Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Mercy Seat"

Nice... but I like the version on Live Seeds best.

Each of his songs sound so different. This gives me a sort of early Pink Floyd feeling. I love this music. It's like "Evil" church music.

i dont think hes deluded,i think nick cave tried to to tell of a simple man,violent and without conscience,wich ok inspires compassion.
my interpretation is schizofrenia and violent simplicity,of that charact,or wohevr inspired him to write so dam god.

Cashes version was very entertaining; Nicks version made me believe that death sentense is not an answer. The intense of his interpretation made me feel sick, in a good, human way.

dont forget this is the original song,and the lyrics are quite easy to understand,its someone sentenced to death,who being an obvious criminal,believes in god,and theres an association with the eletric chair(used to execute prisioners) and the mercy seat,something taken from the bible.Johny cash replaced some parts with is owns.Nick looks like white trash,that sure goes well in this song

@nandoisapunk Where do you get that he is obviously guilty? "Nearly wholly innocent." He doesn't even admit to the possibility of his actual guilt until the end of the song. The rest of the song is the fevered rambling of a man who's fed up with accusations and incarceration.
If anything, you could interpret that he is so deluded that he thinks he is innocent until the very last or that he is innocent and the ordeal actually makes him question it. Either way it isn't obvious.

@macafeek215
"Like my good hand I
tatooed E.V.I.L. across it's brother's fist
That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist"

"My kill-hand is called E.V.I.L.
Wears a wedding band that's G.O.O.D.
`Tis a long-suffering shackle
Collaring all that rebel blood."

"An eye for an eye
And a truth for a truth
And anyway I told the truth
But I'm afraid I told a lie.

he never admits to being guilty... the lyric "But i'm afraid i told a lie" at the end replaces "And i'm not afraid to die" in the songs structure...

i could be wrong but the lie seems to be that he's not afraid to die, nothing at all to do with innocence