on the street

Like all his books and his notes
All his books and his notes and
All the junk that he wrote
Whole f*ckin' lot right up in smoke

Well ain't there nothin' sacred anymore
Won't someone will build a box for Black Paul?
They're shootin' off his guns
And they're shootin' off their mouths

Saying "F*ck with us and die"
"F*ck with us and die"
(Let's see that rat of fear go scuttle in their skulls)
"Cover that eye, cover that frozen eye"

Poor Paul

Blood-puppet, in a heap up against the stoning-wall
Black-puppet, go to sleep, mama won't scold ya anymore

Armies of ants, wade up the little red streams
Heading for the mother-pool
Oh lord, it's cruel
Oh man it's hot
Oh man it's hot
And some of those ants they just climb to the spot
Who threw the first stone at Black Paul?

"Don't ask us", say the critics and the hacks
The pen-pushers and the quacks
"We just come to get the facts"
"We just come to get the facts"
Uh huh, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

Here is the hammer, that built the scaffold
And built the box
Here is the shovel, that dug the hole
In this ground of rocks

And here is the pile of stones
And for each one planted, God only knows
A blood-rose grown

Oh listen
These are the true Demon-Flowers
These are the true Demon-Flowers
Stand back everyone
Blood-black everyone
(Blood-black)
(Stand back)

Who'll build a box for Black Paul?
And who'll carry it up the hill?

"Not I", said the widow, adjusting her veil
"I will not drive the nail
Or cart his puppet-body home
For I done that one hundred times before
Uh, it's one hundred times or more
And why should ah dress his wounds?
When he has wounded my dress, nightly
Right across the floor"

Who'll build a box for Black Paul?
Who'll carry it up the hill?
Now who'll bury him in the black-soil?

From the woods and the thickets
Come the ghosts of his victims
"We love you"
"I love you"
And this won't hurt a bit

Outta my eyes was your rise to full glory
Spring up from the grope of life
Spring up, up, up, up, up, up, up up into death
Up, up, up, up, up inhale its breath
Oh yes, Death favors those that favor death

Here is the stone, and this is the inscription it bare
"Below Lies Black Paul, Under The Upper
But Above and Beyond The Surface-Flat-Fall There"

And, and, and, and all the angels come on down
And all you men and women crowd around
And all the old widows weeping into their skirts
And all the little gals and the little boys

And the scribes with their pens poised
All the hullaballoo, all the noise
All the hullaballoo, all the noise
All of the hullaballoo, all of the noise

Clears his throat of black blood
Black Paul singing like a lonely boy

Well, I have cried one thousand tears
And I've cried a thousand tears, its true
And the next stormy night you know
That I'm still cryin' them for you

Well, I had a gal she was so sweet
Red dress, and long red hair hangin' down
And heaven just ain't heaven
Without that little girl hangin' around

Well, if I laugh, ya know I've been a bad-man
But Lord knows ah done some good things too
But I confess, my soul will never rest
Until you've, until you've built
Until you've built a box for my gal, too
My gal, too
My gal, too