The Hammer Song

Oh please don't send me out
Said the man with the hammer, hammering the anvil
I been walking on a road of rocks
And I keep on hammering, keep on hammering, keep on hammering,
Hammering the anvil

Don't let the sun go down
Said the man with the fire, firing the furnace
I been buried in the snow
And I keep on firing, keep on firing, keep on firing,
Firing the furnace

Oh don't talk to me
Said the man with the chisel, chiseling the surface
I been sleeping far too long
And I keep on chiseling, keep on chiseling, keep on chiseling,
Chiseling the surface

I don't know what you mean
Said the man with the shovel, shoveling the ashes
I been digging in the frozen ground
And I keep on shoveling, keep on shoveling, keep on shoveling,
Shoveling the ashes

Shoveling the ashes
Chiseling the surface
Firing the furnace
Hammering the anvil

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words and music by A. Harvey

Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart

Something's gotten hold of my heart
Keeping my soul and my senses apart
Something's gotten into my life
Cutting its way through my dreams like a knife
Turning me up and turning me down
Making me smile and making me frown

In a world that was small
I once lived in a time there was peace with no trouble at all
But then you came my way
And a feeling unknown shook my heart, made me want you to stay
All of my nights and all of my days

I gotta tell you now
Something's gotten hold of my hand
Dragging my soul to a beautiful land
Something has invaded my nights
Painting my sleep with a colour so bright
Changing the grey and changing the blue
Scarlet for me and scarlet for you

I've got to know if this is the real thing
I've got to know what's making my heart sing
You smile and I am lost for a lifetime
Each minute spent with you is the right time
Every hour, every day
You touch me and my mind goes astray

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words by Greenaway
music by Cooke

Jesus Met The Woman At The Well

Jesus met the woman at the well
Jesus met the woman at the well
And he told her, everything that she'd done, that she'd done

And he said, woman, look-a here woman,
Tell me where is your husband?
She said whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I don't have one

He said, woman, look-a here woman,
They tell me you have five husbands
And that man you have now sure ain't one

She went running, crying, God help me
She said whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you must be the prophet
Because you told me everything that I've done

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Traditional, Arr. The Alabama Singers

The Carnival Is Over

Say goodbye, my one true lover
And we'll steal a lover's song
How it breaks my heart to leave you
Now the carnival has gone

Oh my love, the dawn is breaking
And my tears are falling rain
For the carnival is over
We may never meet again

Like a drum my heart was beating
And your kiss was sweet as wine
But the joys of love are fleeting
For Pierrot and Columbine

Now the cloak of night is falling
This will be our last goodbye
Though the carnival is over
I will love you till I die

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words by T. Springfield
music by F. Farian

Running Scared

Just running scared, each place we go
So afraid, that he might show

Yeah, running scared, what would I do
If he came back and wanted you?

Just running scared, feeling low
Running scared that you love him so

Just running scared, afraid to lose
If he came back, which one would you choose?

And then all at once, he was standing there
So sure of himself, his head in the air
While my heart was breaking, which one would it be?
Then you turned round and walked right out on me

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words by Orbison
music by Melson

Black Betty

Look-a look-a yonder
Look-a look-a yonder
Look-a look-a yonder
Well the sun done gone

The captain can't hold her
The captain can't hold her
The captain can't hold her
The way I do now

Ada got a gold mine
Ada got a gold mine
Ada got a gold mine
Way above her knees

The shiv is golden
The shiv is golden
The shiv is golden
Above her knees

Look-a look-a yonder
Look-a look-a yonder
Look-a look-a yonder
Well the sun done gone

Wohoh, Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Wohoh, Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Black Betty had a baby, bam-e-lam
Black Betty had a baby, bam-e-lam
Damn thing was crazy, bam-e-lam
Damn thing was crazy, bam-e-lam
Wohoh, Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Wohoh, Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Oh, Betty Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Oh, Betty Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Black Betty had a baby, bam-e-lam
Black Betty had a baby, bam-e-lam
Damn thing was crazy, bam-e-lam
Damn thing was crazy, bam-e-lam
Black Betty didn't mind, bam-e-lam
Black Betty didn't mind, bam-e-lam
Damn thing was blind, bam-e-lam
Damn thing was blind, bam-e-lam
Wohoh, Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Wohoh, Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Black Betty, Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Black Betty, Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Jump steady Black Betty, bam-e-lam
Jump steady Black Betty, bam-e-lam

