envelop/p/e #3

released september 2023

title of #3 is

a cup, a mop, a tooth, a fog

le titre du # 3 est

un gobelet, une serpillère, une dent, un brouillard

contributions by / de

Topher Alexander

Gaël Bandelier

Gianni Cestari

Abstral Compost

Edmée Fleury

Richard Gant

Jean-Jacques Kissling

Antoine Läng

Mélodie Lasselin

Simon Monseu

Pierre Thoma

Christopher Thomas

Oliver Weber

Antoine Läng

Capture d’écran 2023-09-20 à 10.28.32 PM.png

Oliver Weber

Abstral Compost

Edmée Fleury

Simon Arthaud Monseu

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

The mercy seat

from the album Tender Prey, 1988

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.

An 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
An 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 the sick breath at my hind
They are the sick breath at my hind
They are the sick breath at my hind
They are the 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
Tattooed 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 & 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.
And 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 these 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 twisting 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
An 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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahr4KFl79WI

5’04 94 bpm original version 1988

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSmVTgLjzJQ

5’12 70-82 bpm Live in Copenhagen 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onbC5Ny3tUc

5’11 60 bpm Live from KCRW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq6T2tvRDoY

3’55 80 bpm B-sides 2005

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RrS7P6UTKA

5’05 80-90 bpm BoxedSet 2001

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzAnKkN6GXE

3’28 (0’32-4’00) 72 bpm solo piano David Letterman show 2004