Published
The Mercy Seat
“The Mercy Seat” is a song written by Nick Cave (lyrics and music) and Mick Harvey (music), originally performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on the 1988 album Tender Prey.
The song tells the story of a man about to be executed by the electric chair. The “Mercy Seat” refers both to the kaporet (the lid of the Ark of the Covenant) and to the electric chair. The song is laden with allusions to Christianity; in the Old Testament, the mercy seat is the symbol of the throne of God over the Ark of the Covenant.
The song contains the following chorus:
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
And a tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I’m not afraid to die.
This section is repeated fifteen times during the course of the song, with a number of variations in the text. Specific allusions to scripture include those to Leviticus 16:11–19 and Leviticus 24:19–21.Like many of Cave’s songs, “The Mercy Seat” suggests autobiography.
Cave later said, “Before I was able to write things like, ‘I’m not afraid to die’. And kids come up to me and say, ‘Hey, that line means so much to me’. And I have to sort of say I don’t feel that way any more. I don’t feel as cocky about death as I used to. I wake up in mad panics about death approaching.”
The song has been covered by others, including Johnny Cash, Camille O’Sullivan and Unter Null. (…) Johnny Cash stated he heard the song after seeing the news about executions in Texas, and that more attention should be paid to capital punishment: “If a man’s been there 25 years, maybe we should consider whether or not he has become a good human being and do we still want to kill him.”
Cave commented on Cash’s cover in a number of interviews: “Like all the songs he does, he made it his own. He’s a great interpreter of songs – that’s part of his genius. These are the things that can’t be taken away from you.” He called it a personal highpoint: “‘It doesn’t matter what anyone says,’ remarked Cave proudly. ‘Johnny Cash recorded my song.'”