___IDIOT PRAYER___

___IDIOT PRAYER___

Nick Cave alone at Alexandra Palace (full 22tracks)
(Thanks to GENIUS for lyrics)

https://youtu.be/gg5Ots83oH0
1 (recitato) SPINNING SONG

Once there was a song, the song yearned to be sung
It was a spinning song about the king of rock 'n' roll
The king was first a young prince, the prince was the best
With his black jelly hair he crashed onto a stage in Vegas.
The king had a queen, the queen's hair was a stairway
She tended the castle garden and in the garden planted a tree
The garden tree was a stairway, it was 15 branches high
On the top branch was a nest, sing the high cloudy nest
In the nest there was a bird, the bird had a wing
The wing had a feather, spin the feather and sing the wind
The king in time died, the queen's heart broke like a vow
And the tree returned to the earth with the nest and the bird
But the feather spun upwards, upwards and upwards
Spinning all the weather vanes
Spinning up over the streets
Spinning up over the crowds
Spinning up over the cities
Forever spinning
Well, this prayer is for you my love
Sent on the wings of a dove
Upward and upward.

https://youtu.be/SqySRG_y_l4
2 IDIOT PRAYER

They're taking me down, my friend
As they usher me off to the end
Will I bid you adieu?
Will I be seeing you soon?
If what they say around here is true
Then we'll meet again
Me and you
My time is at hand, my dove
They're gonna pass me to that room above
Is Heaven just for victims, dear?
Where only those in pain go?
Well, it takes two to tango
And we'll meet again, my love
I know.
If you're in Heaven, then you'll forgive me, dear
'Cause that's what they do up there
If you're in Hell, what can I say?
You probably deserved it anyway
I guess I'm gonna find out any day
And we'll meet again.
There'll be Hell to pay.
Your face comes to me from the depths, dear
Your silent mouth mouths, 'Yes," dear
Dark red and big with blood
They're gonna shut me down, my love
They're gonna launch me into the stars
Well, all things come to pass
Glory Hallelujah.
This prayer is for you, my love
Sent on the wings of a dove
An idiot prayer of empty words
Love, dear, is strictly for the birds
We each get what we deserve
My little snow white dove
Rest assured

https://youtu.be/2szIrJcwLJw
3 SAD WATERS

Down the road I look and there runs Mary
Hair of gold and lips like cherries
We go down to the river where the willows weep
Take a naked root for a lovers seat
That rose out of the bitten soil
Bound to the ground by creeping ivy coils
Oh, Mary you have seduced my soul
Forever a hostage of your child's world.
Then I ran my tin-cup heart along
The prison of her ribs
With a toss of her curls
That little girl goes wading in
Rollin' her dress up past her knees
Turning these waters into wine
She plaited all the willow vines.
Mary in the shallows laughing
Over where the carp dart
Spooked by the new shadows that she's cast
Across these sad waters and across my heart.

https://youtu.be/-n7x-kxouvo
4 BROMPTON ORATORY

Up those stone steps I climb
Hail this joyful day's return
Into its great shadowed vault I go
Hail the Pentecostal morn
The reading is from Luke 24
Where Christ returns to his loved ones
I look at the stone apostles
Think that it's alright for some.
And I wish that I was made of stone
So that I would not have to see
A beauty impossible to define
A beauty impossible to believe
A beauty impossible to endure
The blood imparted in little sips
The smell of you still on my hands
As I bring the cup up to my lips.
And there ain't no God up in the sky
And there ain't no devil beneath the sea
That could do the job that you did, baby
Of bringing me to my knees
Outside I sit on the stone steps
With nothing much to do
Forlorn and exhausted
By the absence of you.

