Iggy Pop - The Tell-Tale Heart lyrics

True! -nervous -very
Very dreadfully nervous I had been and am
But why will you say that
I am mad? The disease had sharpened
My senses not destroyed not dulled
Them above all was the sense of hearing
Acute i heard all things in the
Heaven and in the earth i heard
Many things in hell how, then
Am I mad? Hearken! and
Observe how healthily -how
Calmly I can tell you the whole story

It is impossible to say how first the
Idea entered my brain but once conceived
It haunted me day and night
Object there was none passion
There was none i loved the old man he
Had never wronged me he had
Never given me insult
For his gold I had no desire i think


It was his eye! yes, it was this! He had
The eye of a vulture -a pale blue eye
With a film over it whenever it fell
Upon me, my blood ran cold and so
By degrees -very gradually -I
Made up my mind to take the
Life of the old man
And thus rid myself of the eye forever

Now this is the point you fancy
Me mad madmen know nothing but
You should have seen me you should
Have seen how wisely I
Proceeded -with what caution
-with what foresight
-with what dissimulation I went
To work! I was never kinder
To the old man than
During the whole week before I killed
Him and every night, about midnight
I turned the latch of his
Door and opened it oh so gently! And then
When I had made an opening sufficient for
My head, I put in a
Dark lantern, all closed, closed
That no light shone out, and then
I thrust in my head oh
You would have laughed
To see how cunningly I thrust it in!
I moved it slowly -very, very slowly
So that I might not disturb the old man's
Sleep it took me an hour to
Place my whole head within the opening
So far that I could see
Him as he lay upon his bed ha! would a madman
Have been so wise as this, and then
When my head was well in the room, I undid
The lantern cautiously oh
So cautiously -cautiously
(for the hinges creaked) -I undid it just so
Much that a single thin ray fell
Upon the vulture eye and this I did
For seven long nights -every night
Just at midnight -but I found the eye
Always closed and so it was impossible
To do the work for it was not
The old man who vexed me, but
His Evil Eye and every morning
When the day broke, i went boldly into the
Chamber, and spoke courageously to him
Calling him by name in a hearty tone
And inquiring how he has passed the night so
You see he would have been a
Very profound old man, indeed, to suspect
That every night, just at twelve
I looked in upon him while he slept

Upon the eighth night I was more
Than usually cautious in opening the
Door a watch's minute hand moves
More quickly than did mine
Never before that night had I felt
The extent of my own
Powers -of my sagacity i could
Scarcely contain my feelings
Of triumph to think that there I was
Opening the door, little by little
And he not even to dream of my secret
Deeds or thoughts i fairly chuckled
At the idea and perhaps
He heard me for he moved on the bed suddenly
As if startled now you may think
That I drew back -but no
His room was as black as
Pitch with the thick darkness
(for the shutters were close fastened
Through fear of robbers) and so I
Knew that he could not see
The opening of the door, and I kept
Pushing it on steadily, steadily i
Had my head in, and was about
To open the lantern, when my thumb
Slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old
Man sprang up in bed
Crying out -"Who's there?" I
Kept quite still and
Said nothing for a whole hour I
Did not move a muscle, and in
The meantime I did not hear him lie
Down he was still sitting up
In the bed listening -just as I
Have done, night after night
Hearkening to the death watches in the wall

Presently I heard a slight groan
And I knew it was the groan of
Mortal terror it was not a groan
Of pain or of grief oh
No! -it was the low stifled sound
That arises from the bottom
Of the soul when overcharged with
Awe i knew the
Sound well many a night, just at midnight
When all the world
Slept, it has welled up from
My own bosom, deepening, with it's
Dreadful echo
The terrors that distracted me i
Say I knew it well i knew what the old
Man felt, and pitied him
Although I chuckled at heart i
Knew that he had been
Lying awake ever since the
First slight noise
When he had turned in the bed his fears
Had been ever since growing upon him he
Had been trying to fancy them causeless
But could not he had been
Saying to himself -"It is
Nothing but the wind in the
Chimney -it is only
A mouse crossing the floor
" or "It is merely
A cricket which has made a single chirp" Yes
He had been trying to comfort himself with
These suppositions: but he had found all
In vain all in vain because
Death, in approaching him had stalked with
His black shadow before him
And enveloped the victim and it
Was the mournful influence
Of the unperceived shadow that caused him to
Feel -although he neither saw
Nor heard -to feel
The presence of my head within the room

When I had waited a long time, very
Patiently, without hearing him lie down
I resolved to open a little -a
Very, very little crevice in the
Lantern so I opened it - you cannot imagine
How stealthily, stealthily -until
At length a simple dim
Ray, like the thread of the spider
Shot from out the crevice
And fell full upon the vulture
Eye it was open -wide
Wide open -and I grew furious
As I gazed upon it
I saw it with perfect distinctness
-all a dull blue
With a hideous veil over it that
Chilled the very marrow in my bones but I
Could see nothing else of the old
Man's face or person: for I had directed
The ray as if by instinct
Precisely upon the damned spot and
Have I not told
You that what you mistake for madness is
But over-acuteness of the sense? now, I say
There came
To my ears a low, dull, quick sound
Such as a watch makes when
Enveloped in cotton i knew that sound well
Too it was the
Beating of the old man's heart
It increased my fury
As the beating of a drum
Stimulates the soldier into courage

