I am tall and I am thin
Of an enviable hight
And I’ve been known to be quite handsome
In a certain angle and in certain light
Well I entered into O’Malley’s
Said, “O’Malley I have a thirst”
O’Malley merely smiled at me
Said “You wouldn’t be the first”
I knocked on the bar and pointed
To a bottle on the shelf
And as O’Malley poured me out a drink
I sniffed and crossed myself
My hand decided that the time was nigh
And for a moment it slipped from view
And when it returned, it fairly burned
With confidence anew
Well the thunder from my steely fist
Made all the glasses jangle
When I shot him, I was so handsome
It was the light, it was the angle
Huh! Hmmmmmm
“Neighbours!” I cried, “Friends!” I screamed
I banged my fist upon the bar
“I bear no grudge against you!”
And my dick felt long and hard
“I am the man for which no God waits
But for which the whole world yearns
I’m marked by darkness and by blood
And one thousand powder-burns”
Well, you know those fish with the swollen lips
That clean the ocean floor
When I looked at poor O’Malley’s wife
That’s exactly what I saw
I jammed the barrel under her chin
And her face looked raw and vicious
Her head it landed in the sink
With all the dirty dishes
Her little daughter Siobhan
Pulled beers from dusk till down
And amongst the townfolk she was a bit of a joke
But she pulled the best beer in town
I swooped magnificent upon her
As she sat shivering in her grief
Like the Madonna painted on the church-house wall
In whale’s blood and banana leaf
Her throat it crumbled in my fist
And I spun heroically around
To see Caffrey rising from his seat
I shot that mother fucker down
Mmmmmmmmmm Yeah Yeah Yeah
“I have no free will”, I sang
As I flew about the murder
Mrs. Richard Holmes, she screamed
You really should have heard her
I sang and I laughed, I howled and I wept
I panted like a pup
I blew a hole in Mrs. Richard Holmes
And her husband stupidly stood up
As he screamed, “You are an evil man”
And I paused a while to wonder
“If I have no free will then how can I
Be morally culpable, I wonder”
I shot Richard Holmes in the stomach
And gingerly he sat down
And he whispered weirdly, “No offense”
And then lay upon the ground
“None taken”, I replied to him
To which he gave a little cough
With blazing wings I neatly aimed
And blew his head completely off
I’ve lived in this town for thirty years
And to no-one I am a stranger
And I put new bullets in my gun
Chamber upon chamber
And I turned my gun on the bird-like Mr. Brookes
I thought of Saint Francis and his sparrows
And as I shot down the youthful Richardson
It was St. Sebastian I thought of, and his arrows
Hhhhhhhhhh Mmmmmmmmmmmm
I said, “I want to introduce myself
And I am glad that all you came”
And I leapt upon the bar
And shouted out my name
Well Jerry Bellows, he hugged his stool
Closed his eyes and shrugged and laughed
And with an ashtray as big as a fucking really big brick
I split his head in half
His blood spilled across the bar
Like a steaming scarlet brook
And I knelt at it’s edge on the counter
Wiped the tears away and looked
Well, the light in there was blinding
Full of God and ghosts of truth
I smiled at Henry Davenport
Who made an attempt to move
Well, from the position I was standing
The strangest thing I ever saw
The bullet entered through the top of his chest
And blew his bowels out on the floor
Well I floated down the counter
Showing no remorse
I shot a hole in Kathleen Carpenter
Recently divorced
But remorse i felt an
See the shark with teeth like razors
And he wears them in his face
And Macheath has got a knife
But not in such an obvious place
Now see the shark, how red his fins are
As he slashes at his prey
Mack the Knife wears fancy gloves
Which gives a minimum away
By the Thames’ turbid waters
Men abruptly tumble down
Well is it plague, or is it cholera
Or because Macky’s in town?
And the child bride, in her nighty
Whose assailant’s still at large
Violated in her slumbers
Macky how much did you charge?
