“The dead are always with us, holding us in their sway.
We, the living,
are the exuberant and temporary anima of their departure.”

Nick Cave

I Have Wandered All My Unending Days

 

 

Old Time

Wide black trees and a field of froth
Bird fly low and you and me and the car are lost
Took a wrong turn somewhere
Into the old time, into the old time for sure
The trees are black and history
Has dragged us down to our knees
In a cold time
Ah, everyone dreams have died
Wherever you are, darling, I'm not that far behind
I'm not that far behind

By the side of the road is a thing with horns
That steps back into the trees and a child is born
Upon this trembling earth, displays each day
Thrown across the hallucination of your hair
A strip of ordinary sun, a biblical sun
A colonial sun, an enlightened sun
The same sun made always glorious at your head
Well, stopping at a motel and go jumping into bed
Just like the old time
Yeah, wherever you are, darling, I'm not that far behind

A lunatic beauty and a watery moon
You're melting by the motel swimming pool
By the time I get to Phoenix on the radio
Her moon to my shooting star
And I'm throwing my bags in the back of the car
Just like the old time, just like old time, baby
And I'm not coming back this time
Ah, like the old days, darling
Like the old days, I'm not coming back this time
Ah, like the old days, darling, like the old days
I'm not coming back this time
Like the old time, like the old time
Wherever you are, darling, I'm not that far behind

 

"All beauty must die"

 Where the Wild Roses Grow

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 her I knew she was the one
She stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the color 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

They call me the wild rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me that I do not know?
For my name was Elisa day

On the second day I brought her a flower
She was more beautiful than any woman I've 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
He said "Give me your loss and your sorrow?"
I nodded my head, as I lay on the bed
If I show you the roses will you follow alone

They call me the wild rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me that I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

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 knelt above me with a rock in his fist

On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
She lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
And I kissed her goodbye, said "All beauty must die"
And I knelt down and planted a rose between her teeth

They call me the wild rose
But my name is Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name is Elisa Day
My name was Elisa Day
For my name was Elisa Day

Nick Cave

''Pelo que eu observo, se nós amamos, nós sofremos. É isso. Esse é o pacto. A dor e o amor estão eternamente entrelaçados. A dor é um lembrete terrível da profundidade do nosso amor e, como o amor, a dor é não-negociável. Existe uma vastidão na dor que nos sobrecarrega. Nós somos minúsculos e trémulos aglomerados de átomos absorvidos pela impressionante presença da dor. Isso ocupa o núcleo do nosso ser e se estende pelos nossos dedos até os limites do universo.

Dentro desse giro rodopiante, todo tipo de loucura existe; fantasmas e espíritos e visitas de sonhos, e tudo o mais que nós, em nossa angústia, desejamos que exista. Esses são dons preciosos que são tão válidos e tão reais quanto precisamos que sejam. Eles são os guias espirituais que nos levam para fora da escuridão.''

Nick Cave

 

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Henry Lee

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

Artista: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Álbum: Murder Ballads
Data de lançamento: 1996