Een van Nick Cave’s donkerste ballades. The Mercy Seat vertelt het verhaal van een man die op het punt staat op de electrische stoel geëxecuteerd te worden. In het Oude Testament is ’the mercy seat’ het symbool van God’s troon boven de Ark van het Verbond. Cave’s veroordeelde probeert de luisteraar – en wellicht zichzelf – ervan te overtuigen dat hij én onschuldig én niet bang om te sterven is. Aan het slot van de song zegt hij zowel de waarheid verteld als gelogen te hebben. Waarover heeft hij gelogen en wat was waar? Of waren het allemaal leugens en is hij zowel schuldig als bang om te sterven?
Johnny Cash nam The Mercy Seat op voor American Recordings III: Solitary Man. De song was Cash uiteraard op het lijf geschreven. Cave zelf ziet de prachtige, ingetogen versie van Cash als één van de hoogtepunten van zijn carrière: ‘It doesn’t matter what anyone says, Johnny Cash recorded my song.’
And put me in Dead Row,
Of which I am nearly wholly innocent, you know.
And I’ll say it again
I.. am.. not.. afraid.. to.. die.
To objects and their fields,
A ragged cup, a twisted mop
The face of Jesus in my soup
The meal trolley’s wicked wheels
A hooked bone rising from my food
All things either good or ungood.
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I’m not afraid to die.
A blackened tooth, a scarlet fog.
The walls are bad. Black. Bottom kind.
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath at my hind
They are sick breath gathering at my hind I hear stories from the chamber
How Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger
Died upon the cross
And might I say, it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade
Or at least that’s what I’m told
Like my good hand
tattooed E.V.I.L. across it’s brother’s fist
That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist.
In Heaven His throne is made of gold
The ark of his Testament is stowed
A throne from which I’m told
All history does unfold.
Down here it’s made of wood and wire
And my body is on fire
And God is never far away.
Into the mercy seat I climb
My head is shaved, my head is wired
And like a moth that tries
To enter the bright eye
So I go shuffling out of life
Just to hide in death awhile
And anyway I never lied.
My kill-hand is called E.V.I.L.
Wears a wedding band that’s G.O.O.D.
‘Tis a long-suffering shackle
Collaring all that devil blood.
And the mercy seat is a-burning
And I think my head is flowing
And in a way I’m hoping
To be done with all this weighing up of truth.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And I’ve got nothing left to lose
And I’m not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway, there was no proof
And nor a motive why.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
A life for a life
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway there was no proof
And I’m not afraid to die.
Now the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is smoking
And in a way I’m hoping
To be done with all these looks of disbelief.
A eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I’m not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I’m not afraid to die.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
A eye for a eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
But I’m not afraid to lie.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
But I’m afraid I told a lie.
