Papa won't leave you, Henry - RED RIGHT HAND

Papa won't leave you, Henry


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
I passed beside the mission house
Where that mad old buzzard, the reverend,
Shrieked and flapped about life after your dead
Well, I thought about my friend, Michel
How they rolled him in linoleum
And shot him in the neck
A bloody halo, like a think-bubble
Circling his head
And I bellowed at the firmament
Looks like the rains are hear to stay
And the rain pissed down upon me
And washed me all away
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 road is long
And the road is hard
And many fall by the side
But Papa won't leave you, Henry
So there ain't no need to cry


And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road


Well, the moon it looked exhausted
Like something you should pity
Spent an age-spotted
Above the sizzling wires of the city
Well, it reminded me of her face
Her bleached and hungry eyes
Her hair was like a curtain
Falling open with the laughter
And closing with the lies
But the ghost of her still lingers on
Though she's passed through me
And is gone
The slum dogs, they are barking
And the rain children on the streets
And the tears that we will weep today
Will all be washed away
By the tears that we will weep again tomorrow


Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
Papa won't leave you, Henry
Papa won't leave you, Boy
For the road is long
And the road is hard
And many fall by the side
But Papa won't leave you, Henry
So there ain't no need to cry


And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road


And I came upon a little house
A little house upon a hill
And I entered through, the curtain hissed
Into the house with its blood-red bowels
Where wet-lipped women with greasy fists
Crawled the ceilings and the walls
They filled me full of drink
And 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 its into the shame
And its into a guilt
And its 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
But Papa won't leave you, Henry
So there ain't no need to cry


And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He 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
The mad heat and the relentless rains
And if you stick your arm into that hole
It comes out sheared off to the bone
And with her kisses bubbling on my lips
I swiped the rain and nearly missed
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
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 hard
And many fall by the side
But Papa won't leave you, Henry
So there ain't no need to cry


And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
And I went on down the road
He went on down the road
Bent Beneath my heavy load
Under his heavy load
Yeah, I went on down the road
Yeah, he went on down the road


Woah, woah
Woah, woah
Woah, woah
Woah, woah
And I went on down that road





RED RIGHT HAND

Take a litle walk to the edge of town
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 wont 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
And 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

HEROIN ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES

HEROIN


I dont know just where Im going
But Im gonna try for the kingdom, if I can
cause it makes me feel like Im a man
When I put a spike into my vein
And Ill tell ya, things arent quite the same
When Im rushing on my run
And I feel just like jesus son
And I guess that I just dont know
And I guess that I just dont know

I have made the big decision
Im gonna try to nullify my life
cause when the blood begins to flow
When it shoots up the droppers neck
When Im closing in on death
And you cant help me not, you guys
And all you sweet girls with all your sweet silly talk
You can all go take a walk
And I guess that I just dont know
And I guess that I just dont know

I wish that I was born a thousand years ago
I wish that Id sail the darkened seas
On a great big clipper ship
Going from this land here to that
In a sailors suit and cap
Away from the big city
Where a man can not be free
Of all of the evils of this town
And of himself, and those around
Oh, and I guess that I just dont know
Oh, and I guess that I just dont know

Heroin, be the death of me
Heroin, its my wife and its my life
Because a mainer to my vein
Leads to a center in my head
And then Im better off and dead
Because when the smack begins to flow
I really dont care anymore
About all the jim-jims in this town
And all the politicians makin crazy sounds
And everybody puttin everybody else down
And all the dead bodies piled up in mounds

cause when the smack begins to flow
Then I really dont care anymore
Ah, when the heroin is in my blood
And that blood is in my head
Then thank God that Im as good as dead
Then thank your God that Im not aware
And thank God that I just dont care
And I guess I just dont know
And I guess I just dont know





ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES

And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrows parties
A hand-me-down dress from who knows where
To all tomorrows parties

And where will she go and what shall she do
When midnight comes around
Shell turn once more to sundays clown
And cry behind the door

And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrows parties
Why silks and linens of yesterdays gowns
To all tomorrows parties

And what will she do with thursdays rags
When monday comes around
Shell turn once more to sundays clown
And cry behind the door

And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrows parties
For thursdays child is sundays clown
For whom none will go mourning

A blackened shroud, a hand-me-down gown
Of rags and silks, a costume
Fit for one who sits and cries
For all tomorrows parties

THE POGUES

FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK

(Shane MacGowan / Jem Finer)
It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
And I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars
Big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old

When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on the corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing 'Galway Bay'
And the bells were ringing
Out for Christmas day

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Living there almost dead on a drip
In that bed

You scum bag
You maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God
It's our last

I could have been someone
So could anyone
You took my dreams
From me when I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

FIESTA

(Shane MacGowan / Jem Finer)
I am Francisco Vasquez Garcia
I am welcome to Almeria
We have sin gas and con leche
We have fiesta and feria
We have the song of the chochona
We have brandy and half corona
And Leonardo and his accordione
And calamari and macaroni

Come all you rambling boys of pleasure
And ladies of easy leisure
We must say Adios! until we see
Almeria once again

There is a minstrel, there you see,
And he stoppeth one in three
He whispers in this one's ear
"Will you kindly kill that doll for me"
Now he has won chochona in the bingo
All the town has watched this crazy gringo
As he pulls off the doll's head laughing
And ­miraldo! throws its body in the sea

El vienticinco de agosto
Abrio sus ojos Jaime Fearnley
Pero el bebe cinquante Gin-campari
Y se tendio para cerrarlos
Y Costello el rey del America
Y suntuosa Cait O Riordan
Non rompere mes colliones
Los gritos fuera de las casas