https://youtu.be/UFDtF0CE8Uc
5 PALACES OF MONTEZUMA

Psychedelic invocations
Mata Hari at the station
I give to you
A Javan princess of Hindu birth
A woman of flesh, a child of the earth
I give to you
The hanging gardens of Babylon
Miles Davis, the black unicorn
I give to you
The palaces of Montezuma
The gardens of Akbar's tomb
I give to you
The Spider Goddess, the Needle Boy
The slave-dwarves that they employ
I give to you
A custard-coloured super-dream
Of Ali MacGraw and Steve McQueen
I give to you.
C'mon baby, get me out of the cold
And gimme, gimme, gimm? your precious love for me to hold
C'mon baby, g?t me out of the cold
And gimme, gimme, gimme your precious love for me to hold
The epic of Gilgamesh
A pretty little black A-line dress
I'll buy it for you
The spinal cord of JFK
Wrapped in Marilyn Monroe's negligee
I give to you
I want nothing in return
Just the softest little breathless word
I ask of you
A word contained in a grain of sand
That can barely walk, can't even stand
I ask of you.
C'mon baby, get me out of the cold
And gimme, gimme, gimme your precious love for me to hold
C'mon baby, get me out of the cold
And gimme, gimme, gimme your precious love for me to hold.

https://youtu.be/TKGx3EG6838
6 GIRL IN AMBER

Some go and some stay behind, some never move at all
Girl in amber trapped forever, spinning down the hall
Let no part of her go unremembered, clothes across the floor
Girl in amber longs to slumber shuts the bathroom door.
The phone, the phone, the phone it rings, the phone it rings no more
The song, the song, the song it spins since 1984
The phone, the phone, the phone it rings, th? phone it rings no more
The song, th? song it's been spinning now since 19—
If you want to bleed, just bleed
If you want to bleed, just bleed
And if you want to leave, don't breathe a word
Just step away
And let the world—
Turn, you turn, you kneel, lace up his shoes, your little blue-eyed boy
Take him by his hand, go move and spin him down the hall
Well, I got lucky, I got lucky and I tried again
I knew the world it would stop spinning now since you've been gone
I used to think that when you died you kind of wandered the world
In a slumber till you crumbled, were absorbed into the earth.
Well, I don't think that any more
The phone it rings no more
The song, the song, the song it spins now since 1984
The song, the song, the song it spins and it's been a spinning now
And if you'll hold me I will tell you that you know that.
If you want to leave, don't breathe
And if you want to breathe, don't leave
But if you want to leave, don't breathe a word
Just step away and let the world turn.
The song, the song, the song it spins, the song, it spins no more
The phone, the phone it rings and you won't stay.
Don't touch me
Don't touch me
Don't touch me
Don't touch me anymore, anymore.

https://youtu.be/Oi40_b40WjI
7 MAN IN THE MOON

My daddy was an astronaut
That's what I was often taught
My daddy went away too soon
Now he’s living on the moon.
Hang on to me people we're going down
Down among the fishes in an absence of sound
Presence of distance and it's floating in time
It’s lack and it's longing and it's not very kind.
Sitting here and scratching in this rented room
Scratching and a-tapping to the man in the moon
'Bout all the things that I've been taught
My daddy was an astronaut.

https://youtu.be/r6NOm7yIvy4
8 NOBODY’S BABY NOW

I've searched the holy books
I tried to unravel the mystery of Jesus Christ, the saviour
I've read the poets and the analysts
Searched through the books on human behaviour.
I traveled this world around
For an answer that refused to be found
I don't know why and I don't know how
But she's nobody's baby now.
I loved her then, and I guess I love her still
Hers is the face I see when that certain mood moves in
She lives in my blood and skin
Her wild feral stare, her dark hair
Her winter lips, as cold as stone
Yeah, I was her man.
But there are some things even love don't allow
I held her hand but I don't hold it now
I don't know why and I don't know how
But she's nobody's baby now.
This is her dress that I loved the best
It's got the blue quilted violets across the breast
And these are my many letters
All torn to pieces by her long-fingered hand
I was her cruel hearted man.
And even though I've tried to lay her ghost down
She's moving through me, even now
I don't know why and I don't know how
But she's nobody's baby now
Yeah, she's nobody's baby now
No, no, no
No, no, no, no
Oh no, no, no, no
No

https://youtu.be/1mFzdycxx6o
9 (ARE YOU) THE ONE I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR?

