Suzanne Vega

Cracking
Freeze Tag
Marlene on the Wall
Small Blue Thing
Straight Lines
Undertow
Some Journey
The Queen & the Soldier
Knight Moves
Neighborhood Girls

Days of open hand

Tired of Sleeping
Men in a War
Rusted Pipe
Book of Dreams
Institution Green
Those Whole Girls (Run In Grace)
Room Off the Street
Big Space
Predictions
Fifty-Fifty Chance
Pilgrimage

Solitude

Tom's Diner
Luka
Ironbound/Fancy Poultry
In The Eye
Night Vision
Solitude Standing
Calypso
Language
Gypsy
Wooden Horse


99.9F

Rock in this Pocket
Blood Makes Noise
In Liverpool
99.9F
Blood Sings
Fat Man & Dancing Girl
(If You Were) In My Movie
As a Child
Bad Wisdom
When Heroes Go Down
As Girls Go
Song of Sand

Nine objects of desire

Birth-day (love made real)
Headshots
Caramel
Stockings
Casual Match
Thin Man
No Cheap Thrill
World Before Columbus
Lolita
Honeymoon Suite
Tombstone
My Favorite Plum

Dead Man Walking Soundtrack :
Woman On The Tier
Songs in red and gray

Penitent
Widow's Walk
(I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May
It Makes Me Wonder
Soap and Water
Song in Red and Grey
Last Year's Troubles
Priscilla
If I Were A Weapon
Harbor Song
Machine Ballerina
Solitaire
St. Clare


Suzanne Vega

Cracking

It's a one time thing
It just happens
A lot
Walk with me
And we will see
What we have got
Ah...

My footsteps are ticking
Like water dripping from a tree
Walking a harline
And stepping very carefully
Ah...

My heart is broken
It is worn out at the knees
Hearing muffled
Seeing blind
Soon it will hit the Deep Freeze

And something is cracking
I don't know where
Ice on the sidewalk
Brittle braches
In the air

The sun
Is blinding
Dizzy golden, dancing green
Through the park in the afternoon
Wondering where the hell
I have been
Ah...


 
Freeze tag

We go to the playground
In the wintertime
The sun is fading fast
Upon the slides into the past
Upon the swings of indecision
In the wintertime

In the dimming diamonds
Scattering in the park
In the tickling
And the trembling
Of freeze tag
In the dark

We play that we're actors
On a movie screen
I will be Dietrich
And you can be Dean

You stand
With your hand
In your pocket
And lean against the wall
You will be Bogart
And I will be
Bacall

And we can only say yes now
To the sky, to the street, to the night

Slow fade now to black
Play me one more game
Of chivalry
You and me
Do you see
where I've been hiding
In this hide-and-seek?

We go to the playground
In the wintertime
The sun is fading fast
Upon the slides into the past
Upon the swings of indecision
In the wintertime
Wintertime
Wintertime

We can only say yes now
To the sky, to the street, to the night
We can only say yes now
To the sky, to the street, to the night


Marlene on the wall

Even if I am in love with you
All this to say, what's it to you?
Observe the blood, the rose tattoo
Of the fingerprints on me from you

Other evidence has shown
That you and I are still alone
We skirt around the danger zone
And don't talk about it later

Marlene watches from the wall
Her mocking smile says it all
As the records the rise and fall
Of every soldier passing

But the only soldier now is me
I'm fighting things I cannot see
I think it's called my destiny
That I am changing

Marlene on the wall

I walk to your house in the afternoon
By the butcher shot with the sawdust strewn
"Don't give away the goods too soon"
Is waht she might have told me

Marlene watches from the wall
Her mocking smile says it all
As the records the rise and fall
Of every man who's been here

But the only one here now is me
I'm fighting things I cannot see
I think it's called my destiny
That I am changing

Marlene on the wall

 
Small blue thing

Today I am
A small blue thing
Like a marble
Or an eye

With my knees against my mouth
I am perfectly round
I am watching you

I am cold against your skin
You are perfectly reflected
I am lost inside your pocket
I am lost against
Your fingers

