The Hammer Song Lyrics

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(l,m)   Cave
(p)     Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
        < Nick Cave: vocals, piano, hammond, harmonica; 
          Mick Harvey: bass, guitars, vibraphone, percussion,
                       backing vocals;
          Blixa Bargeld: guitar, backing vocals;
          Kid Congo Powers: guitar;
          Thomas Wydler: drums, percussion;
          Alexandre Ramirez, Altamir Tea Bueno Salinas, Helena Akiku Imasato,
          Lea Kalil Sadi: violins
          Akira Terazaki, Glaucho Masahiru Imasato: violas
          Braulio Marques Lima, Cristina Manescu: cellos                     >
        ( The Good Son [Mute, 1990] )
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I set out on monday
The night was cold and vast
And my brother slept

And though I left quite quietly
My father raged and raged
And my mother wept

Now, my life was like a river
All sucked into the ground
And then the hammer came down
Lord, the hammer came down

Many miles did I roam
Through the ice and through the snow
My horse died on the seventh day

I stumbled into a city
Where the people tried to kill me
And I ran in shame

Then I came upon a river
And I laid my saddle down
And then the hammer came down
Lord, the hammer came down
It knocked me to the ground
And I said, "Please, please
Take me back to my home town"
Lord, the hammer came down

Now I've been made weak by visions
Many visions did I see
All through the night

On the seventh hour an angel came
With many snakes in all his hands
And I fled in fright

I pushed off into the river
And the water came around
And then the hammer came down
Lord, the hammer came down
And it did not make a sound
And I said, "Please, please
Take me back to my home ground"
Lord, the hammer came down

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