The Lyre Of Orpheus
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds

Orpheus sat gloomy in his garden shed
Wondering what to do
With a lump of wood, a piece of wire
And a little pot of glue
O Mamma O Mamma

He sawed at the wood with half a heart
And glued it top to bottom
He strung a wire in between
He was feeling something rotten
O Mamma O Mamma

Orpheus looked at his instrument
And he gave the wire a pluck
He heard a sound so beautiful
He gasped and said O my God
O Mamma O Mamma

He rushed inside to tell his wife
He went racing down the halls
Eurydice was still asleep in bed
Like a sack of cannonballs
O Mamma O Mamma

Look what I've made, cried Orpheus
And he plucked a gentle note
Eurydice's eyes popped from their sockets
And her tongue burst through her throat
O Mamma O Mamma

O God, what have I done, he said
As her blood pooled in the sheets
But in his heart he felt a bliss
With which nothing could compete
O Mamma O Mamma

Orpheus went leaping through the fields
Strumming as hard as he did please
Birdies detonated in the sky
Bunnies dashed their brains out on the trees
O Mamma O Mamma

Orpheus strummed till his fingers bled
He hit a G minor 7
He woke up God from a deep, deep sleep
God was a major player in heaven
O Mamma O Mamma

God picked up a giant hammer
And He threw it with an thunderous yell
It smashed down hard on Orpheus' head
And knocked him down a well
O Mamma O Mamma

The well went down very deep
Very deep went down the well
The well went down so very deep
Well, the well went down to hell
O Mamma O Mamma

Poor Orpheus woke up with a start
All amongst the rotting dead
His lyre tacked safe under his arm
His brains all down his head
O Mamma O Mamma

Eurydice appeared brindled in blood
And she said to Orpheus
If you play that fucking thing down here
I'll stick it up your orifice!
O Mamma O Mamma

This lyre lark is for the birds, said Orpheus
It's enough to send you bats
Let's stay down here, Eurydice, dear
And we'll have a bunch of screaming brats
O Mamma O Mamma

Orpheus picked up his lyre for the last time
He was on a real low down bummer
And stared deep into the abyss and said
This one is for Mamma

O Mamma O Mamma
O Mamma O Mamma


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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   Papa Won't Leave You, Henry   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 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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