Song of Joy

Nick Cave and the bad seeds

Have mercy on me, sir


Allow me to impose on you
 I have no place to stay
 And my bones are cold right through
 I will tell you a story
 Of a man and his family
 And I swear that it is true
 Ten years ago I met a girl named Joy
 She was a sweet and happy thing
 Her eyes were bright blue jewels
 And we were married in the spring
 I had no idea what happiness and little love could bring
 Or what life had in store
 But all things move toward their end
 All things move toward their their end
 On that you can be sure
 La la la la la la la la la la
 La la la la la la la la la la
 Then one morning I awoke to find her weeping
 And for many days to follow
 She grew so sad and lonely
 Became Joy in name only
 Within her breast there launched an unnamed sorrow
 And a dark and grim force set sail
 Farewell happy fields
 Where joy forever dwells
 * Hail horrors hail *
 Was it an act of contrition or some awful premonition
 As if she saw into the heart of her final blood-soaked night
 Those lunatic eyes, that hungry kitchen knife
 Ah, I see sir, that I have your attention!
 Well, could it be?
 How often I've asked that question
 Well, then in quick succession
 We had babies, one, two, three
 We called them Hilda, Hattie and Holly
 They were their mother's children
 Their eyes were bright blue jewels
 And they were quiet as a mouse
 There was no laughter in the house
 No, not from Hilda, Hattie or Holly
 "No wonder", people said, "poor mother Joy's so melancholy"
 Well, one night there came a visitor to our little home
 I was visiting a sick friend
 I was a doctor then
 Joy and the girls were on their own
 La la la la la la la la la la
 La la la la la la la la la la
 Joy had been bound with electrical tape
 In her mouth a gag
 She'd been stabbed repeatedly
 And stuffed into a sleeping bag
 In their very cots my girls were robbed of their lives
 Method of murder much the same as my wife's
 Method of murder much the same as my wife's
 It was midnight when I arrived home
 Said to the police on the telephone
 Someone's taken four innocent lives
 They never caught the man
 He's still on the loose
 It seems he has done many many more
 Quotes John Milton on the walls in the victim's blood
 The police are investigating at tremendous cost
 In my house he wrote "his red right hand"
 That, I'm told is from Paradise Lost
 The wind round here gets wicked cold
 But my story is nearly told
 I fear the morning will bring quite a frost
 And so I've left my home
 I drift from land to land
 I am upon your step and you are a family man
 Outside the vultures wheel
 The wolves howl, the serpents hiss
 And to extend this small favour, friend
 Would be the sum of earthly bliss
 Do you reckon me a friend?
 The sun to me is dark
 And silent as the moon
 Do you, sir, have a room?
 Are you beckoning me in?
 La la la la la la la la la la
 La la la la la la la la la la