Song Lyrics

Christina the Astonishing
Lived a long time ago
She was stricken with a seizure
At the age of twenty-two

They took her body in a coffin
To a tiny church in Liege
Where she sprang up from the coffin
Just after the Agnus Dei

She soared up to the rafters
Perched on a beam up there
Cried "The stink of human sin
The stink of human sin
The stink is more that I can bear"

Christina the Astonishing
Was the most astonishing of all
She prayed balanced on a hurdle
Or curled up into a ball

She fled to remote places
Climbed towers and trees and walls
To escape the stench of human corruption
The stench of human corruption
Into an oven she did crawl

Christina the Astonishing
Behaved in a terrifying way
She would run wildly through the streets
Jump in the Meusse and swim away

Christina the Astonishing
Behaved in terrifying manner
She died at the age of seventy-four
Died at the age of seventy-four
In the convent of St Anna

Nicholas Cave