1. |
Who Took Harry Down?
05:25
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Was it your god on bended knees? He always gets what he needs.
I heard his thoughts on death, and faith that cruel fever came upon my bones.
He saw my fear creeping fast – he said “god’s just the one you should trust”.
So who took Harry down? Oh who took Harry down?
As far as I can tell, you’re going straight to hell for taking Harry down.
There was something in his book, a footnote of a kind: “I am the victor of a worn-out deal”.
So I paused and I dwelled: Was it poison in his cup? A knife in his side?
That deal is over and it’s never coming back.
So who took Harry down? Oh who took Harry down?
As far as I can tell, you’re going straight to hell for taking Harry down.
Who the fuck took harry from the womb? Right then and there that’s when you lose to the good lord with the bended knee, that got the drop on a devil like me.
So who took Harry down? - oh I did. Who took Harry down? – oh I did.
And as far as I can tell, I’m going straight to hell for taking Harry down.
Oh I dreamt you had returned from the words of your book.
And all those promises made of smoke, you would tend to them and make them true.
And all the while I believed you broke Harry down. Oh you broke Harry down.
And as far as I can tell, you’re going straight to hell, but you didn’t take him down.
So who took Harry down? - oh I did. Who took Harry down? – oh I did.
And as far as I can tell, I’m going straight to hell for taking Harry down.
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2. |
The Villain
03:57
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Thrown to my enemy, I crowed with my skeleton lies – and I shivered, because it was cold
I hail from the other side where death is new and a stranger still – and I trembled, because the ground was shaking.
I’ll be the villain, a rolling stone. I’ll be the villain, a rolling stone.
They took me to the side like a little lamb that got astray.
But I know that lovely place they have for sinners, I’m afraid I just shivered, because it was cold.
And they gathered in that room where the killing was to be done.
But I saw you creeping out, you little bitch you’re on the run.
I just trembled, because the ground was shaking.
I’ll be the villain, a rolling stone. I’ll be the villain, a rolling stone.
But you’re a fool to believe I’d be the first to the floor.
I’m afraid you’re deceived: I’ll be the last out the door.
And you’re a fool to believe you could leave with the dawn.
And you’re a fool to believe I’d be dead and gone.
Lo and behold your death: the warm embrace of a lover’s guilt.
I wonder if you are cold.
Now you know of your lover’s plan you side with me, a broken man.
I wonder, is your ground shaking?
I’ll be the villain, a rolling stone I’ll be the villain, a rolling stone.
And I’ll be your villain, a rolling stone.
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3. |
Go And Tell The Moon
05:10
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Many moons ago I found her voice was all that it would take to forget everything that came before
I had an angel with a dagger on my back. Who stole my breath with a single word and gave me wings when she left my side. “Awake”, that’s what I hear. But the wind tells so many lies.
My mistake and I never would believe that her voice was a temple on its own, where she stole my breath before I spoke and gave me wings where I had her knife.
Go and tell the moon I arrived, without tears in my eyes.
Go and tell the rain to fall down, while I dream for a while.
Go and ask the wind, why he lied.
So I understood: her temple was a broken truth.
Many moons ago I believed, her voice was sure to make me bleed.
But I’ve been deaf for a while, and my thoughts they are loud and unkind to whom stole my breath with a single word and gave me wings where I had her knife.
Go and tell the moon I arrived, without tears in my eyes.
Go and tell the rain to fall down, while I dream for a while.
Go and tell the moon I arrived, without tears in my eyes.
Go and tell the rain to fall down, while I dream for a while.
Go and ask the wind, why he lied.
While I take her wings to the floor, while I take her wings to the floor and I’ll be gone for evermore.
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4. |
Across The Wrong Border
05:14
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I heard you move through the tall grass to my hunting ground.
You came by my old wishing well and there you stood by her side:
She dropped the coin and you missed her spell.
Whatever it was she kept her cool: something cold and somewhat true
Lies, oh lies lies lies.
You know damn well I have seen your face, your worn out moves fell from grace.
Let me tell you about my game; my game.
