LyricMeaning

Papa Won't Leave You, Henry
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds

I went out walking the other day
The wind hung wet around my neck
My head it rung with screams and groans
From the night I spent amongst her bones
I passed beside the mission house
Where that mad old buzzard, the reverend,
Shrieked and flapped about life after your dead
Well, I thought about my friend, Michel
How they rolled him in linoleum
And shot him in the neck
A bloody halo, like a think-bubble
Circling his head
And I bellowed at the firmament
Looks like the rains are hear to stay
And the rain pissed down upon me
And washed me all away
Saying


Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Well, the road is long
And the road is hard
And many fall by the side
But Papa won't leave you, Henry
So there ain't no need to cry


And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road


Well, the moon it looked exhausted
Like something you should pity
Spent an age-spotted
Above the sizzling wires of the city
Well, it reminded me of her face
Her bleached and hungry eyes
Her hair was like a curtain
Falling open with the laughter
And closing with the lies
But the ghost of her still lingers on
Though she's passed through me
And is gone
The slum dogs, they are barking
And the rain children on the streets
And the tears that we will weep today
Will all be washed away
By the tears that we will weep again tomorrow


Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
For the road is long
And the road is hard
And many fall by the side
But Papa won't leave you, Henry
So there ain't no need to cry


And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road


And I came upon a little house
A little house upon a hill
And I entered through, the curtain hissed
Into the house with its blood-red bowels
Where wet-lipped women with greasy fists
Crawled the ceilings and the walls
They filled me full of drink
And led me round the rooms
Naked and cold and grinning
Until everything went black
And I came down spinning
I awoke so drunk and full of rage
That I could hardly speak
A fag in a whale-bone corset
Draping his dick across my cheek
And its into the shame
And its into a guilt
And its into the fucking fray
And the walls ran red around me
A warm arterial spray
Saying


Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Well, the night is dark
And the night is deep
And its jaws are open wide
But Papa won't leave you, Henry
So there ain't no need to cry


And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road


It's the rainy season where I'm living
Death comes leaping out of every doorway
Wasting you for money, for your clothes
And for your nothing
Entire towns being washed away
Favelas exploding on inflammable spillways
Lynch-mobs, death squads, babies being born without brains
The mad heat and the relentless rains
And if you stick your arm into that hole
It comes out sheared off to the bone
And with her kisses bubbling on my lips
I swiped the rain and nearly missed
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
Singing


Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Well, the road is long
And the road is hard
And many fall by the side
But Papa won't leave you, Henry
So there ain't no need to cry


And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
Bent Beneath my heavy load
Under his heavy load
Yeah, I went on down the road
Yeah, he went on down the road


Woah, woah
Woah, woah
Woah, woah
Woah, woah
And I went on down that road


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Lyrics by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds

  (Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?   A Box For Black Paul   Abattoir Blues   Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore   All Tomorrow's Parties   And No More Shall We Part   Are You The One That I've Been Waiting For?   As I Sat Sadly By Her Side   Avalanche   Avalanche (Leonard Cohen cover)   Avalanche [DVD][*]   Babe, I Got You Bad   Babe, I'm on Fire   Babe, You Turn Me On   Black Betty   Black Crow King   Black Hair   Blind Lemon Jefferson   Blue Bird   Breathless   Bring It On   Brompton Oratory   Brother, My Cup Is Empty   By The Time I Get To Phoenix   Cabin Fever!   Cannibal's Hymn   Carry Me   Christina the Astonishing   City of Refuge   Come Into My Sleep   Crow Jane   Darker With The Day   Dead Man In My Bed   Deanna   Death Is Not The End   Death Is Not the End (Bob Dylan cover)   Do You Love Me?   Do You Love Me? (Part 2)   Do You Love Me? Pt 2   Do You Love Me? Pt. 2   Easy Money   Fable Of The Brown Ape   Far From Me   Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow   Finishing Jubilee Street   Foi Na Cruz   From Her To Eternity   From Her to Eternity [John Peel BBC Session]   Gates To The Garden   Get Ready For Love   God Is In The House   Green Eyes   Grief Came Riding   Hallelujah   Hard On For Love   He Wants You   Helpless   Henry Lee   Henry Lee (Nick Cave version)   Hey Joe   Hey Joe [DVD][*]   Hiding All Away   Higgs Boson Blues   I Do Love Her So (Lime Tree Arbour)   I Had A Dream, Joe   I Let Love In   I'm Gonna Kill That Woman   Idiot Prayer   In The Ghetto   In the Ghetto (Elvis Presley cover)   Into My Arms   Jack the Ripper   Jack's Shadow   Jangling Jack   Jesus Met The Woman At The Well   John Finn's Wife   Jubilee Street   Knockin' On Joe   Lament   Lay Me Low   Let The Bells Ring   Lightning Bolts   Little Empty Boat   Long Black Veil   Long Black Veil (Lefty Frizzell cover)   Long Time Man   Loom of the Land   Love Letter   Lovely Creature   Loverman   Lucy   Mermaids   Mermaids (Live)   Messiah Ward   Muddy Water   Nature Boy   Needle Boy   New Morning   Nobody's Baby Now   Nocturama   O Children   O'Malley's Bar   Oh My Lord   Oh, Happy Day   People Ain't No Good   Plain Gold Ring   Push the Sky Away   Rainy Night In Soho   Red Right Hand   Red Right Hand (Scream 3 version)   Right Now I'm A-roaming   Right Out Of Your Hand   Rock Of Gibraltar   Running Scared   Sad Dark Eyes   Sad Waters   Sail Away   Saint Huck   Say Goodbye To The Little Girl Tree   Scum   She Fell Away   She Passed By My Window   Sleeping Analeah   Slowly Goes The Night   Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart   Song Of Joy   Sorrow's Child   Spell   Stagger Lee   Stagger Lee [5.1 Surround Sound]   Still In Love   Straight To You   Stranger than Kindness   Sugar Sugar Sugar   Sunday's Slave   Supernaturally   Sweetheart Come   The Carnival Is Over   The Carny   The Curse Of Millhaven   The Good Son   The Hammer Song   The Hammer Song (in album kicking against the pric...   The Kindness Of Strangers   The Loom of the Land   The Lyre Of Orpheus   The Mercy Seat   The Moon Is In The Gutter   The Ship Song   The Singer   The Singer (a.k.a. The Folksinger)   The Six Strings That Drew Blood   The Sorrowful Wife   The Train Song   The Weeping Song   The Witness Song   There Is A Kingdom   There Is A Town   There She Goes, My Beautiful World   Thirsty Dog   Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum   Train Long-Suffering   Tupelo   Up Jumped The Devil   Vixo   Wanted Man   Watching Alice   Water's Edge   Water’s Edge   We Came Along This Road   We No Who 'U 'R   We No Who U R   We Real Cool   Well Of Misery   West Country Girl   What A Wonderful World   What Can I Give You?   When I First Came To Town   Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere   Where Do We Go Now but Nowhere?   Where The Wild Roses Grow   Wide Lovely Eyes   Wings Off Flies   Wonderful Life   Your Funeral, My Trial   Your Funeral... My Trial

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