I've felt you coming girl, as you drew near
I knew you'd find me, cause I longed you here
Are you my destiny? 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 on? 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?
Are you the one that I've been waiting for?

https://youtu.be/DSrW7l1yI7Y
10 WAITING FOR YOU

All through the night we drove, and the wind caught her hair
And we parked on the beach in the cool evening air
Well, sometimes it's better not to say anything at all
Your body is an anchor, never asked to be free
Just want to stay in the business of making you happy
Well, I'm just waiting for you.
Waiting for you, waiting for you
Waiting for you, waiting for you
Waiting for you.
A priest runs through the chapel, all the calendars are turning
A Jesus freak on the street says, "He is returning"
Well, sometimes a little bit of faith can go a long, long way
Your soul is my anchor, I never asked to be freed
Well, sleep now, sleep now, take as long as you need
'Cause I'm just waiting for you.
Waiting for you, waiting for you
Waiting for you, waiting for you
Waiting for you to return
To return, to return.
All through the night we drove, and the wind caught her hair
And we parked on the beach in the cool evening air
Well, sometimes it's better not to say anything at all
Your body is an anchor, never asked to be free
Just want to stay in the business of making you happy
Well, I'm just waiting for you.
Waiting for you, waiting for you
Waiting for you, waiting for you
Waiting for you.
A priest runs through the chapel, all the calendars are turning
A Jesus freak on the street says, "He is returning"
Well, sometimes a little bit of faith can go a long, long way
Your soul is my anchor, I never asked to be freed
Well, sleep now, sleep now, take as long as you need
'Cause I'm just waiting for you.
Waiting for you, waiting for you
Waiting for you, waiting for you
Waiting for you to return
To return, to return.

https://youtu.be/A9NqEGCd4gs
11 THE MERCY SEAT

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 deals
The meal trolley's wicked wheels
A hooked bone rising from my food
All things either good or ungood.
And the mercy seat is awaiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof
Of 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 ar? bad
Black, bottom kind
They are the sick br?ath at my hind
They are the sick breath at my hind
They are the sick breath at my hind
They are the 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
Tattooed 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
And 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.
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 a-waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this weighing up 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.
The mercy seat is burning
And I think my head is glowing
And in a way I'm helping
To be done with all this weighing up 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 a smoking
And I think my head is melting
And in a way I'm helping
To be done with all this twisting up of truth
A lie for a lie
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway 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
A lie for a lie
And a truth for a truth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die.

https://youtu.be/-F4gUQbVdlo
12 EUTHANASIA

I look for you underneath the damp earth
I look to you in the night sky
I look to you in underneath the thorn bush
I look for you in the old city
And in looking for you I lost myself
Lost myself in time.
Lost myself into the damp earth
Lost myself in the night sky
Lost myself underneath the thorn bush
Lost myself in the old city
And in losing myself I found myself
Found myself in time.
Oh, when you stepped out of the vehicle
And attached yourself to my heart
It was a kind of dying
A kind of dying
Dying of time.
And I fled from the old city
Fled underneath the thorn bush
Fled into the night sky
Fled underneath the damp earth
Where I passed through a doorway
And found you sitting at the kitchen table
And smiling
That smile that smiles, that smiles
That smile that smiles, that smiles
That smile that smiles, that smiles
Smiles just in time.

https://youtu.be/wZEUmQS-TDY
13 JUBILEE STREET

On Jubilee Street there was a girl named Bea
She had a history, but she had no past
When they shut her down, the Russians moved in
Now I'm too scared, I'm too scared to even walk on past
And here I come up the hill
I'm pushing my own wheel of love
I got love in my tummy and a tiny little pain
And a ten ton catastrophe on a 60 pound chain
And I'm pushing my wheel of love on Jubilee Street
Well, look at me now, look at me now
Ah, look at me now, ah, look at me now
Look at me now.
The problem was she had a little black book
And my name was written on every page
Well, a girl’s gotta make ends meet
Even down on Jubilee Street
I was out of place and time, and I was over the hill, and out of my fucking mind
On Jubilee Street
These days I go downtown in my tie and tails
I got a fetus, yeah, on a leash
I am alone now, I am beyond recriminations
The curtains are shut, the furniture is gone.
I'm transforming, I'm vibrating, I am glowing
I am flying, well I'm transforming, I'm vibrating look at me now
I am glowing, I am flying, well look at me now
I'm transforming, I'm vibrating, well look at me new
Yeah, I'm transforming, I'm vibrating, I am glowing
I am flying, look at me now.

