Animal Static Songtext
von Nick Cave

Windowless

My shack is windowless

Once there was a window
Three in fact
But I sealed them up with planks
I cemented the ledges in broken bottles
Just in case
With the trapdoor in the ceiling shut
And the front door closed
And the padlocks, bolts and chains checked
I could render the panting interior almost void of light

Penetrated only by the steaming needles and fast fins
Of the guillotines and steak knives of the light

Sun-silver lances
Like I was the bikini-clad assistant in
Some magician′s trick gone horribly wrong
Yes, sometimes I would watch steely sunlight
Ragged, serrated, saw me in half


I spent an afternoon plugging the major leaks with plaster
But the minor clefts, pocks and crannies
The sly seeps and trickles
The countless chinks in my castellated armour
Are left unhindered
Perforations
Air holes hammered in the lid of my coop
Of my coffin

If the beasts were up to it we would talk
In this hushed sepulchral stillness
With the air putrid, septic, heady and receptive
A lot of thought waves got moved around

Rat chat
Cackling cat screak
Snake hissants and lizard fizz
Chipping rabbit blather
Hare air
Bug thrum

Beast din
Muzzled, telepathic


Oh but the drooling dog thoughts
Dull, belligerent, dote
Full of meaning transmission
Blood, meat, sex and so on
Lame cockeyed hill bitches
Agitated into a perpetual state of oestrus
Turning mean and nasty as they froth and butt
And rut and hump in the ordure and straw
Gnash and gravel in their squatting capsules on the floor

When the mergening got out of hand I would give them a goofball
A calmative
Okay, a comative
One part water, one part white Jesus
A half to one powdered sedative
It never failed
A bowl or two of that
They lapped it up
And they'd be goo-gooing like sucklings
All pooped out

All the mad air slaked
The feral statics, the heat waves abated

I would sit and nod and nanny these lumping fadges of incumbent dung
There were no in-between moods
No slippers brought to the bedside
No hobble around the block
Either those brutes were in a state of high coma
Or they were coming at your face
But that′s the way it had to be
That's the way I wanted it
It's the way God had it organised

That pack of riggish bitches and lowbloods
Oh they will get their chance to make good
Like me
They will have their moment of glory too
And very soon I think
And very soon

Let the sleeping dogs lie
But don′t believe a word they say
I am the truth
I am the light
Every dog has its day

I am having mine now

My time is nigh
You′re too late Mr Hayrake
Mr Spade
I said hey boss
Take up that cross and put on your walking shoes
Yes you lose Mr Noose

Today belongs to me
Not thee
Me
Me
This day is mine
Into the ranks of the elite I climb
Saying this is the last day
This is the last day
The last day is mine

There are plenty of others brothers
Take your pick
Take your hoe
Take your goddamn gallow
Leave this day alone
Sift through all your yesterdays
Don't count on your tomorrows

I can see them coming and it′s not a pretty sight
The fear is here
The fright
Here is the night