Hollywood – English Lyrics

• By: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
• Album: Ghosteen

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

The fires continued through the night

The kid with a bat face appeared at the

Window then disappeared into the headlights

...

I was halfway to the pacific coast

I had left you in your longing and your yearning like a ghost

...

There's little room for wonder now, and little room for wildness too

...

We crawl into our wounds

I'm nearly all the way to Malibu

...

I'm gonna buy me a house up in the hills

With a tear-shaped pool and a gun that kills

Cause they say there is a cougar that roams these parts

With a terrible engine of wrath for a heart

...

That she is white and rare and full of all kinds of harm

And stalks the perimeter all day long

...

But at night lays trembling in my arms

...

And I'm just waiting now, for my time to come

...

And I'm just waiting now, for my time to come

...

And I'm just waiting now, for my place in the sun

...

And I'm just waiting now, for peace to come

...

And I'm just waiting now, for my time to come

...

And I'm just waiting now, for my time to come

...

And we hide in our wounds and I'm nearly all the way to Malibu

...

And I know my time will come one day soon

I'm waiting for peace to come

...

And I'm nearly all the way to Malibu

Oh babe we're on the run, we're on the run, we're on the run

Halfway down the Pacific coast

I left you sleeping like a ghost in your wounds

...

Darling your dreams are your greatest part

I carry them with me in my heart

...

Darling your dreams are your greatest part

I carry them with me in my heart

...

Somewhere, don't know

...

Now I'm standing on the shore

All the animals roam the beaches

Sea creatures rise out of the sea

And I'm standing on the shore

Everyone begins to run

The kid drops his bucket and spade and climbs into the sun

...

Kisa had a baby, but the baby died

...

Goes to the villages, says my baby's sick

...

Villagers shake their heads and say to her

Better bury your baby in the forest quick

...

It's a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind

It's a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind

...

Kisa went to the mountain and ask the Buddha

My baby's sick, Buddha said don't cry

...

Go to each house and collect a mustard seed

But only from a house where no one's died

...

Kisa went to each house in the village

My baby's getting sicker, poor Kisa cried

...

But Kisa never collected one mustard seed

Because every house, someone had died

...

Kisa sat down in the old village square

She hugged her baby and cried and cried

...

She said everybody is always losing somebody

Then walked into the forest and buried her child

...

Everybody's losing someone

...

Everybody's losing someone

...

It's a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind

It's a long way to find peace of mind, peace of mind

And I'm just waiting now, for my time to come

...

And I'm just waiting now, for peace to come, for peace to come

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
wound /wuːnd/ B1	noun - an injury to the body, especially one in which the skin or another external surface is broken. verb - to injure someone or something, especially with a weapon.
ghost /ɡoʊst/ B1	noun - an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image.
longing /ˈlɒŋɪŋ/ B2	noun - a strong, yearned desire.
wildness /ˈwaɪldnəs/ B2	noun - the quality or state of being wild; untamed nature.
cougar /ˈkuːɡər/ C1	noun - a large American wild cat with a plain tawny coat, found from Canada to Patagonia. Also called mountain lion or puma.
wrath /ræθ/ C1	noun - extreme anger.
harm /hɑːrm/ B1	noun - physical injury, especially that which is deliberately inflicted. verb - to hurt or injure.
trembling /ˈtrɛmblɪŋ/ B2	adjective - shaking involuntarily, typically as a result of anxiety, excitement, or frailty. verb - to shake involuntarily, typically as a result of anxiety, excitement, or frailty.
wait /weɪt/ A1	verb - to stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until someone or something else arrives.
peace /piːs/ A2	noun - freedom from disturbance; tranquility.
run /rʌn/ A1	verb - to move at a speed faster than walking, never having both or all feet on the ground at once. noun - an act or spell of running.
dream /driːm/ A1	noun - a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep. verb - to experience dreams during sleep.
shore /ʃɔːr/ B1	noun - the land along the edge of a sea, lake, or wide river.
bury /ˈbɛri/ B1	verb - to put or hide underground.
sick /sɪk/ A1	adjective - feeling unwell; ill.
seed /siːd/ B1	noun - a flowering plant's unit of reproduction, capable of developing into another such plant.
die /daɪ/ A1	verb - (of a person, animal, or plant) stop living.
child /tʃaɪld/ A1	noun - a young human being below the age of puberty or below the legal age of majority.
lose /luːz/ A2	verb - be deprived of or cease to have or retain (something).

Key Grammar Structures

• I had left you in your longing and your yearning like a ghost

  ➔ Past Perfect

  ➔ The past perfect "had left" shows an action that was finished before another past moment.

• There's little room for wonder now, and little room for wildness too

  ➔ Existential there is/are

  ➔ "There's" (there is) introduces the existence of something – here, little room.

• I'm gonna buy me a house up in the hills

  ➔ Informal future "going to" (gonna)

  ➔ "gonna" is the colloquial contraction of "going to", used to talk about a planned future action.

• And I'm just waiting now, for my time to come

  ➔ Present continuous + infinitive of purpose

  ➔ "waiting" is in the present continuous, and it is followed by the infinitive "to come" to express the purpose of the waiting.

• We crawl into our wounds

  ➔ Simple present (habitual)

  ➔ "crawl" is the simple present form used to describe a repeated or habitual action.

• I'm nearly all the way to Malibu

  ➔ Degree adverb "nearly"

  ➔ "nearly" modifies the phrase "all the way", indicating that the speaker is almost at the destination.

• But Kisa never collected one mustard seed

  ➔ Negative adverb "never"

  ➔ "never" is placed before the verb "collected" to indicate that the action did not happen at any time.

• Go to each house and collect a mustard seed

  ➔ Imperative mood

  ➔ "Go" and "collect" are verbs in the imperative, giving a direct command or instruction.

• I was halfway to the Pacific coast

  ➔ Past simple of "be" (was)

  ➔ "was" is the past simple form of "be", used here to describe a state in the past.