Artist: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Song: The Hammer Song
Album: The Good Son
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Riff 1 TAB:


 E---------------------------
 B---------------------------
 G---------------------------
 D---------------------------
 A-----1--3^5-5-3-3-1-1-0----
 E--3----------------------3-

 ^ means slide. This riff is played with lots of delay added.
 This is the riff played by the guitar throughout the verse - check record for exact rhythm.



Gm                   {G    F#    F    D    G (lo)}
I set out on Monday the night was cold and vast
                    (Guit Riff 1)
and my brother slept
Gm
and though i left quite quietly
          { G F# F D F(lo)}                 (guit Riff 1)
my father raged and raged and my mother wept
Gm
now, my life was like a river all sucked into the ground
             G#                         Gm
and then the hammer came down, Lord the hammer came down


Many miles did I roam
Through the ice and through the snow
My horse died on the seventh day
I stumbled into a city
Where the people tried to kill me
And I ran in shame

Gm
Then I came upon a river and I laid my saddle down
             G#                          Gm
and then the hammer came down, lord, the hammer came down
              F                         Eb 											it knocked me to the ground and I said "please please,
                 G#                      Gm
take me back to my home town", Lord, the hammer came down

Now I've been made weak by visions
Many visions did I see
All through the night

On the seventh hour an angel came
With many snakes in all his hands
And I fled in fright

I pushed off into the river
And the water came around
And then the hammer came down
Lord, the hammer came down
And it did not make a sound
And I said, "Please, please
Take me back to my home ground"
Lord, the hammer came down



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transcribed by Andy Field