Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Curse of Millhaven: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "The Curse of Millhaven" on your guitar with our chord guide. This page provides everything you need to perform this song on the guitar, including lyrics integrated with chords, chord diagrams, and a key transposer to match your vocal range.

  Am
I live in a town called Millhaven
                                      Dm
And it's small and it's mean and it's cold
But if you come around just as the sun goes down
                                      Am
You can watch the whole thing turn to gold
G                             G7
It's around about then that I used to go a-roaming

Chorus:
         C           Am
Singing La la la la La la la lie
Dm                      E7        Am
All God's children they all gotta die

My name is Loretta, but I prefer Lottie
I'm closing in on my fifteenth year
If you think you have seen a pair of eyes more green
Then you sure haven't see them around here
Well my hair is a-yeller' and I'm always a-combing

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
My mama often told me that we all got to die

You must have heard about The Curse Of Millhaven
How last Christmas Bill Blakey's little boy didn't come home
They found him the next week up in One Mile Creek
With his head bashed in and his pockets full of stones
Well, just imagine all the wailing and the moaning

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
Even little Billy Blakey's boy, he had to die

Then Professor O'Rye from Millhaven High
Found nailed to his door his prize-winning terrier
The next day the old fool brought little Biko to school
And we all had to watch as he buried her
Well his eulogy to Biko had all the tears flowing

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
Even God's little creatures, they have to die

Our little town fell into a state of shock
A lot of people were saying things that made little sense
The next thing you know the head of Handyman Joe
Was found in the fountain of the Mayor's residence
Well foul play can really get a small town going

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
Even God's children, they have to die

In a cruel twist of fate, old Mrs Colgate
Was stabbed but the job was not complete
Well, the last thing she said before the cops pronounced her dead
Was, "My killer is Loretta and she lives across the street!"
And twenty cops burst through my door without even phoning

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
The young ones and the old ones, they all gotta die

Yes, it is I, Lottie, The Curse Of Millhaven
I've struck horror in the heart of this town
Like my eyes ain't green and my hair ain't yeller'
It's more like the other way around
I got a pretty little mouth underneath all the foaming

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
Sooner or later, we all gotta die

Since I was no bigger than a weevil they've been saying I was evil
That if "bad" was a boot that I'd fit it
That I'm a wicked young lady, but I've been trying hard lately
Aw, fuck it, I'm a monster, I admit it!
Well it makes me so mad that my blood starts a-going

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
Mama always told me that we all gotta die

Well yeah, I drowned the Blakey kid, stabbed Mrs. Colgate, I admit
Did the handyman with his circular saw in his garden shed
But I never crucified little Biko, that was two junior high school psychos
Stinky Bohoon and his friend with the pumpkin-sized head
I'll sing to the lot, now that you got me going

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
All God's children have all gotta die

Then there' all the others, all our sisters and brothers
You assumed were accidents, best forgotten
Recall the children who broke through the ice on Lake Tahoo?
Everyone assumed the "Warning" signs had followed them to the bottom
Well, they're underneath the house where I do quite a bit of stowing

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
Even twenty little children, now they had to die

And the fire of '91 that razed the Bella Vista slum
That was the biggest shit-fight this country's ever seen
Insurance companies ruined, land lords getting sued
All cause of a wee little girl with a can of gasoline
Those flames really roared when the wind started blowing

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
Well a rich man and a poor man, they all gotta die

Well I confessed to all these crimes and they put me on trial
I was laughing when they took me away
Off to the asylum in an old black Mariah
Well it ain't home, but you know, it's better than jail
It ain't such a bad old place to have a home in

Chorus:
La la la la La la la lie
All God's children they all gotta die

Now I got shrinks that will not rest with their endless Rorschach tests
I keep telling them that I think they're out to get me
They ask me if I feel remorse and I answer, "Why of course!
There's so much more I could have done if they'd let me!"
So it's Rorschach and Prozac, and everything is groovy

Chorus:
Singing La la la la La la la lie
Well, all God's children they all have to die
La la la la, la la la lie
I'm happy as a lark now, and everything is fine
La la la la, la la la lie
Everything is groovy and everything is fine
La la la la, la la la lie
Well, all God's children they gotta die

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Guitar Chord Diagrams

Am

Guitar chord Am

C

Guitar chord C

Dm

Guitar chord Dm

E7

Guitar chord E7

G

Guitar chord G

G7

Guitar chord G7

Here you can see detailed diagrams for each guitar chord used in the song. Utilize our key transposer to adjust the chords to a key that better fits your singing range. Simply select the desired key, and the chords throughout this page will update automatically, ensuring you can play and sing comfortably.

If you are also interested in learning how to play "The Curse of Millhaven" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "The Curse of Millhaven" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Song List