https://youtu.be/wI0TFRBno_g
14 FAR FROM ME

For you dear, I was born
For you I was raised up
For you I've lived and for you I will die
For you I am dying now
You were my mad little lover
In a world where everybody fucks everybody else over.
You who are so far from me
Far from me
So far from me
Way across some cold neurotic sea
Far from me.
I would talk to you of all matter of things
With a smile you would reply
Then the sun would leave your pretty face
And you'd retreat from the front of your eyes
I keep hearing that you're doing b?st
I hope your heart beats happy in your infant br?ast.
You are so far from me
Far from me
Far from me.
There is no knowledge but I know it
There's nothing to learn from that vacant voice
That sails to me across the line
From the ridiculous to the sublime
It's good to hear you're doing so well
But really can't you find somebody else that you can ring and tell.
Did you ever
Care for me?
Were you ever
There for me?
So far from me.
You told me you'd stick by me
Through the thick and through the thin
Those were your very words
My fair-weather friend
You were my brave-hearted lover
At the first taste of trouble went running back to mother.
So far from me
Far from me
Suspended in your bleak and fishless sea
Far from me
Far from me
Far from me.

https://youtu.be/YTs776OfM-Y
15 HE WANTS YOU

In his boat and through the dark he rowed
Chained to oar and the night and the wind that blowed
Horribly 'round his ears, ooh-hoo-hoo
Under the bridge and into your dreams he soars
While you lie alone in that idea-free sleep of yours
That you've been sleeping now for years.
And he wants you
And he wants you
He is straight and he is true
Ooh-hoo-hoo
Beneath the hanging cliffs and under the many stars where
He will move, all amongst your tangled hair
And deep into the sea
Ooh-hoo-hoo
And you will wake and walk and draw the blind
And feel some presence there behind
And turn to see what that may be
Oh, babe, it's me.
And he wants you
And he wants you
He is straight and he is true
Ooh-hoo-hoo

https://youtu.be/zeJPx3Pw594
16 HIGGS BOSOM BLUES

Can't remember anything at all
Can't remember anything at all.
Black road long and I drove and drove
And came upon a crossroad
The night was hot and black
I see Robert Johnson with a 10-dollar guitar
Strapped to his back looking for a tune
Ah, well here comes Lucifer with his canon law
And a hundred black babies running from his genocidal jaw
He got the real killer groove
Robert Johnson and the devil, man
Don't know who is gonna rip off who.
I'm driving my car, flame trees on fire
Sitting and singing the Higgs Boson Blues
I'm tired, I'm I'm looking for a spot to drop
All the clocks have stopped
In Memphis, in the Lorraine Motel
It's hot, it's hot, it's hot - that's why they call it th? Hot Spot
I'll take a room with a view
Hear a man preaching in a language that's completely new, yeah
Making the hot cots in the flophouse bleed
While the cleaning ladies sob into their mops
And a bellhop hops and bops
A shot rings out to a spiritual groove
Everybody bleeding to that Higgs Boson Blues.
And if I die tonight
Bury me in my favorite yellow patent leather shoes
With a mummified cat and a cone-like hat
That the caliphate forced on the Jews
Can you feel my heartbeat?
Can you feel my heartbeat?
I'm driving my car down to Geneva
Hannah Montana, she does the African Savannah
As the simulated rainy season begins
She curses the queue at the zoo loos
And moves on to Amazonia
And cries with the dolphins
Mau Mau ate the pygmy
The pygmy ate the monkey
The monkey has a gift
And he is sending it back to you
Look, here comes the missionary
With his smallpox and flu
Saving them savages
With his Higgs Boson Blues.
Oh let the damn day break
The rainy days always make me sad
Miley Cyrus floats in a swimming pool in Toluca Lake
And you're the best girl I've ever had
And you're the very best girl I've ever had
And you're the best girl that I've ever had
Bar none.

https://youtu.be/rIyK2xHFCFg
17 STRANGER THAN KINDNESS

Stranger than kindness
Bottled light from hotels
Spilling everything
Wet hand from the volcano
Sobers your skin
Stranger than kindness.
You caress yourself
And grind my soft cold bones below
Your map of desire
Burned in your flesh
Even a fool can come
A strange lit stair
And find a rope hanging there
Stranger than kindness.
Keys rain like heaven's hair
There is no home, there is no bread
We sit at the gate and scratch
The gaunt fruit of passion
Dies in the light
Stranger than kindness.
Your sleeping hands journey
They loiter
Stranger than kindness
You hold me so carelessly close
Tell me I'm dirty
I'm a stranger
I'm a stranger
I'm a stranger to kindness, kindness, kindness.

