Richard Thompson
Crazy Man Michael
[Verse 1]
Oh, within the fire and out upon the sea
Crazy man Michael was walking
He met with a raven with eyes black as coals
And shortly they fell a-talking
"Your future, your future I will tell to you
Your future you often have asked me
Your true love will die by your own right hand
And crazy man Michael will cursed be"
[Verse 2]
Oh, Michael he ranted and Michael he raved
And he beat the four winds with his fists-o
He laughed and he cried, he shouted and he sworе
For his mad mind had trapped him with a kiss-o
"You speak with an evil, you spеak with a hate
You speak for the devil that haunts me
For is she not the fairest in all the broad land?
Your sorcerer's words are to taunt me"
[Verse 3]
He took out his dagger of fire and of steel
And he struck down the bird through the heart-o
The bird fluttered long, the sky it did spin
And the cold earth did wonder and startle
"Oh, where is the raven that I struck down dead
That here did lie on the ground-o?
I see that my love has a wound so red
Where her lover's heart it did pound-o"
[Verse 4]
Now crazy man Michael he wanders and calls
And talks to the night and the day-o
His eyes they are sane, his speech it is plain
And he longs to be far, far away-o
And Michael he whistles the simplest of tunes
And asks the wild wolves of their pardon
For his true love is flown into every flower grown
And he must be keeper of the garden
[Verse 1]
Oh, within the fire and out upon the sea
Crazy man Michael was walking
He met with a raven with eyes black as coals
And shortly they fell a-talking
"Your future, your future I will tell to you
Your future you often have asked me
Your true love will die by your own right hand
And crazy man Michael will cursed be"
And crazy man Michael will cursed be
And crazy man Michael will cursed be