Best Of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

I found her on a night of fire and noise
Wild bells rang in a wild sky
I knew from that moment on
I'll love her till the day that i died
And i kissed away a thousand tears
My lady of the various sorrows
Some begged, some borowed, some stolen
Some kept safe for tomorrow
On and endless night, silver star spangled
The bells from the chapel went jingle-jangle


Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? like i love you?


She was given to me to put things right
And i stacked all my accomplishments beside her
Still i seemed so obselete and small
I found god and all his devils inside her
In my bed she cast the blizzard out
A mock sun blazed upon her head
So completely filled with light she was
Her shadow fanged and hairy and mad
Our love-lines grew hopelessly tangled
And the bells from the chapel went jingle-jangle


Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? like i love you?


She had a heartful of love and devotion
She had a mindful of tyranny and terror
Well, i try, i do, i really try
But i just err, baby, i do, i error
So come find me, my darling one
I'm down to the grounds, the very dregs
Ah, here she comes, blocking the sun
Blood running down the inside of her legs
The moon in the sky is battered and mangled
Band the bells from the chapel go jingle-jangle


Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? like i love you?


All things move toward their end
I knew before i met her that i would lose her
I swear i made every effort to be good to her
I made every effort not to abuse her
Crazy bracelets on her wrists and her ankles
And the bells from the chapel go jingle-jangle


Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? do you love me?
Do you love me? like i love you?

I don't believe in an interventionist god
But i know, darling, that you do
But if i did i would kneel down and ask him
Not to intervene when it came to you
Not to touch a hair on your head
To leave you as you are
And if he felt he had to direct you
Then direct you into my arms


Into my arms, o lord
Into my arms, o lord
Into my arms, o lord
Into my arms


And i don't believe in the existence of angels
But looking at you i wonder if that's true
But if i did i would summon them together
And ask them to watch over you
To each burn a candle for you
To make bright and clear your path
And to walk, like christ, in grace and love
And guide you into my arms


Into my arms, o lord
Into my arms, o lord
Into my arms, o lord
Into my arms


And i believe in love
And i know that you do too
And i believe in some kind of path
That we can walk down, me and you
So keep your candlew burning
And make her journey bright and pure
That she will keep returning
Always and evermore

Into my arms, o lord
Into my arms, o lord
Into my arms, o lord
Into my arms

Looka yonder! looka yonder!
Looka yonder! a big black cloud come!
A big black cloud come!
O comes to tupelo. comes to tupelo


Yonder on the horizon
Yonder on the horizon
Stopped at the mighty river
Stopped at the mighty river and
Sucked the damn thing dry
Tupelo-o-o, o tupelo
In a valley hides a town called tupelo


Distant thunder rumble. distant thunder rumble
Rumble hungry like the beast
The beast it cometh, cometh down
The beast it cometh, cometh down
Wo wo wo-o-o
Tupelo bound. tupelo-o-o. yeah tupelo
The beast it cometh, tupelo bound


Why the hen won't lay no egg
Can't get that cock to crow
The nag is spooked and crazy
O god help tupelo! o god help tupelo!
O god help tupelo! o god help tupelo!


Ya can say these streets are rivers
Ya can call these rivers streets
Ya can tell ya self ya dreaming buddy
But no sleep runs this deep
No! no sleep runs this deep
No sleep runs this deep
Women at their windows
Rain crashing on the pane
Writing in the frost
Tupelos' shame. tupelo's shame
O god help tupelo! o god help tupelo!


O go to sleep lil children
The sandmans on his way
O go to sleep lil children
The sandmans in his way
But the lil children know
They listen to the beating of their blood
Listen to the beating of their blood
Listen to the beating of their blood
Listen to the beating of their blood
They listen to the beating of their blood
The sandman's mud!
The sandman's mud!
And the black rain come down
The black rain come down
The black rain come down
Water water everywhere
Where no bird can fly no fish can swim
Where no bird can fly no fish can swim
No fish can swim
Until the king is born!
Until the king is born!
In tupelo! tupelo-o-o!
Til the king is born in tupelo!