https://youtu.be/nlB8avr5u2w
18 INTO MY ARMS

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
Oh, not to touch a hair on your head
Leave you as you are
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.
But 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 candles 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.

https://youtu.be/L4CGRlzVaFY
19 THE SHIP SONG

Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around.
We talk about it all night long
We define our moral ground
But when I crawl into your arms
Everything, it comes tumbling down.
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around.
Your face has fallen sad now
For you know the time is nigh
When I must remove your wings
And you, you must try to fly.
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around.

https://youtu.be/GoeDPID4cvw
20 PAPA WON’T LEAVE YOU, HENRY

I went out walking the other day
The wind hung wet around my neck
My head it rung with screams and groans
From the night I spent amongst her bones
And I passed beside the mission house
Where that mad old buzzard, the reverend
Shrieked and flapped about life after your dead
Well, I thought about my friend, Michel
How they rolled him in linoleum
And shot him in the neck.
Well, Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Well, the road is long
And the road is hard
And a many fall by the side
Well, Papa won't leave you, Henry
So there ain't no need to cry
And I went on down the road.
And I came upon a little house
A little house upon a hill
And I entered through and the curtain hissed
Into the house with its blood-red bowels
Where wet-lipped women with greasy fists
Crawled the ceilings and the walls
And they filled me full of drink
And they led me round the rooms
Naked and cold and grinning
Until everything went black
And I came down spinning
I awoke so drunk and full of rage
That I could hardly speak
A fag in a whalebone corset
Draping his dick across my cheek
Well its into the shame
And its into a guilt
And its into the fucking fray
And the walls ran red around me
A warm arterial spray
Saying:
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Well, the night is dark
And the night is deep
And its jaws are open wide
Yeah well, Papa won't leave you, Henry
There ain't no need to cry
And I went on down the road.
It's the rainy season where I'm living
Death comes leaping out of every doorway
Wasting you for money, for your clothes
And for your nothing
Entire towns being washed away
Favelas exploding on inflammable spillways
And the lynch-mobs, death squads, babies being born without brains
The mad heats and the relentless rains
The mad heats and the relentless rains
And with her kisses bubbling on my lips
I swiped the rain and nearly missed
And then I went on down the road.
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Well, the road is long
And the road is hard
And many fall by the side
Well then, Papa won't leave you, Henry
So there ain't no need to cry
And I went on down the road
Yeah, I went on down the road
Yeah, bent Beneath my heavy load
And I went on down that road.

https://youtu.be/rkEkKctjyAM
21 BLACK HAIR

Well, last night my kisses were banked in black hair
And in my bed, my lover, her hair was midnight black
And all her mystery dwelled within her black hair
Her black hair framed a happy heart shaped face
And heavy hooded eyes inside her black hair.
Shined at me from the depths of her hair of deepest black
While my fingers pushed into her straight black hair
Pulling her black hair back from her happy heart-shaped face
To kiss her milk-white throat, a dark curtain of black hair
Smothered me, my lover with her beautiful black hair
The smell of it is heavy, it is charged with life
On my fingers the smell of her deep black hair
Full of all my whispered words, her black hair
And wet with tears and good-byes, her hair of deepest black
All my tears cried against her milk-white throat
Hidden behind the curtain of her beautiful, beautiful black hair
As deep as ink and black, black as the deepest sea
The smell of her black hair upon my pillow
Where her head and all its black hair did rest.
Today she took a train to the West
Today she took a train to the West
Today she took a train to the West
To the West.

https://youtu.be/uBa1kxnstSk
22 GALLEON SHIP

If I could sail a galleon ship
Long lonely ride across the sky
Seek out mysteries while you sleep
And treasure money cannot buy.
For you know I see you everywhere
A servant girl, an empress
My galleon ship will fly and fall
Fall and fly and fly and fall deep into your loveliness.
And if we rise, my love
Before the daylight comes
A thousand galleon ships will sail
Ghostly 'round the morning sun.
For we are not alone it seems
So many riders in the sky
The winds of longing in their sails
Searching for the other side.
And if we rise, my love
Oh, my darling, precious one
We'll stand and watch your galleon ships
Circle 'round the morning sun.

This prayer is for you, my love