The Mercy Seat – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (1988)

” The Mercy Seat ” è una canzone scritta da Nick Cave e Mick Harvey, eseguita da Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds nell’album “Tender Prey”. La canzone è stata ripresa da altri, tra cui Johnny Cash e Camille O’Sullivan. La rivista Rolling Stone la annovera tra le 1.001 canzoni più importanti di tutti i tempi.

 

La canzone racconta la storia di un uomo che sta per essere ucciso sulla sedia elettrica. Il “mercy seat” si riferisce sia al trono di Dio nei cieli, che l’uomo sente che presto vedrà, sia alla sedia elettrica. Il brano è pieno di allusioni alla cristianità e al Vecchio Testamento, dal Levitico passando dall’Arca dell’Alleanza.

 

nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds-the-mercy-seat-mute52-560x572

 

La canzone contiene il seguente ritornello, che torna ossessivamente per quindici volte, con variazioni:

 

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 tooth for a tooth

And anyway I told the truth

And I’m not afraid to die.

 

 

I critici hanno notato la confluenza di temi del Vecchio e del Nuovo Testamento, soprattutto nella giustapposizione ‘”occhio per occhio” con la comparsa di un misericordioso “straniero cencioso,” Cristo. Ma il rapporto tra la legge e il perdono sembra destinato a rimanere irrisolto.

 

Cave poi disse: “Prima ero in grado di scrivere cose come, ‘Non ho paura di morire’. E i ragazzi vengono da me e dicono, ‘Hey, quello ha significato molto per me’. Ma non mi sento più così. Non mi sento arrogante verso la morte come una volta. Mi sveglio nel panico sentendo che la morte si avvicina.

 

Johnny Cash ha reinterpretato la canzone nel suo album “American III: Solitary Man” (2000). Cash ha sentito di dover rilanciare la canzone dopo aver visto la notizia di diverse esecuzioni in Texas: “Bisognerebbe prestare maggiore attenzione alla pena capitale“, ha detto. “Se un uomo è stato dentro 25 anni, forse dovremmo riconsiderare se sia diventato un buon essere umano e se vogliamo ancora ucciderlo”.

 

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.

 

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

A tooth for a tooth

And 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 sick breath at my hind

They are sick breath at my hind

They are sick breath at my hind

They are 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

tatooed 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 and 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.

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 this 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 twisted 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

And 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.

 

Salva

Lascia un commento

Il tuo indirizzo email non sarà pubblicato. I campi obbligatori sono contrassegnati *