Nick Cave & Bad Seeds

Take a little walk to the edge of town
and go across the tracks.
Where the viaduct looms
like a bird of doom
as it shifts and cracks.
Where secrets lie in the humming wires
of the border fire
you know you're never coming back.
Past the square, past the bridge,
past the mills, past the stacks.
On a gathering storm comes
a tall handsome man
in a dusty black coat with
a red right hand.

He'll wrap you in his arms
and tell you that you've been a good boy.
He'll rekindle all of those dreams
it took you a lifetime to destroy.
He'll reach deep into the hole,
heal your shrinking soul
it won’t be a single thing that you can do.
He's a god, he's a man,
he's a ghost; he's a guru.
They're whispering his name
through this disappearing land.
But hidden in his coat
is a red right hand.

You haven’t got no money?
He'll get you some.
You haven't got no car? He'll get you one.
You've got no self-respect,
you feel like an insect,
well don't you worry buddy,
cause here he comes
through the ghettos and the barrio
and the bowery and the slums.
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
stacks of green paper in his
red right hand.

You'll see him in your nightmares;
you'll see him in your dreams.
He'll appear out of nowhere but
he's not what he seems.
You'll see him in your head;
on the TV screen.
And hey buddy I'm warning
you to turn it off.
He's a ghost, he's a god,
he's a man, he's a guru.
You're one microscopic cog
in his catastrophic plan.
Designed and directed by
his red right hand.