In a clap-board shack with a roof of tin
Where the rain came down and leaked within
A young mother frozen on a concrete floor
With a bottle and a box and a cradle of straw
Tupelo-o-o! o tupelo!
With a bottle and a box and a cradle of straw


Well saturday gives what sunday steals
And a child is born on his brothers heels
Come sunday morn the first-born dead
In a shoebox tied with a ribbon of red
Tupelo-o-o! hey tupelo!
In a shoebox buried with a ribbon of red


O ma-ma rock you lil' one slow
O ma-ma rock your baby
O ma-ma rock your lil' one slow
O god help tupelo! o god help tupelo!
Mama rock your lil' one slow
The lil one will walk on tupelo
The lil one will walk on tupelo
Black rain come down, black rain come down
Tupelo-o-o! yeah tupelo!
And carry the burden of tupelo
Tupelo-o-o! o tupelo! yeah!
The king will walk on tupelo!
Tupelo-o-o! o tupelo!
He carried the burden outa tupelo!
Tupelo-o-o! hey tupelo! [repeat]
You will reap just what you sow

O deanna
O deanna!
O deanna
Sweet deanna!
O deanna
You know you are my friend, yeah
O deanna
And i ain't down here for your money
I ain't down here for your love
I ain't down here for your love or money
I'm down here for your soul

No carpet on the floor
And the winding cloth holds many moths
Around your ku klux furniture
I cum of death-head in your frock
We discuss the murder plan
We discuss murder and the murder act
Murder takes the wheel of your cadillac
And death climbs in the back

O deanna
This is a car
O deanna
This is a gun
O deanna
And this a day number one
O deanna
Our little crimeworn histories
Black and smoking christmas trees
And honey, it ain't mystery
Why you're a mystery to me

We will eat out of their pantries
And their parlours
Ashy leaving in their beds
And we'll unload into their heads
On this mean season
This little angel that i squeezin'
She ain't been mean to me

O deanna
O deanna!
O deanna
You are my friend and my partner
O deanna
On this house on the hill
O deanna
And i ain't down here for your money
I ain't down here for your love
I ain't down here for your love or money
I'm down here for your soul

O deanna
I am a-knocking
O deanna
With my toolbox and my stocking
O deanna
And i'll meet you on the corner
O deanna
Yes, you point it like a finger
O deanna
And squeeze its little thing
O deanna
Feel its kick, hear its bang
And let no worry about its issue
Don't worry about where its been
And don't worry about where it hits
Cause it just ain't yours to sin

O deanna
No it just ain't your to sin
O deanna
Sweet deanna
O deanna
And we ain't getting any younger
O deanna
And i don't intend gettin' any older
O deanna
The sun a hump at my shoulder
O deanna
O deanna!
O deanna
Sweet deanna
O deanna
And i ain't down here for your money
I ain't down here for your love
I ain't down here for your love of money
I'm down here for your soul

And no-one saw the carny go
And the weeks flew by
Until they moved on the show
Leaving his caravan behind
It was parked out on the south east ridge
And as the company crossed the bridge
With the first rain filling the bone-dry river bed
It shone, just so, upon the edge
Away, away, we're sad, they said

Dog-boy, atlas, half-man, the geeks, the hired hands
There was not one among them that did not cast an eye behind
In the hope that the carny would return to his own kind

And the carny had a horse, all skin and bone
A bow-backed nag, that he named "sorrow"
How it is buried in a shallow grave
In the then parched meadow

And the dwarves were given the task of digging the ditch
And laying the nag's carcass in the ground
And boss bellini, waving his smoking pistol around
Saying "the nag is dead meat"
"we caint afford to carry dead weight"
The whole company standing about
Not making a sound
And turning to dwarves perched on the enclosure gate
The boss says "bury this lump of crow bait"

And thean the rain came
Everybody running for their wagons
Tying all the canvas flaps down
The mangy cats crowling in ther cages
The bird-girl flapping and squawking around
The whole valley reeking of wet beast
Wet beast and rotten hay
Freak and brute creation
Packed up and on their way

The three dwarves peering from their wagon's hind
Moses says to noah "we shoulda dugga deepa one"
Their grizzled faces like dying moons
Still dirty from the digging done

And as the company passed from the valley
Into a higher ground
The rain beat on the ridge and on the meadow
And on the mound

Until nothing was left, nothing at all
Except the body of sorrow
That rose in time
To float upon the surface of the eaten soil

And a murder of crows did circle round
First one, then the others flapping blackly down