That Monday, I was arrested
Tuesday, I locked up in jail
Wednesday baby, my trial's tested
On Thursday, nobody could blow my bail

Yes, I'm almost done
Yes, I'm almost done
Yes, I'm almost done
And I ain't gonna yell against no bells

On Monday, baby I went a-walking
Tuesday, I .... asked to go
On Wednesday I sat down a-talking
On Thursday she hock all a my clothes

Yes, I'm almost done
Yes, I'm almost done
Yes, I'm almost done
And I ain't gonna .... no more

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words and music by Leadbelly

Sledeci album:

 [b][/b][i][/i]Your Funeral...my trial

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
But sound to the ground by creeping ivy coils
O Mary you have seduced my soul
And I don't know right from wrong
Forever a hostage of your child's world

And then I ran my tin-cup heart along
The prison of her ribs
And with a toss of her curls
That little girl goes wading in
Rollin her dress up past her knee
Turning these waters into wine
Then she platted all the willow vines

Mary in the shallows laughing
Over where the carp dart
Spooked by the new shadows that she cast
Across these sad waters and across my heart

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words and music by Nick Cave

The Carny

And no-one saw the carny go
And the weeks flew by
Until they moved on the show
Leaving his caravan behind
It was parked out on the south east ridge
And as the company crossed the bridge
With the first rain filling the bone-dry river bed
It shone, just so, upon the edge

Dog-boy, atlas, half-man, the geeks, the hired hands
There was not one among them that did not cas an eye behind
In the hope that the carny would return to his own kind

And the carny had a horse, all skin and bone
A bow-backed nag, that he named "Sorrow"
How it is buried in a shallow grave
In the then parched meadow

And the dwarves were given the task of digging the ditch
And laying the nag's carcass in the ground
And boss Bellini, waving his smoking pistol around
saying "The nag is dead meat"
"We caint afford to carry dead weight"
The whole company standing about
Not making a sound
And turning to dwarves perched on the enclosure gate
The boss says "Bury this lump of crow bait"

And thean the rain came
Everybody running for their wagons
Tying all the canvas flaps down
The mangy cats crowling in ther cages
The bird-girl flapping and squawking around
The whole valley reeking of wet beast
Wet beast and rotten hay
Freak and brute creation
Packed up and on their way

The three dwarves peering from their wagon's hind
Moses says to Noah "We shoulda dugga deepa one"
Their grizzled faces like dying moons
Still dirty from the digging done

And as the company passed from the valley
Into a higher ground
The rain beat on the ridge and on the meadow
And on the mound

Until nothing was left, nothing at all
Except the body of Sorrow
That rose in time
To float upon the surface of the eaten soil

And a murder of crows did circle round
First one, then the others flapping blackly down

And the carny's van still sat upon the edge
Tilting slowly as the firm ground turned to sludge
And the rain it hammered down

And no-one saw the carny go
I say it's funny how things go

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words and music by Nick Cave

Your Funeral... My Trial

I am a crooked man
And I've walked a crooked mile
Night, the shameless widow
Doffed her weeds, in a pile
The stars all winked at me
They shamed a child
Your funeral, my trial

A thousand Marys lured me
To feathered beds and fields of glover
Bird with crooked wing cast
It's wicked shadow over
A bauble moon did mock
And trinket stars did smile
Your funeral, my trial

Here I am, little lamb...
Let all the bells in whoredom ring
All the crooked bitches that she was
(Mongers of pain)
Saw the moon
Become a fang
Your funeral, my trial

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words and music by Nick Cave

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
The loiter
Stranger than kindness
You hold me so carelessy close
Tell me I'm dirty
Stranger than kindness

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words by Anita Lane
music by Blixa Bargeld