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Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Lyrics for Song: The Mercy Seat
 Lyrics for Album: Tender Prey [1988]
 
 
 
 25038>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 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 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 there was no proof
 
 Nor a motive why.
 
 
 
 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 truth
 
 A life for a life and a truth for a truth
 
 And anyway there was no proof
 
 And I'm not afraid to die
 
 
 
 And the mercy seat is waiting
 
 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 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 truth.
 
 An eye for an eye
 
 A tooth for a tooth
 
 And anyway I told the truth
 
 And I'm not afraid to die.
 
 
 
 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.
 
 25038>
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