Papa Won't Leave You, Henry (2010 Remaster)

I went out walking the other day

The heat hung wet around my neck

My head had rung with screams and groans

For the night I spent amongst her bones

And I passed beside the mission house

Where that mad ol' buzz of the reverend

Shrieked and flapped about life after you're dead

Well, I thought about my friend Michel

How they rolled him in linoleum

And they shot him in the neck

A bloody halo like a think bubble a-circlin' his head

And I bellowed at the firmament

Looks like the rains are here to stay

And the rain pissed down upon me

And it washed me all away

Said, papa won't leave ya, Henry

Papa won't leave ya, boy

Oh, papa won't leave ya, Henry

Papa won't leave ya, boy

Well, the road is long and the road is hard

And many fall by the side

But a papa won't leave ya, Henry

So there ain't no need to cry

And I went on down the road

(He went on down the road)

Oh yeah, I went on down the road

(He went on down the road)

Well, the moon looked exhausted

Like something you should pity

I spent an age spotted

Above the sizzling wires of the city

Well, it reminded me of her face

And her bleached and hungry eyes

Her hair was like a curtain

Falling open with the laughter

And closing with the lies

And the ghost of her still lingers on

Though she's passed through me

And is gone

Oh, well, the slum dogs, they are barking

The rain children on the streets

And the tears that we will weep today

Will all be washed away

But the tears that we will weep

We'll weep again tomorrow

Oh, papa won't leave ya, Henry

Papa won't leave ya, boy

A papa won't leave ya, Henry

A papa won't leave ya, boy

Well, the road is long and the road is hard

And many fall by the side

Well, a papa won't leave ya, Henry

So there ain't no need to cry

And I went on down the road

(He went on down the road)

Oh yeah, 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 and the curtain hissed

Into the house with it's blood-red bowels

Where wet-lipped women with greasy fists

A-crawled the ceilings and the walls

And they filled me full of drink

And they let 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 whalebone corset

Draping his dick across my cheek

Well, it's into the shame

And it's into the guilt

And it's into the fucking fray

And the walls ran red around me

A warm arterial spray

Said Papa won't leave ya, Henry

Papa won't leave ya, boy

A papa won't leave ya, Henry

A papa won't leave ya, boy

Well, the night is dark and the night is deep

And its jaws are open wide

Well, a papa won't leave ya, Henry

So there ain't no need to cry

And I went on down the road

(He went on down the road)

Oh yeah, 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 your money

For your clothes and for your nothing

Entire towns being washed away

Favelas exploding on inflammable spillways

And the lynch mobs, death squads

Babies being born without brains

The mad heat and the relentless rains

Well, 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 I nearly missed

And I went on down the road

(He went on down the road)

A papa won't leave ya, Henry

Papa won't leave ya, boy

Papa won't leave ya, Henry

A papa won't leave ya, boy

Well, the road is long and the road is hard

And many fall by the side

Well, a papa won't leave ya, Henry

So there ain't no need to cry

And I went on down the road

(He went on down the road)

Oh yeah, I went on down the road

(He went on down the road)

Yeah, bent beneath my heavy load

(Under his heavy load)

Yeah, I went on down the road

(He went on down the road)

Oh, whoa, whoa

Oh, whoa, whoa

Yeah, whoa, whoa

Yeah, whoa, whoa

And I went on down that road