The Mercy Seat
by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
From the album: The Best of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Duration: 7:18
Lyrics for 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 good or un-good And the mercy seat is waiting And I think my head is burning In a way I'm yearning to be done with all these weighing up 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 Interpret sign and catalogue A blackened tooth, a scarlet fog The walls are bad, black bottom kind They are the sick breath at my hind And 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 My kill-hand is evil, across it's brother's fist That filthy five 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 Evil Wears a wedding band that's good 'Tis a long-suffering shackle Collaring all that rebel blood And the mercy seat is waiting And I think my head is burning In a way I'm yearning to be done with all these weighing up the 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 burning And I think my head is glowing In a way I'm hoping to be done with all these weighing up the truth An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth And I got nothing left to lose And I'm not afraid to die And the mercy seat is smoking And I think my head is boiling In a way it's spoiling all the fun with all these truth and consequence An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth And anyway I told the truth I'm afraid I told a lie Alright, thank you very much