„Mercy Seat“

It began when they come took me from my home
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.

I began to warm and chill
To objects and their fields,
A rag­ged cup, a twis­ted mop
The face of Jesus in my soup
Those sinis­ter din­ner meals
The meal trolley’s wicked wheels
A hoo­ked bone rising from my food
All things eit­her good or ungood.

An 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 truth.
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
An any­way I told the truth
And I’m not afraid to die.

Inter­pret signs and cata­lo­gue
A bla­cke­ned tooth, a scar­let fog.
The walls are bad.
Black. Bot­tom kind.
They are the sick breath at my hind
They are the sick breath at my hind
They are the sick breath at my hind
They are the 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 I
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 & 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
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 rebel blood.

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 truth.
And 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 bur­ning
And I think my head is glo­wing
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 glo­wing
And I think my head is smo­king
And in a way I’m hoping
To be done with all these looks of dis­be­lief.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And any­way there was no proof
Nor a motive why.

And the mercy seat is smo­king
And I think my head is mel­ting
And in a way I’m hel­ping
To be done with all this twis­ting of the truth.
A lie for a lie
And a truth for a truth
And I’ve got not­hing left to lose
And I’m not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is mel­ting
And I think my blood is boi­ling
And in a way I’m spoi­ling
All the fun with all this truth and con­se­quence.
An eye for an eye
An a truth for a truth
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 life for a life
And a truth for a truth
And any­way there was no proof
But I’m not afraid to tell a 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 truth.
An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And any­way I told the truth
But I’m afraid I told a lie.

„Ten­der Prey“ ist das fünfte Album von Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Vom kra­chend-avant­gar­dis­ti­schen Post-Punk der Ver­gan­gen­heit hat sich Cave zwar ein wenig ent­fernt, doch düs­ter und heavy bleibt es den­noch – auch the­ma­tisch: Nach wie vor ver­han­delt der Aus­tra­lier seine typi­schen Motive wie Gewalt, bibli­sche Ver­gel­tung und Tod. Bes­tes Bei­spiel dafür ist der groß­ar­tige, zen­trale Track des Albums, ​„The Mercy Seat“. Die­ser düs­tere, inten­siv vor­ge­tra­gene Song han­delt von einem zum Tode ver­ur­teil­ten Mann, der auf dem elek­tri­schen Stuhl seine letz­ten Gedan­ken zwi­schen Schuld und Unschuld reflek­tiert. Im Jahr 2000 inspi­rierte das Stück Johnny Cash zu einer ein­drucks­vol­len Cover­ver­sion. Aller­dings betont Cash in sei­ner Inter­pre­ta­tion seine Unschuld, wäh­rend Cave im Ori­gi­nal weni­ger ein­deu­tig bleibt: Der Prot­ago­nist zwei­felt an sei­ner eige­nen Aus­sage, scheint ver­mut­lich schul­dig, bezeich­net sich aber den­noch als ​„fast voll­kom­men unschul­dig“. So wird The Mercy Seat zu einem Song über Schuld, Reue und Ver­ge­bung. Musi­ka­lisch stei­gert sich das Stück in eine bedroh­li­che, fast mani­sche Klang­wand, die Caves ein­dring­li­chen Gesang und die biblisch auf­ge­la­dene Lyrik ver­stärkt. Der Song gilt als einer der kraft­volls­ten und ein­drucks­volls­ten von Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds und gehört bis heute zum fes­ten Bestand­teil ihrer Live-Shows – auf­ge­führt mit explo­si­ons­ar­ti­ger Ener­gie und wil­der Per­for­mance. Auf ​„Ten­der Prey“ zeigt sich Cave aus­ge­spro­chen viel­sei­tig: Vom mar­tia­li­schen ​„The Mercy Seat“ über das fast fröh­li­che ​„Deanna“ bis zum Lou Reed-haf­ten ​„Wat­ching Alice“ bewegt sich die Band mit düs­ter-pro­phe­ti­schen Tex­ten durch Caves mor­bide Welt, die gele­gent­lich von fast süß­li­chen, har­mo­ni­schen Melo­dien kon­tras­tiert wird. Die Stu­dio­auf­nah­men gestal­te­ten sich schwie­rig, da Cave zu die­ser Zeit stark hero­in­ab­hän­gig war. Doch trotz des chao­ti­schen Ein­flus­ses wurde Ten­der Prey ein Klas­si­ker. Nach der Tour zum Album been­dete Cave seine Dro­gen­sucht und zog 1990 nach São Paulo. Par­al­lel zur Pro­duk­tion des Albums schrieb er übri­gens sei­nen über­aus düs­te­ren, aber lesens­wer­ten Roman ​„And the Ass Saw the Angel“.