Artist: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Song: Lyre Of Orpheus
Album: Lyre Of Orpheus
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Riff 1
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----------3--5--3-------------------------------
--0--2------------------------------------------
--------------------3--5-5----------------------
------------------------------1--3--4--5--------
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Riff 2
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----------5--7--5-------------------------------
--2--4------------------------------------------
--------------------5--7-7----------------------
------------------------------3--5--6--7--------
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Orpheus sat gloomy in his garden shed wondering what to do
With a lump of wood, a piece of wire and a little pot of glue
     Gm (Riff 1)
O Mamma 
     Gm (Riff 1)
O Mamma

Gm
He sawed at the wood with half a heart and glued it top to bottom
He strung a wire in between, he was feeling something rotten
O Mamma O Mamma

Gm
Orpheus looked at his instrument and he gave the wire a pluck
He heard a sound so beautiful, he gasped and said O my God
O Mamma O Mamma

Gm
He rushed inside to tell his wife, he went racing down the halls
Eurydice was still asleep in bed like a sack of cannonballs
O Mamma O Mamma

Gm
Look what I've made, cried Orpheus and he plucked a gentle note
Eurydice's eyes popped from their sockets and her tongue burst through her throat
O Mamma O Mamma

Gm
O God, what have I done, he said as her blood pooled in the sheets
But in his heart he felt a bliss with which nothing could compete
O Mamma O Mamma

Gm
Orpheus went leaping through the fields strumming as hard as he did please
Birdies detonated in the sky, bunnies dashed their brains out on the trees
O Mamma O Mamma

Gm
Orpheus strummed till his fingers bled, he hit a G minor 7
He woke up God from a deep, deep sleep, God was a major player in heaven
     Gm (Riff 1)     
O Mamma 
     Am (Riff 2)
O Mamma

Am
God picked up a giant hammer and He threw it with an thunderous yell
It smashed down hard on Orpheus' head and knocked him down a well
     Am (Riff 2)
O Mamma 
     Am (Riff 2)
O Mamma

Am
The well went down very deep, very deep went down the well
The well went down so very deep, well, the well went down to hell
O Mamma O Mamma

Am
Poor Orpheus woke up with a start all amongst the rotting dead
His lyre tacked safe under his arm, his brains all down his head
O Mamma O Mamma

Am
Eurydice appeared brindled in blood and she said to Orpheus
If you play that fucking thing down here, I'll stick it up your orifice!
O Mamma O Mamma

Am
"This lyre lark is for the birds," said Orpheus "It's enough to send you bats
Let's stay down here, Eurydice, dear, and we'll have a bunch of screaming brats"
O Mamma O Mamma

Am
Orpheus picked up his lyre for the last time, he was on a real low down bummer
And stared deep into the abyss and said
"This one is for Mamma,"

     Am      Am
O Mamma O Mamma
     Bm      Bm
O Mamma O Mamma
     Am      Am
O Mamma O Mamma
     Bm      Bm
O Mamma O Mamma

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transcribed by Benjamin Denes
ben_denes@hotmail.com