Lyrics Papa Won't Leave You, Henry (Live at Alexandra Palace, 2020) - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

I went out walking the other day
The wind hung wet around my neck
My head it rung with screams and groans
From the night I spent amongst her bones
Passed beside the mission house
Where that mad old buzzard, the reverend
Shrieked and flapped about life after you're dead
I thought about my friend, Michel
How they rolled him in linoleum
And they shot him in the neck, well
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, boy
Well, the road is long and the road is hard
And many fall by the side
Papa won't leave you, Henry
And there ain't no need to cry
And I went on down the road
I came upon a little house
A little house upon a hill
I entered through and the curtain hissed
Into the house with its blood-red bowels
Where wet-lipped women with greasy fists
Crawled the ceilings and the walls
And they filled me full of drink
And they led me round the rooms
Naked and cold and grinning
Until everything went black and I came down spinning
I awoke so drunk and full of rage
That I could hardly speak
A fag in a whale-bone corset
Draping his dick across my cheek
And it's into the shame and it's into the guilt
And it's into the fucking fray
And the walls ran red around me
A warm arterial spray, saying
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, boy
Well, the night is dark and the night is deep
And its jaws are open wide
Papa won't leave you, Henry
There ain't no need to cry
And I went on down the road
It's the rainy season where I'm living
Death comes leaping out of every doorway
Wasting you for money, for your clothes and for your nothing
Entire towns being washed away
Favelas exploding on inflammable spillways
Lynch-mobs, death squads, babies being born without brains
And the mad heat and the relentless rains
And the mad heat and the relentless rains
And with her kisses bubbling on my lips
I swiped the rain and nearly missed, singing
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, boy
Well, the road is long and the road is dark
And many fall by the side
Papa won't leave you, Henry
There ain't no need to cry
And I went on down the road
Yeah, I went on down the road
Hey, bent beneath my heavy load
Yeah, well, I went on down the road