And the carny's van still sat upon the edge
Tilting slowly as the firm ground turned to sludge
And the rain it hammered down

And no-one saw the carny go
I say it's funny how things go

Get down, get down, little henry lee
And stay all night with me
You won't find a girl in this damn world
That will compare with me
And the wind did howl and the wind did blow
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on henry lee

I can't get down and i won't get down
And stay all night with thee
For the girl i have in that merry green land
I love far better than thee
And the wind did howl and the wind did blow
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on henry lee

She leaned herself against a fence
Just for a kiss or two
And with a little pen-knife held in her hand
She plugged him through and through
And the wind did roar and the wind did moan
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on henry lee

Come take him by his lilly-white hands
Come take him by his feet
And throw him in this deep deep well
Which is more than one hundred feet
And the wind did howl and the wind did blow
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on henry lee

Lie there, lie there, little henry lee
Till the flesh drops from your bones
For the girl you have in that merry green land
Can wait forever for you to come home
And the wind did howl and the wind did moan
La la la la la
La la la la lee
A little bird lit down on henry lee

It began when they come took me from my home
And put me in dead row,
Of which i am nearly wholly innocent, you know.
And i'll say it again
I..am..not..afraid..to..die.

I began to warm and chill
To objects and their fields,
A ragged cup, a twisted mop
The face of jesus in my soup
Those sinister dinner meals
The meal trolley's wicked wheels
A hooked bone rising from my food
All things either good or ungood.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And i think my head is burning
And in a way i'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
And anyway i told the truth
And i'm not afraid to die.

Interpret signs and catalogue
A blackened tooth, a scarlet fog.
The walls are bad. black. bottom kind.
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath gathering at my hind

I hear stories from the chamber
How christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger
Died upon the cross
And might i say it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade
Or at least that's what i'm told

Like my good hand i
Tatooed e.v.i.l. across it's brother's fist
That filthy five! they did nothing to challenge or resist.

In heaven his throne is made of gold
The ark of his testament is stowed
A throne from which i'm told
All history does unfold.
Down here it's made of wood and wire
And my body is on fire
And god is never far away.

Into the mercy seat i climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And anyway i never lied.

My kill-hand is called e.v.i.l.
Wears a wedding band that's g.o.o.d.
`tis a long-suffering shackle
Collaring all that rebel blood.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And i think my head is burning
And in a way i'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway i told the truth
And i'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is burning
And i think my head is glowing
And in a way i'm hoping
To be done with all this weighing up of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And i've got nothing left to lose
And i'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is glowing
And i think my head is smoking
And in a way i'm hoping
To be done with all this looks of disbelief.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway there was no proof
Nor a motive why.

And the mercy seat is smoking
And i think my head is melting
And in a way i'm helping
To be done with all this twisted of the truth.
A lie for a lie
And a truth for a truth
And i've got nothing left to lose
And i'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is melting
And i think my blood is boiling
And in a way i'm spoiling
All the fun with all this truth and consequence.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway i told the truth
And i'm not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And i think my head is burning
And in a way i'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
A life for a life
And a truth for a truth
And anyway there was no proof
But i'm not afraid to tell a lie.

And the mercy seat is waiting
And i think my head is burning
And in a way i'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway i told the truth
But i'm afraid i told a lie.

I've felt you coming girl, as you drew near
I knew you'd find me, cause i longed you here
Are you my desitiny? is this how you'll appear?
Wrapped in a coat with tears in your eyes?
Well take that coat babe, and throw it on the floor
Are you the one that i've been waiting for?


As you've been moving surely toward me
My soul has comforted and assured me
That in time my heart it will reward me
And that all will be revealed
So i've sat and i've watched an ice-age thaw
Are you the one that i've been waiting for?


Out of sorrow entire worlds have been built
Out of longing great wonders have been willed
They're only little tears, darling, let them spill
And lay your head upon my shoulder
Outside my window the world has gone to war
Are you the one that i've been waiting for?


O we will know, won't we?
The stars will explode in the sky
O but they don't, do they?
Stars have their moment and then they die


There's a man who spoke wonders though i've never met him
He said, "he who seeks finds and who knocks will be let in"
I think of you in motion and just how close you are getting
And how every little thing anticipates you
All down my veins my heart-strings call
Are you the one that i've been waiting for?