[Chorus]
Who'll build a box for Black Paul?
[Verse 1]
I'm enquirin' on behalf of his soul
I'd be beholdin' to y'all
For a little information, just a little indication
Just who will dig the hole?
When ya done ransackin' his room
Grabbin' any damn thing that shines
Throw the scraps down on the street
Like all his books and his notes
All his books and his notes and all the junk that he wrote
The whole fuckin' lot right up in smoke
Ain't there nothing sacred anymore
Won't someone build a box for Black Paul?
And their shootin' off his guns
And their shootin' off their mouths
Saying, "Fuck with us and die
Fuck with us and die"
Let's see that rat of fear go scuttle in their skulls
"Cover that eye, cover that frozen eye"
Black Paul
[Verse 2]
Black-puppetin' a heap up against the stoning-wall
Black puppet, go to sleep
Mama won't scold ya anymore
Armies of ants wade up the little red streams
They're headin' for the mother-pool
Oh, Lord, it's cruel, oh, man, it's hot, oh, man, it's hot
And some of them ants, they just climb to the spot
Who threw the first stone at black Paul?
"Don't ask us", say the critics and the hacks
The pen-pushers and the quacks
"We just come to get the facts, we just come to get the facts"
Oh, Lord, oh
Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey
[Verse 3]
Here is the hammer that built the scaffold
And built the box
Here is the shovel that dug the hole
In this ground of rocks
Oh, and here is the pile of stones
And for each one planted
God only knows, a blood-rose grown
And listen
These are the true demon-flowers
These are the true demon-flowers
Stand back, everyone; blood-black everyone
Blood-black
Stand back
[Chorus]
Who'll build a box for Black Paul?
Who'll carry it up the hill?
[Verse 4]
"Not I", I said the widow, adjusting her veil
"I will not drive the nail
Or cart his puppet-body home
For I done that one hundred times before
Oh, yes, at least one hundred times or more
And why should I dress his wounds?
When he has wounded my dress nightly
Right across the floor"
[Chorus]
Oh, who'll build a box for Black Paul?
And who'll, who'll carry it up the hill?
Now, who'll bury him in the black soil?
[Verse 5]
From the woods and the thickets
Come the ghosts of his victims
"We love you!
I love you!"
"And this won't hurt a bit
Out of my eyes was your rise to full, to full glory
Spring up from the crope of life
Spring up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up into death
Up, up, up, up, up, up, inhale its breath
Oh, yes, death favours those that favour death
Oh
[Verse 6]
Here is the stone and here is the inscription it bear
"Below lies Black Paul under the upper
But above and beyond the surface-flat-fall there."
And-and-and-and all the angels come on down
And all you men and women crowd around
And the old widows weeping into their skirts
And all the little gals and the little boys
And the scribes with their pens poised
All the hullaballoo, all the noise
All the hullaballoo, all the noise
All of the hullaballoo, all of the noise
Clears his throat of black blood
Black Paul singin' like a lonely boy
[Verse 7]
Well, I have cried one thousand tears
I've cried a thousand tears, it's true
And the next stormy night, you know
That I'm still cryin' them for you
And I had a gal, she was so sweet
Red dress, long and red hair hangin' down
And Heaven just ain't Heaven
Without that little girl hangin' around
Well, I laugh, you know I've been a bad man
But Lord knows I've done some good things, too
But I confess, my soul will never rest
Until you've, until you've built
Until you've built a box for my gal, too
My gal, too
My gal, too