Inside my wishing well, I am blind but I can see that you can have it all if I just oh forgive you.
But I am not the broken son of another god. No I am not the broken son: I’ll have an eye for an eye
oh Harry… Enough? Dear Harry, have you heard enough?
Was that the secret? What if that was the truth? The more you know the less I’ll hide.
I trust her spell is bound to last. That knife is old but it is fast.
Lies, oh lies, lies, lies.
You know dear wife that I would love to have some proof from above and let you back in my game. My game.
Inside my wishing well, I am blind but I can see that you can have it all if I just oh forgive you.
But I am not the broken son of another god. No I am not the broken son: I’ll have an eye for an eye. Oh I guess I crossed the wrong border. I guess I crossed the wrong border. I guess I crossed the wrong border. I guess I crossed the wrong border.
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5. |
You And The Wind
03:49
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Here I am, with one last breath to tell you where I stand on all the words that failed you when you kneeled, and begged and cried for my hand. You said “await” – so I waited, but mine were the words, not yours, I was left with.
Either way I’m in the wind and you, you could never save me.
When all my dreams were gone and my past was set like cobblestone, Your word; Your jokes were buried in my bones.
But if none of that was you, and the devil ain’t that cheap, who was it then, that led me on?
Was it a drunken choir of angels in my sleep?
Either way I’m in the wind and you, you could never save me.
Oh this house you built with my bones, shattered dreams and broken hopes: I’ll bring it down, I’ll bring it down with a choir of angels in your sleep.
Either way I’m in the wind and you, you could never save me.
Here I am, with one last breath to tell you where I stand on all the words that failed you when you kneeled, and begged and cried.
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6. |
The Bastard
04:06
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I went back to the well, and gave it all I had ‘till I had no more.
And then he spoke back to me about the meaning of it all, but I didn’t get a word right. Right…
How wrong was I to assume those words would come back to me, maybe another day.
And then that day arrived, when memory would serve me right, but my captain was away. Right? Right.
Am I the one who’s cruel? The bastard is waiting outside my door.
I told him: “fool, I’ll never let you in until the captain’s back at home”.
Let me in, oh let me in. I was at the well when you let my words pass you by and the secret was gone.
And now you call the army of god? Flesh and bone and the will to obey?
Oh let them come. Tell your captain: run! oh dear captain: run!
Am I the one who’s cruel? The bastard is waiting outside my door.
I told him: “fool, I’ll never let you in until the captain’s back at home”
you know he’s not coming home. He’s got the gold, the meaning of it all: the tangled truth, the wretched lie. And when he hears the voice of your god, if he returns the secret to your side,
You’ll find it’s too late to run, to run.
Am I the one who’s cruel? The bastard is waiting outside my door.
I told him: “fool, I’ll never let you in until the captain’s back”
Who’s cruel? The bastard is waiting outside my door.
I told him: “fool, I’ll never let you in until the captain’s back at home”
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7. |
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Have you heard the ballad of harry and the devil?
They met by the side of the road, where one had dreams and the other had schemes that went around the world and back.
– Was it the crossroads? Was it the crossroads?
Nah, just a beat-up road, where they were at.
Hey little man what is it that you want? Life eternal? Your heart can’t take that much.
And as far as I’m concerned, life’s not as fun as you would think… Maybe the first time ‘round, but the second when you settle for someone you became everybody fades and you’re the stranger in the room. And everybody loves a stranger.
No, no, no. You’ve got the wrong idea: take a walk in my shoes. See that long-haired Girl, looking right back? I need your place to keep her like that.
Her eyes pulled him in. Beneath Harry’s face, the devil wept: you can take my place, you can keep your soul, but lay off of your shoes and leave it like that.
Then he went out dreaming of that long-haired girl, that flash in the pan.
And while he was dreaming, that long-haired girl called his name and then desire drove him mad when she faded from the room.
The demons of love, he mumbled, made a fool out of me. The king of the underground, who never lost a deal. But there’s a man who’s walking in my shoes, with a soul that was mine because I, the king of the underground, couldn’t tell a blade from a kiss.
