Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (72,68 %)
Tender Prey (83,96 %)
In collection
Released: 1988-09-19
Type: Studio
Type: Studio
Ranking:
Artist:
1
Year (1988):
6
Decade (1980's):
47
Overall:
204
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1.
The Mercy Seat
 07:17
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2.
Up Jumped the Devil
05:17
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3.
Deanna
 03:46
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4.
Watching Alice
 04:02
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5.
Mercy
06:24
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6.
City of Refuge
 04:48
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7.
Slowly Goes the Night
05:24
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8.
Sunday's Slave
03:41
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9.
Sugar Sugar Sugar
05:02
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10.
New Morning
03:48
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Album length:
49:29
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Lyrics |
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1.
The Mercy Seat
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It began when they come took me from my home And put me on 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 So 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 glowing 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 there was no proof Nor a motive why 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 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 An eye for an eye And a truth for a truth 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 proof A life for a life And a truth for a truth And anyway there was no proof But I'm not afraid to tell a lie 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 truth for a truth And anyway I told the truth But I'm afraid I told a lie |
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2.
Up Jumped the Devil
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O My O My What a wretched life I was born on the day That my poor mother died I was cut from her belly With a stanley knife My daddy did a jig With the drunk midwife Who's that younder all in flames Dragging behind him a sack of chains Who's that younder all in flames Up jumped the Devil and he staked his claim O poor heart I was doomed from the start Doomed to play The villians part I was the baddest Johnny In the apple cart My blood was blacker Than the of a dead nun's heart Who's that milling on the courthouse steps Nailing my face to the hitching fence Who's that milling on the courthouse steps Up jumped the Devil and off he crept O no O no Where could I go With my hump of trouble And my sack of woe To the digs and deserts of Mexico Where my neck was safe from the lynching rope Who's that younder laughing at me Like I was the brunt of some hilarity Who's that younder laughing at me Up jumped the Devil 1, 2, 3 Ha-Ha Ha Ha How lucky we were We hit the cathouse And sampled their whares We got as drunk As a couple of Czars One night I spat out My lucky stars Who's that dancing on the jailhouse roof Stamping on the ramping with a cloven hoof Who's that dancing on the jailhouse roof Up jumped the Devil and said "Here is your man and I got a proof" O no don't go O no O slow down Joe The righteous part I straight as an arrow Take a walk And you'll find it too narrow Too narrow for the likes of me Who's that hanging from the gallow tree His eyes are hollow but he looks like me Who's that swinging from the gallow tree Up jumped the Devil and took my soul from me Down we go Down we go Down we go The Devil and me Down we go down down down Hell fire and flames Down we go Down we go To Eternity Down we go We go down down down Down we go we go down down down Down we go the Devil and me to Eternity We go down down down down down ad inferno |
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3.
Deanna
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O DEANNA O Deanna! O DEANNA Sweet Deanna! O DEANNA You know you are my friend, yeah O DEANNA And I ain't down here for your money I ain't down here for your love I ain't down here for your love or money I'm down here for your soul No carpet on the floor And the winding cloth holds many moths Around your Ku Klux furniture I cum of death-head in your frock We discuss the murder plan We discuss murder and the murder act Murder takes the wheel of your Cadillac And death climbs in the back O DEANNA This is a car O DEANNA This is a gun O DEANNA And this a day number one O DEANNA Our little crimeworn histories Black and smoking christmas trees And honey, it ain't mystery Why you're a mystery to me We will eat out of their pantries And their parlours Ashy leaving in their beds And we'll unload into their heads On this mean season This little angel that I squeezin' She ain't been mean to me O DEANNA O Deanna! O DEANNA You are my friend and my partner O DEANNA On this house on the hill O DEANNA And I ain't down here for your money I ain't down here for your love I ain't down here for your love or money I'm down here for your soul O DEANNA I am a-knocking O DEANNA With my toolbox and my stocking O DEANNA And I'll meet you on the corner O DEANNA Yes, you point it like a finger O DEANNA And squeeze its little thing O DEANNA Feel its kick, hear its bang And let no worry about its issue Don't worry about where its been and don't worry about where it hits Cause it just ain't yours to sin O DEANNA No it just ain't your to sin O DEANNA Sweet Deanna O DEANNA And we ain't getting any younger O DEANNA And I don't intend gettin' any older O DEANNA The sun a hump at my shoulder O DEANNA O Deanna! O DEANNA Sweet Deanna O DEANNA And I ain't down here for your money I ain't down here for your love I ain't down here for your love of money I'm down here for your soul |
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4.
Watching Alice
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Alice wakes It is morning She is yawning As she walks about the room Her hair falls down her breast She is naked and it is June Standing at the window I wonder if she knows that I can see Watching Alice rise year after year Up in her palace, she's captive there Alice's body Is golden brown Her hair hangs down As she stoops to conquer me First she pulls her stocking on And then the church bell chimes Alice climbes into her uniform The zippers on the side Watching Alice dressing in her room It's so depressing, it's cruel Watching Alice dressing in her room It's so depressing, it's true |
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5.
Mercy
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I stood in the water In the middle month of winter My camel skin was torture I was in a state of nature The wind, sir, it was wicked I was so alone Just as I predicted My followers were gone And I cried 'Mercy' Have mercy upon me And I got down on my knees Thrown into a dungeon Bread and water was my portion Faith - my only weapon To rest the devil's legion The speak-hole would slide open A viper's voice would plead Thick with innuendo Syphilis and Greed And she cried 'Mercy' Have mercy upon me And I told her to get down on her knees In a garden full of roses My hands, tied behind me My cousin was working miracles I wondered if he'd find me The moon was turned toward me Like a platter made of gold My death, it almost bored me So often was it told And I cried 'Mercy' I cried mercy on me Cryind 'Mercy' Have mercy on me |
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6.
