The Lyre Of Orpheus
Nick Cave

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

  Bloody Cheche   Far From Men 2   Farewell At Tinguit   Mountain Scramble   No Class today   Setting Out   Teacheru2019s Farewell   The Teacher   (I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World   (I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World   500 Miles   A Box For Black Paul   A Dead Song   Abattoir Blues   Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore   Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore   All The Pretty Little Horses   All The Pretty Little Horsies   All Tomorrow's Parties   All Tomorrow's Parties   And No More Shall We Part   Anthrocene   Are You The One I've Been Waiting For?   Are You The One I've Been Waiting For?   Are You The One That I've Been Waiting For   Are You The One That I've Been Waiting For?   As I Sat Sadly By Her Side   Avalanche   Babe, I am On Fire   Babe, I Got You Bad   Babe, I'm On Fire   Babe, I'm On Fire   Babe, You Turn Me On   Banks Of The Roses   Big Jesus - Trash Can   Big-Jesus-Trash-Can   Black Betty   Black Crow King   Black Hair   Blast Off   Bless His Ever Loving Heart   Blind Lemon Jefferson   Blood sweat and murder   Blue Bird   Blundertown   Breathless   Bring It On   Brompton Oratory   Brother, My Cup Is Empty   By The Time I Get To Phoenix   Cabin Fever   Cabin Fever!   Cannibal's Hymn   Cannibal's Hymn   Capers   Carny   Carry Me   Casino   Cassiel's Song   Cassiel's Song   Christina The Astonishing   Cindy   City Of Refuge   Comancheria   Comancheria ii   Come Into My Sleep   Crow Jane   Cry   Darker With The Day   Dead Joe   Dead Man In My Bed   Deanna   Death Is Not The End   Deep In The Woods   Disco 2000 - Pub Rock Version [Previously Unreleas...   Distant Sky   Do You Love Me   Do You Love Me (part 2)   Do You Love Me Like I Love You, Part 4   Do You Love Me?   Do You Love Me? (Part 2)   Dollar bill blues   Dull Day   Dumb Europe   Dust of the chase   Easy Money   Fable Of The Brown Ape   Far From Me   Faraway, So Close   Faraway, So Close!   Fears Of Gun   Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow   Finishing Jubilee Street   Foi Na Cruz   Foi Na Cruz Sorrows Child [DVD][Instrumental]   From Her To Eternity   From my cold dead hands   Gates To The Garden   Get Ready For Love   Girl At The Bottom Of My Glass   Girl in Amber   Give Us A Kiss   God Is In The House   God's Hotel   God's Hotel   Green Eyes   Grief Came Riding   Hallelujah   Hamlet   Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)   Happy Birthday   Hard On For Love   He Wants You   Helpless   Henry Lee   Henry Lee"(feat. PJ Harvey   Hey Joe   Hey, Joe   Hiding All Away   Higgs Boson Blues   Ho-Ho   How Long, How Long Blues   I Do Dear, I Do.   I Do Love Her So   I Do Love Her So (Lime Tree Arbour)   I Feel So Good   I Had A Dream Joe   I Had A Dream, Joe   I Just Dropped In   I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condit...   I Let Love In   I Need You   I Put A Spell On You   I Rowed A Little Boat   I'm Gonna Kill That Woman   I'm Your Man   I'm Gonna Kill That Woman   Idiot Prayer   In The Ghetto   Into My Arms   Intro   Jack The Ripper   Jack's Shadow   Jacks Shadow   Jangling Jack   Jennifer's Veil   Jennifer's Veil   Jesus Alone   Jesus Met The Woman At The Well   John Finn's Wife   John Finn's Wife   Jubilee Street   Junkyard   Just You and Me   Katy Cruel   Kewpie Doll   King Ink   King Kong Kitchee Kitchee Ki-Mi-O   Kiss Me Black   Knockin' On Joe   Knockin' On Joe   Knoxville Girl   Lament   Lay Me Low   Let It Be   Let The Bells Ring   Lime Tree Arbour   Little Empty Boat   Little Janey's Gone   Little Janey's Gone   Long Black Veil   Long Time Man   Lord of the plains   Love Henry   Love Letter   Lovely Creature   Loverman   Lucy   Mack The Knife   Magneto   Mama s room   Mama's Boy   Mama's Boy   Mars Theme   Mercy   Mermaids   Messiah Ward   Midnight Man   Mini Skirts [Instrumental]   Miss Perfect   Mister Frog Went A-Courting   Mojo   Mountain lion mean   Mr. Clarinet   Muddy Water   Mutiny In Heaven   Nature Boy   Needle Boy   New Morning   Nick The Stripper   Nobody's Baby Now   Nobody's Baby Now   O Children   O'Malley's Bar   O'malley's Bar   Oh Happy Day [DVD][Instrumental]   Oh My Lord   Oh, Happy Day   Opium Tea   Outlaw state of mind   Oxford Tragedy   Papa Won't Leave You, Henry   Papa Won't Leave You, Henry   PATRIPASSIAN   People Ain't No Good   People Ain't No Good   Plain Gold Ring   Pleasure Is The Boss   Push The Sky Away   Rainy Night In Soho   Red Right Hand   Release The Bats   Riddle House   Right Now I'm a - Roaming   Right Now I'm A Roamin'   Right Now I'm A-roaming   Right Now I'm A Roamin'   Right Out Of Your Hand   Rings of Saturn   Robbery   Rock Of Gibraltar   Running Scared   Rye Whiskey   Sad Dark Eyes   Sad Waters   Sail Away   Saint Huck   Say Goodbye To The Little Girl Tree   Scum   Several Sins   She Fell Away   She Passed By My Window   She's Hit   She's Leaving You   She's Hit   She's Leaving You   Shivers   Silent Scream   Six Inch Gold Blade   Skeleton Tree   Sleeping Analeah   Sleeping on the blacktop   Slowly Goes The Night   Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart   Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart   Song Of Joy   Sonny's Burning   Sorrow's Child   Sorrow's Child   Spell   Stagalee   Stagger Lee   Still In Love   Stow-A-Way   Straight To You   Stranger Than Kindness   Sugar Sugar Sugar   Sunday's Slave   Sunday's Slave   Supernaturally   Suzanne   Swampland   Sweetheart Come   Texas midlands   That's What Jazz Is To Me   That's What Jazz Is To Me   The Ballad Of Robert Moore And Betty Coltrane   The Big Hurt   The Briddle Path   The Carnival Is Over   The Carny   The Curse Of Millhaven   The Dim Locator   The Friend Catcher   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 Six Strings That Drew Blood   The Sorrowful Wife   The Train Song   The Weeping Song   The Willow Garden   The Witness Song   There Is A Kingdom   There Is A Light   There Is A Town   There She Goes   Thirsty Dog   Time Jesum Transeuntum et Non Riverentum   Time Jesum Transientum Et Non Riverentum   To Be By Your Side   Tower of Song   Train Long-suffering   Truck Love   Tupelo   Tupelo Blues   Up Jumped The Devil   Vixo   Wanted Man   Watching Alice   We Came Along This Road   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 The Action Is   Where The Wild Roses Grow   Where The Wild Roses Grow"(feat. Kylie Minogue   Wife   Wild Rose   Wild World   Wings Off Flies   Wonderful Life   Yard   You ask me to   Your Funeral My Trial   Your Funeral... My Trial   Zoo Music Girl

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