In the ghastly fire in Soho
Seven children had a go
In the crowd stands Mack the Knife
But he isn’t asked and he don’t know
In the crowd stands Mack The Knife
But he ain’t asked and he don’t know
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When I first came to town
They called me the roving jewel
Now they’ve changed their tune
They call me Katy Cruel
Oh diddle day, oh diddle lie o day
Oh that I was where I would be
Then I would be where I am not
Here I am where I must be
Go where I would, I can not
Oh diddle day, oh diddle lie o day
When I first came to town
They brought me the bottles plenty
Now they’ve changed their tune
They bring me the bottles empty
Oh diddle day, oh diddle lie o day
CHORUS
I know who I love
And I know who does love me
I know where I’m going
And I know whose going with me
Oh diddle day, oh diddle lie o day
CHORUS
Down the road I go
And through the boggy mire
Straight way cross the field
And to my heart’s desire
Oh, diddle day, oh, diddle lie o day
CHORUS
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They dragged Jack and his shadow
From the hole
And the bulb that burned above him
Did shine both day and night
And his shadow learned to love his
Little darks and greater light
And the sun it shined
And the sun it shined
And the sun it shined
A little longer
Jack wept and kissed his shadow
“Goodbye”
Spat from their dirty dungeons
Into a truly different din
Shat from their institutions
Into a fully different din
And his shadow soon became a wife
And children plagued his latter life
Until one night he took a skinning knife
And stole into the town
And tracked his shadow down
Said the shadow to Jack Henry
“What’s wrong?”
Jack said “A home is not a hole”
“And shwdow, you’re just a gallow that I hang my body from”
“O Shadow, your a shackle from wich my time is never done”
Then he peeled his shadow off in strips
He peeled his shadow off in strips
Then kneeled his shadow on some steps
And cried “What have I done?”
And the sun it shined
And the sun it shined
I say “Love is blind”
“And is it any wonder?!”
“And is it any wonder?!”
Jacked and his damned shadow
Is gone
And though each one of us are want to duly mourn
And though each one of us are want to duly mourn
‘Tis done in brighter corners now
‘Tis done in brighter corners now
Now that Jack’s black shadow’s gone
And the sun it shined
And the sun it shined
And the sun it shined
A little stronger
I swear, love is blind
Ooh, love is blind
Yeah, love is blind
And is it any wonder?
‘Tis done in brighter corners now
‘Tis done in brighter corners now
Now that Jack’s black shadow’s gone
Etcetera Etcetera
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I got a woman
She rules my house with an iron fist
I got a woman
She rules my house with an iron fist
She screams out Jack the Ripper
Every time I try to give that girl a kiss
I got a woman
She strikes me down with a fist of lead
I got a woman
She strikes me down with a fist of lead
We bed in a bucket of butcher’s knives
A awake with a hatchet hanging over my head
Well you know the story of the viper
It’s long and lean with poison tooth
Yeah, you know the story of the viper
It’s long and lean with poison tooth
Well they’re hissing under the floorboards
Hanging down in bunches from my roof
I got a woman
She just hollers what she wants from where she is
I got a woman
She just hollers what she wants from where she is
She screams out Jack the Ripper
Every time I try to give that girl a kiss
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The Captain’s fore-arm like bunched-up rope
with A-N-I-T-A wrigglin’ free on a skull’n’dagger
and a portrait of Christ, nailed to an anchor
etched into his upper…
O o o’ Cabin Fever!
O o o’ Cabin Fever!
Slams his fucken tin-dish down
Our Captain, takes time to crush
Some Bloo-Bottles glowin in his gruel
with a lump in his throat, and lumpy mush
Thumbing a scrapbook stuck up with clag
and a morbid lump of Love in his flags.
Done is the Missing, now all that remain
Is to sail forever, upon the stain
Cabin Fever! O o o’ Cabin Fever!
The captain’s free-hand is a cleaver
which he fashions his beard, n’ he rations his jerkey!
and carves his peg outa the finest mahagony!
Or was it Ebony? etc…
Tallies up his loneliness, notch by notch
For the sea offers nuthin to hold or touch
Notch by notch, winter by winter
Notch x notch, winter x winter
Now his leg is whittled, right down to a splinter
O o Cabin Fever! O o o Cabin Fever!
O the rollin sea still rollin on!
She’s everywhere! now that she’s gone! Gone! Gone!
O Cabin Fever! O Cabin Fever!
Welcome to his table, Beloved-Unconscious
Raisin her host of hair from her crooks
and strugglin to summony one of her looks!
His arm now like coiled s-s-s-snakes
Whips all the bottles that he’s drunken,
like crystal – skittles about the cabin,
of a ship they’d been sailing
Five years sunken… etc…
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Oh babe, I’ve got you bad,
Dreaming blood-wet dreams
Only mad men have;
Baby, I got you bad,
I wish to God I never had
And it a’makes me feels so sad,
Oh, baby I got you bad,
Yeah babe, I got you bad.