City of Refuge
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You better run You better run and run and run You better run You better run You better run to the City of Refuge You better run You better run You better run to the City of Refuge You stand before the father In a state of shame Bacause your robes are covered in mud While your kneel at the feet Of a woman of the street The gutters will run with blood They will run with blood! You better run, you better run You better run to the City of Refuge You better run, you better run You better run to the City of Refuge In the days of madness My brother, my sister When you're dragged toward the Hell-mouth You will beg at the end But there ain't gonna be one, friend For the grave will spew you out It will spew you out! You better run, you better run You better run to the City of Refuge You better run, you better run You better run to the City of Refuge You'll be working in the darkness Against your fellow man And you'll find you're called to come forth So you'll scrub and you'll scrub But the trouble is, bud The blood it won't wash off No, it won't come off! You better run, you better run You better run to the City of Refuge You better run, you better run You better run and run and run You better run to the City of Refuge |
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7.
Slowly Goes the Night
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Lover, lover, goodbye So slowly goes the night I trace the print of your body with my hand Like the map of some forbidden land I trace the ghosts of your bones With my trembling hand Dark is my night But darker is my day yeah I must've been blind Out of my mind Not to read the warning signs How goes it? It goes lonely Goes slowly So slowly goes the night Ten lonely days, ten lonely nights I watch the moon get flayed anew Until the moom becomes the skinning tool I send the skins of my sins out to cover and comfort you I know of a Heaven And honey I know of a Hell yeah I hang my head In my bed And remember what you said "One evening, I'm leaving" And I laughed and checked her breathing And said darling Go slowly through the knight O baby, I feel the heal of time I wake to find you sitting here Cutting tangels out of your hair Singing a song that's all wrong Hey, but that's alright, I don't care O darling forgive me For all the misery yeah I embrace an empty space And your laughing song it fades Where goes it? It goes some place Where it's lonely And black as the night Come back, darling and put things right I hang my head and cry cry cry Darling, all night I try To cease on a reason for this mad mad season The nights, they are so long now I can't remember it being light Call it sleep, call it death, call it what you like But only sleep, dear Only sleep brings you back to life yeah I hang my head I toss and I sweat I never never can forget How goes it? I'm going, but slowly slowly going And we both know that it's gonna be alright But it ain't you who has to cry cry cry Ten lonely days, ten lonely nights Since you left my side side side |
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8.
Sunday's Slave
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Sunday's got a slave Monday's got one too Sunday's got a slave Monday's got one too Our sufferings are countless Our pleasures are motley few Spend all day digging my grave Now go get Sunday's slave Tuesday sleeps in a stable Wednesday's in a chains Tuesday gathers up the crumbs under the table Wednesday dare not complain My heart has collapsed on the tracks of a run-a-way train Just whisper his name And here comes Sunday's slave The hands in the stable are willing and able to pay If you feel at a loss, man, just who is the boss-man Ask the blood of one of its bad days For his nerve is to serve but the sevice is a mockery He insists that he piss in your fist But he still takes the money anyway The master's a bastard But don't tell Sunday's slave Thursday's angered the master O.K. so Friday's gonna pay Thursday's angered the master Yeah, so Friday's gonna pay One night on the rack and he's back saddling up Saturday You can only whisper his name But not on Sundays Never on Sundays O Not on Sunday's slave |
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9.
Sugar Sugar Sugar
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Sugar Sugar Sugar That man is bad The road he drives you down O sugar its a drag That road it twists That road is crossed Its down that road A lot of little girls go lost Sugar Sugar Sugar Keep on driving on Until the City of right Becomes the City of wrong That stretch is long You'll sleep and slide That stretch will find you Gagged and tied The hunter lies In a lowly ditch His eyes they sting And his fingers twitch You'll be his queen for the night But the morning you'll wake With the Lords and high ladies Of the bottom of the lake Sugar sugar sugar That man is wild And sugar, you know That you're merely a child He will laugh And hang your sheets to see The tokens of your virginity Sugar sugar sugar Honey you're so sweet And beside you baby Nothing can complete Sugar sugar sugar Honey your so sweet But beside you baby A bad man sleeps You better pray baby Pray baby, pray baby You better pray You better pray, baby Pray, baby, pray baby You better pray baby Sugar sugar sugar That man is bad And that's the bottom baby Coming right up ahead You can smell his fear You can smell his love As he wipes his mouth On your altar cloth Sugar sugar sugar Try to understand I'm an angel of God I'm your guardian He smells you innocence And like a dog he comes And like all the dogs he is I shut him down Sugar sugar sugar I can't explain Must I kill that cocksucker Everyday You better pray baby, pray baby, pray baby You better pray your daddy he ain't far away You better pray baby pray baby pray baby You better pray your daddy's come to take you away You better pray baby, pray baby, pray baby You better pray o tender prey baby tender prey You better pray tender pray baby tender prey |
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10.
New Morning
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One morn I awakened A new sun was shining The sky was a Kingdom All covered in blood The moon and the stars Where the troops that lay conquered Like fruit left to wither Poor spiritual food And the spears of bright sun All brave with it conquest Did hover unearthly In banners of fire I kneit in the garden Awash with the dawning And a voice came so brightly I covered my eyes Thank you for giving This bright new morning So steeped seemed the evening In darkness and blood There'll be no sadness There'll be no sorrow There'll be no road too narrow There'll be a new day And it's today For us |