But even yet I refrained and kept still i
Scarcely breathed i held
The lantern motionless
I tried how steadily I could maintain the
Ray upon the eve meantime the hellish
Tattoo of the heart increased it
Grew quicker and quicker
And louder and louder every
Instant the old man's terror must have been
Extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every
Moment! do you mark me well I have
Told you that I am nervous:
So I am and now at the
Dead hour of the night
Amid the dreadful silence of
That old house, so strange a noise as
This excited me to uncontrollable terror yet
For some minutes longer I refrained and stood
Still but the beating grew louder
Louder! I thought the heart must burst and
Now a new anxiety seized me -the
Sound would be heard by a neighbour! The
Old man's hour had come! With a loud yell
I threw open the lantern and
Leaped into the room he
Shrieked once -once only in an instant
I dragged him to the floor
And pulled the heavy bed
Over him i then smiled gaily, to find
The deed so far done but
For many minutes, the heart beat on
With a muffled sound this, however
Did not vex me
It would not be heard through the wall
At length it ceased the old man
Was dead i removed the bed and examined
The corpse yes, he was stone
Stone dead i placed my hand upon the heart
And held it there many minutes there
Was no pulsation he was stone dead his
Eve would trouble me no more

If still you think me mad
You will think so no longer
When I describe the wise
Precautions I took for the
Concealment of the body
The night waned, and I worked hastily
But in silence first of all I dismembered
The corpse i cut off the
Head and the arms and
The legs i then took up three planks from the
Flooring of the chamber
And deposited all between the scantlings
I then replaced the boards
So cleverly, so cunningly
That no human eye not even his
-could have detected any thing wrong
There was nothing to wash out no
Stain of any kind no
Blood-spot whatever i had been too
Wary for that a tub
Had caught all ha! ha! When I had made
An end of these labors
It was four o'clock -still
Dark as midnight as the
Bell sounded the hour
There came a knocking at the street door
I went down to open it with a light heart
-for what had I now to fear?
There entered three men, who introduced
Themselves, with perfect suavity
As officers of the police a
Shriek had been heard by a neighbour
During the night suspicion of foul
Play had been aroused information had been
Lodged at the police office, and they
(the officers) had been deputed to
Search the premises i smiled
-for what had I to fear? I bade
The gentlemen welcome the shriek, I said
Was my own
In a dream the old man, I mentioned
Was absent in the country i took my
Visitors all over the house i bade
Them search -search well i
Led them, at length, to his chamber i
Showed them his treasures, secure
Undisturbed in
The enthusiasm of my confidence, i
Brought chairs into the room
And desired them here to rest from their
Fatigues, while I myself, in the wild
Audacity of my perfect triumph
Placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath
Which reposed the corpse of the victim

The officers were satisfied my manner
Had convinced them i was
Singularly at ease they sat, and
While I answered cheerily
They chatted of familiar things
But, ere long, i felt myself
Getting pale and wished them
Gone my head ached
And I fancied a ringing in my
Ears: but still they sat
And still chatted the ringing became
More distinct: -It continued and
Became more distinct: I talked more freely
To get rid of the
Feeling: but it continued and gained
Definiteness -until, at length
I found that the noise was not within my ears
No doubt I now grew very pale
-but I talked more fluently
And with a heightened
Voice yet the sound increased -and what could
I do? It was a low, dull
Quick sound -much such a sound
As a watch makes when enveloped in cotton i
Gasped for breath -and
Yet the officers heard it not i
Talked more quickly -more vehemently
But the noise steadily increased i
Arose and argued about trifles
In a high key
And with violent gesticulations but the noise
Steadily increased why would they not
Be gone? I paced the floor to
And fro with heavy strides
As if excited to fury by
The observations of the men
-but the noise steadily increased oh
God! what could I
Do? I foamed -I raved -I swore!
I swung the chair upon
Which I had been sitting, and
Grated it upon the boards
But the noise arose over all and
Continually increased it grew louder -louder
-louder! And still the
Men chatted pleasantly, and smiled was
It possible they heard not? Almighty God! no
No! They heard! -they suspected!
-they knew! -they were
Making a mockery of my
Horror!-this I thought
And this I think but anything was
Better than this agony! Anything
Was more tolerable than this derision!
I could bear those
Hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt
That I must scream or
Die! and now -again! hark!
Louder! louder! louder! louder!

"Villains!" I shrieked
"dissemble no more! I admit
The deed! -tear up the planks! here
Here! -It is the beating
Of his hideous heart!"