I long for your kiss,
The turn of your mouth
Your body is a long thing heading South
And I don’t know what I’m talking about,
All my words don’t matter
Oh baby, I got you bad.
The seasons have gone wrong,
And I lay me down in a bed of snow
Darling, since you’ve been gone,
Well, my hands they don’t know where to go
And all my teeth are bared,
I got you so much I’m scared,
Oh baby, I got you bad.
With a sweep of my hand,
I undid all the plans
That exploded the moment I kissed you
On your small hot mouth
And your caramel limbs
Which are hymns to the glory that is you;
Look at me darling, it’s sad sad sad
Oh look at me darling, it’s sad sad sad,
But baby I got you bad.
Smoke bellowing from the bridges
And the rivers we swam in are boilin’
And my hands are reaching for you everywhere,
But you’re not there, or you’re recoiling
And a weary moon dangles from a cloud,
Oh darling I know it’s not allowed
To say I’ve got you bad.
I got you bad…
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Who’ll build a box for Black Paul?
Ah’m enquirin on behalf of his soul
Ah’d be beholdin to ya all
For a lil information, just a little indication
Just who’ll dig the hole?
When ya done ransackin’ his room
grabbin any damn thing that shines,
throw the scraps down on the street
Like all his books and his notes.
All his books and his notes and
All the junk that he wrote
the whole fucken lot right up in smoke
Ain’t there nuthin sacred anymore
Won’t someone will build a box for Black Paul?
And their shootin off his guns
and their shootin off their mouths
saying ‘Fuck with us … and die!’
‘Fuck with us … and die!’
(Let’s see that rat of fear go scuttle in their skulls)
‘Cover that eye! Cover that frozen eye!’
Black-puppet, in a heap up against the stoning-wall
Black-puppet, go to sleep, ma-ma won’t scold ya anymore
Armies of ants, wade up the lil red streams
they’re headin for the mother-pool
O lord, it’s cruel! O man it’s hot! O man it’s hot and
And some of them ants they just climb to the spot
Who threw the first stone at Black Paul?
‘Don’t ask us’, say the critics and the hacks
The pen-pushers and the quacks
‘We jes cum to git dah facks!’
‘We jes cum to git dah facks!’
Hey, hey, hey, hey…
Here is the hammer, that built the scaffold,
and built the box…
Here is the shovel, that dug the hole,
in this ground of rocks…
And here is the pile of stones!
and for each one planted, God only knows,
a blood-rose grown…
These are the true Demon-Flowers!
These are the true Demon-Flowers!
Stand back everyone! Blood-black everyone!
Who’ll build a box for Black Paul?
Who’ll carry it up the hill?
‘Not I’, said the widow, adjusting her veil
‘Ah will not drive the nail
Or cart his puppet-body home,
For ah done that one hundred times before,
Yeah! ah done that one hundred times or more,
And why should ah dress his wounds?
When he has wounded my dress, nightly,
Right across the floor’
Who’ll build a box for Black Paul?
Who’ll carry it up the hill?
Who’ll bury it in the black-soil?
And from the woods and the thickets
Come the ghosts of his victims
‘We love you!’
‘Ah love you!’
‘and this will not hurt a bit,
Outta my eyes was your rise to full glory Spring up from the corp(??) of life we’ll go up, up, up, up, up into Death
up, up, up, up, inhale its breath
O yes, Death favours those that favor Death’
Here is the stone, and this is the inscription it bare:
‘Below Lies Black Paul, Under The Upper…
But Above and Beyond The Surface-Flat-Fall There.’
And all the angels come on down,
And all you men and women crowd around
And all the old widows weeping into their skirts
And all the lil gals and the lil Boys
And the scribes with their pens poised
All the hullaballoo, all the norse
All the hullaballoo, all the noise
All the hullaballoo, all of the noise
clears his throat of black blood
singin Black Paul like a lonely boy…
We-e-e-ll, ah have cried one thousand tears
Ah’ve cried a thousand tears, its true
And the next stormy night you know,
That ah’m still cryin them for you
Well, ah had a gal she was so sweet,
Red dress, and long red hair hangin down
And heaven yes ain’t heaven
Without that lil girl hangin around
Well, ya know ah’ve beenn a bad-man
and Lord knows ah done some good things too
But ah confess, my soul will never rest
Until you’ve, until you’ve build
Until you’ve built a box for my gal, too.
my gal, too
my gal, too
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