Grief Came Riding Lyrics

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Grief Came Riding

A grief came riding
On the wind
Up the [sullen] river Thames
I was sittin' on the bank with my mouth open
When I felt it entering

I began thinkin' about our wedding day
And how love was [avowed]
I was thinkin' about the chamber door
Only we can enter now

I began thinkin' about our ancient friends
And of kissin’ them goodbye
And then the wind blew under Battersea bridge
And a tear broke from my eye

I started thinkin' about London
[HOW] nothing good ever came from this town
and if the Thames weren’t so filthy
I would jump in the river and drown

Don't be afraid
Come on down
I'm just sittin' here
Thinking aloud

[A grief came riding on the wind
up the river where the bridges crouch
blowin' people back and forth
from the marital bed to the psychiatric couch]

Blowin' people far apart
Blowin' others so they collide
Blowin’ some poor bastard right out of the water
blowin’ another one over the side

Hear the ancient iron bridge
And listen to it groan
with the weight of a thousand people
Leavin' or returning home

To their failures
To their boredoms
To their husbands
And their [wives]
who are carving them up for dinner
before they even arrive


Don't be afraid
Come on down
I'm just sittin' here
[Thinking aloud]

NOW look there just [BELOW] the water
See the saviour of the human race,
[with] the fishes and the frogs,
Has found his final resting place

Don't be afraid
Come on down
I'm just sittin' here
[Thinking loud]