When I First Came to Town

Nick Cave and the bad seeds

When I first came to town
 All the people gathered round
 They bought me drinks
 Lord, how they quickly changed their tune

When I first came to town
 People took me round from end to end
 Like someone may take round a friend
 O how quickly they changed their tune

Suspicion and dark murmurs surround me
 Everywhere I go they confound me
 As though the blood on my hands
 Is there for every citizen to see

O sweet Jesus
 There is no turning back
 There is always one more town
 A little further down the track

And from my window, across the tracks
 I watch the juicers burn their fires
 And in that light
 Their faces leer at me
 How I wish they'd just let me be

When I first came to town
 Their favours were for free
 Now even the doors of the whores of this town
 Are closed to me

I search the mirror
 And I try to see
 Why the people of this town
 Have washed their hands of me

O sweet Jesus
 There is no turning back
 There is always one more town
 A little further down the track

O lord, every god-damn turn I take
 I fear the noose, I fear the stake
 For there is no bone
 They did not break
 In all the towns I've been before

Well those that sin against me are snuffed out
 I know from every day that I live
 God-damn the day that I was born
 The night that forced me from the womb
 And god-damn this town
 For I am leaving now
 But one day I will return
 And the people of this town will surely see
 Just how quickly the tables turn

O sweet Jesus
 This really is the end
 There is always one more town
 A little further round the bend.