Then he went out dreaming of that long-haired girl, that flash in the pan.
And while he was dreaming, that long-haired girl called his name and then desire drove him mad when she faded from the room.
Then I went out dreaming of that long-haired girl, my flash in the pan. And while I was dreaming, that long-haired girl called his name and then desire drove me mad. My desire drove me mad. My desire, my my my.
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8. |
That Lonesome Lad
05:45
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I awoke with your breath. Your hand pressing on my chest. A sudden gush of wind ‘round my neck, while the floor was running wild.
That’s when the fever broke, and I became that lonesome lad, without voices in his head.
And how I miss them, how I dearly miss them.
Like a bird without wings, or a fish with absent fins: I lost the north to the wolves, and the south to colder dreams. Madness takes its time then it lasts forever. It lasts Forever.
Underneath the shallow dreams of old, there lies something to be told about the words I heard her speak about the apocalypse. But it wasn’t what she said, it was how she spoke to me: an old confession professing belief – a revelation beyond my grief. Madness took its time and I’m not
That lonesome lad without voices in his head. They keep me company, they keep me company.
Madness, take your time and stay forever. Stay forever. Stay Forever.
“But remember this”, she said, “and don’t forget it”, she spoke: “that I won’t be your friend, and I am not your lost flame. You’ve been told Harry: It was you who called on me when you sold your soul down the river. Those were your chains, not my hands that brought us close and enslaved
us both to the devil down the river. Oh down the river. Down the river, oh down the river I became your slave, your slave. And how I miss those days those long black days when I became your slave. Now I miss those days those long black days when I wondered and wondered how I miss those days those long black days when I became your slave. Now I miss those days those long black days when I wondered and wondered how I miss those days those long black days when I became your slave. Now I miss those days those long black days when I wondered and wondered how I miss those days those long black days when I became your slave
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9. |
Oh Death
04:31
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Oh death, oh death, oh look what the lord has done: as I swung on the rope his hands held tight, a knife in my back was my hope to have you by my side. To have you by my side.
And who, oh who are you now?
Oh death, oh death, oh look what the devil has done: he closed my coffin with daggers and nails to keep me from bringing you in, to have you by my side. To have you by my side
And who, oh who are you now? And who, oh who am I now?
I believed you were gone, and that this road where I’m on was my way back to you and that somehow it was true: Here lies Harry and his wife with his tombstone and her knife
oh death oh death, oh look what the night has done: she closed those eyes of the men outside and carried me down to your bed.
And oh death, oh death, oh look what I have done: I held my breath up until you spoke and I lied my way down to have you by my side. To have you by my side.
I believed you were gone, and that this road where I’m on was my way back to you and that somehow it was true: here lies Harry and his wife with his tombstone and her knife.
I believed you were gone, and that this road where I’m on was my way back to you and that somehow it was true: here lies Harry and his wife with his tombstone and her knife.
That’s how you end a love affair. Oh that is how you end a love affair.
oh death oh death, oh look what you have done
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10. |
10 Alone And Forsaken
03:09
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We met in the springtime when blossoms unfold
The pastures were green and the meadows were gold
Our love was in flower as summer grew on
Her love like the leaves now have withered and gone
The roses have faded, there's frost at my door
The birds in the morning don't sing anymore
The grass in the valley is starting to die
And out in the darkness the whippoorwills cry
Alone and forsaken by fate and by man
Oh Lord, if you hear me, please hold to my hand
Oh, please understand
Oh, where has she gone to? Oh, where can she be?
She may have forsaken some other like me
She promised to honor, to love, and obey
Each vow was a plaything that she threw away
The darkness is falling, the sky has turned gray
A hound in the distance is starting to bey
I wonder, I wonder what she's thinking of
Forsaken, forgotten without any love
Alone and forsaken by fate and by man
Oh Lord, if you hear me, please hold to my hand
Oh, please understand
(LYRICS: HANK WILLIAMS)
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John Mercy Coimbra, Portugal
John Mercy is many things: Musician, record producer, recording engineer, multi-instrumentist, and also a member of the band a Jigsaw
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