Uploaded May 2013 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago

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Tom Waits Misery Is The River Of The World , Blood Money (2002)

Lyrics:

The higher that the monkey can climb
The more he shows his tail
Call no man happy 'til he dies
There's no milk at the bottom of the pail

God builds a church
The devil builds a chapel
Like the thistles that are growing
'Round the trunk of a tree
All the good in the world
You can put inside a thimble
And still have room for you and me

If there's one thing you can say about Mankind
There's nothing kind about man
You can drive out nature with a pitch fork
But it always comes roaring back again

Misery's the river of the world
Misery's the river of the world
Misery's the river of the world

The higher that the monkey can climb
The more he shows his tail
Call no man happy till he dies
There's no milk at the bottom of the pail

God tempers all the winds for the new shorn lambs
The devil knows the bible like the back of his hand
All the good in the world
You can put inside a thimble
And still have room for you and me

Then all that you can say about mankind
There's nothing kind about man
You can drive out nature with a pitch fork
But it always comes roaring back again

For want of a bird
The sky was lost
For want of a nail
A shoe was lost
For want of a life
A knife was lost
For want of a toy
A child was lost

And misery's the river of the world
Misery's the river of the world
Everybody row, everybody row
Misery's the river of the world
Misery's the river of the world
Misery's the river of the world
Everybody row, everybody row
Everybody row, everybody row
Misery's the river of the world
Misery's the river of the world
Everybody row, everybody row
Everybody row, everybody row
Everybody row
Misery's the river of the world
Misery's the river of the world
Misery's the river of the world
Misery's the river of the world
Everybody row, everybody row
Everybody row