The Curse Of Millhaven

Album: Murder Ballads (1996)
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  • I live in a town called Millhaven
    And it's small and it's mean and it's cold
    But if you come around just as the sun goes down
    You can watch the whole thing turn to gold
    It's around about then that I used to go a-roaming
    A-la la la la la la lie
    All God's children they all gotta die

    My name is Loretta but I prefer Lottie
    I'm closing in on my fifteenth year
    And if you think you have seen a pair of eyes more green
    Then you sure didn't see them around here
    Well my hair is yellow and I'm always a-combing
    La la la la la la la lie
    Mama often told me that we all got to die

    You must have heard about The Curse Of Millhaven
    How last Christmas Bill Blake's little boy didn't come home
    They found him next week up in One Mile Creek
    With his head bashed in and his pockets full of stones
    Well, just imagine all the wailing and moaning
    La la la la la la la lie
    Even Bill Blake's boy, he had to die

    Then Professor O'Rye from Millhaven High
    Found nailed to his door his prize-winning terrier
    Then next day the old fool brought little Biko to school
    And we all had to watch as he buried her
    Well his eulogy to Biko had all the tears flowing
    La la la la la la la lie
    Even God's little creatures, they have to die

    Our little town fell into a state of shock
    A lot of people were saying things that made little sense
    The next thing you know the head of Handyman Joe
    Was found in the fountain of the Mayor's residence
    Well foul play can really get a small town going
    La la la la la la la lie
    Even God's children they have to die

    Then, in a cruel twist of fate, old Mrs Colgate
    Was stabbed but the job was not complete
    Well the last thing she said before the cops pronounced her dead
    Was, "My killer is Loretta and she lives across the street!"
    Twenty cops burst through my door without even phoning
    La la la la la la la lie
    The young ones, and the old ones, they all gotta die

    "Yes, it is I, Lottie, The Curse Of Millhaven"
    I've struck horror in the heart of this town
    Like my eyes ain't green and my hair ain't yellow
    It's more like the other way around
    I gotta pretty little mouth underneath all the foaming
    La la la la la la la lie
    Sooner or later, we all gotta die

    Since I was no bigger than a weavil they've been saying I was evil
    That if "bad" was a boot that I'd fit it
    That I'm a wicked young lady, but I've been trying hard lately
    O fuck it! I'm a monster! I admit it!
    Well it makes me so mad my blood really starts a-going
    La la la la la la la lie
    Mama always told me that we all gotta die

    Well yeah, I drowned the Bailey kid, stabbed Mrs. Colgate, I admit
    Did the handyman with his circular saw in his garden shed
    But I never crucified little Biko, that was two junior high school psychos
    Stinky Bohoon and his friend with the pumpkin-sized head
    I'll sing to the lot, now that you got me going
    La la la la la la la lie
    All God's children have all gotta die

    Then there were all of the others, all our sisters and brothers
    You assumed were accidents, best forgotten
    Recall the children who broke through the ice on Lake Tahoo?
    Everyone assumed the "Warning" signs had followed them to the bottom
    Well, they're underneath the house where I do quite a bit of stowing
    La la la la la la la lie
    Even twenty little children, they had to die

    And the fire of '91 that razed the Bella Vista slum
    That was the biggest shit-fire this country's ever seen
    Insurance companies ruined, land lords getting sued
    All cause of a wee little girl with a can of gasoline
    Those flames really roared when the wind started blowing
    La la la la la la la lie
    Well the rich man, poor man, they all got to die

    Well I confessed to all these crimes and they put me on trial
    I was laughing when they took me away
    Off to the asylum in an old black Mariah
    Well it ain't home, but you know, it's fucking better than jail
    It ain't such bad old place to have a home in
    La la la la la la la lie
    All God's children they all gotta die

    Now I got shrinks that will not rest with their endless Rorschach tests
    I keep telling them they're out to get me
    They ask me if I feel remorse and I answer, "Why of course,
    There is so much more I could have done if they'd let me!"
    So it's Rorschach and Prozac and everything is groovy
    La la la la, yes, la la la lie
    Well all God's children they all have to die
    La la la la la la la lie
    I'm happy as a lark now, and everything is fine
    La la la la la la la lie
    Yeah, everything is groovy, everything is fine
    La la la la la la la lie
    Well all God's children they gotta die Writer/s: Nicholas Cave
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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