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 border fires
In the humming wires
Hey man, 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
Tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams
It took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole
Heal your shrinking soul
But there 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 don't have no money?
He'll get you some
You don't have no car?
He'll get you one
You don't have 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 slum
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 ain't what he seems
You'll see him in your head
On the TV screen
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
And go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms
Like a bird of doom
As it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires
In the humming wires
Hey man, 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
Tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams
It took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole
Heal your shrinking soul
But there 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 don't have no money?
He'll get you some
You don't have no car?
He'll get you one
You don't have 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 slum
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 ain't what he seems
You'll see him in your head
On the TV screen
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
Lyrics submitted by Nelly, edited by smallwonderrobot, AdamAitch
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it could well be that he's writing about his addiction. who really knows? isn't that the fabulous thing about art? that everyone can interpret it the way they want to, using the filters they've acquired throughout their lives.
& warm phase, you're so right! he's a brilliant poet. glad he made it through all these years, against all odds & continued to churn out one great song after another.
John Milton's 'Paradise Lost'."
Milton got it from some ode by Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), where it referred to the hand of Jupiter, the king of the Roman pantheon.
The character in the song does seem more like the Roman god than the Christian one.
The binding thread is things which can be subverted into self-destructive bargains in which someone wins and it's not you.
For a comparison (much less creepy and dramatic, but a similar theme), check out TMBG's 'Spiraling Shape' which has a surface reading of drugs instead of the Devil, but a similar deep reading that this kind of mistake could be prompted by anything.
i just read an interesting take on the whole story behind the song:
apropos of his serial killers being handsome etc... check out Alvin Thomas' post
lyricsdepot.com/nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds/…
have no idea if it's true, but the story definitely sends chills down my spine.