I am falling down the stairs
I am skipping on the sidewalk
I am thrown against the sky

I am raining down in pieces
I am scattering like light
Scattering like light
Scattering like light

Today I am
A small blue thing
Made of china
Made of glass

I am cool and smooth and curious
I never blink
I am turning in your hand
Turning in your hand
Small blue thing


 Straight lines

There's a sound
Across the alley
Of cold metal
Touching skin

And you can see
If you look in her window
That she has gone and cut
Her hair again

In straight lines
Straight lines

Those soft golden lights in the morning
Are now on her wooden floor
The wind has swept them through the apartment
She don't need them
Any more
Any more
Any more...

She's cut down
On her lovers
Though she still dreams
Of them at night

She's growing straight lines
Where once were flowers
She is streamlined
She is taking the shade down
From the light

To see the straight lines
Straight lines

She wants to cut through the circles
That she has lived in before
She wants to finally kill the delusions
She won't need them
Any more
Any more
Any more...

But there's a sound
Across the alley
Of cold metal
Too close to the bone

And you can see
If you look in her window
The face of a woman
Finally alone

Behind straight lines
Straight lines

 Undertow

I believe right now if I could
I would swallow you whole
I would leave only bones and teeth
We could see what was underneath
And you would be free then

Once I thought only tears could make us free
Salt wearing down to the bone
Like sand against the stone
Against the shoreline

I am friend to the undertow
I take you in, I don't let go
And now I have you

I wanted to learn all the secrets
From the edge of a knife
From the point of a needle
From a diamond
From a bullet in flight
I would be free then

I am friend to the undertow
I take you in, I don't let go
And now I have you

I wanted to see how it would feel
To be that sleek
And instead I find this hunger's
Made me weak

I believe right now if I could
I would swallow you whole
I would leave only bones and teeth
We could see what was underneath
And you would be free then

I am friend to the undertow
I take you in, I don't let go
And now I have you

I am friend to the undertow
I take you in, I don't let go
And now I have you

Some journey

If I had met you on some journey
Where would we be now
If we had met some eastbound train
Through some black sleeping town

Would you have worn your silken robes
All made of royal blue?
Would I have dressed in smoke and fire
For you to see through?

If we had met in a darkened room
Where people do not stay
But shadows touch and pass right through
And never see the day

Would you have taken me upstairs
And turned the lamplight low?
Would I have shown my secret self
And disappeared like the snow?

Oh, I could have played your little girl
Or I could have played your wife
I could have played your mistress
Running danger down through you life

I could have played your lady fair
All dressed in lace like the foam from the sea
I could have been your woman of the road
As long as you did not come back home to me

But as it is, we live in the city
And everything stays in place
Instead we meet on the open sidewalk
And it's well I know your face

We talk and talk, we tell the truth
There are no shadows here
But when I look into your eyes
I wonder what might have been here

Because if I had met you on some journey
Where would we be now?


The queen & the soldier

The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door
He said, "I am not fighting for you any more"
The queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before
And slowly she let him inside.

He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hill
And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill
But I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will
Only first I am asking you why."

Down in the long narrow hall he was led
Into her rooms with her tapestries red
And she never once took the crown from her head
She asked him there to sit down.

He said, "I see you now, and you are so very young
But I've seen more battles lost than I have battles won
And I've got this intuition, says it's all for your fun
And now will you tell me why?"

The young queen, she fixed him with an arrogant eye
She said, "You won't understand, and you may as well not try"
But her face was a child's, and he thought she would cry
But she closed herself up like a fan.

And she said, "I've swallowed a secret burning thread
It cuts me inside, and often I've bled"
He laid his hand then on top of her head
And he bowed her down to the ground.

"Tell me how hungry are you? How weak you must feel
As you are living here alone, and you are never revealed
But I won't march again on your battlefield"
And he took her to the window to see.

And the sun, it was gold, though the sky, it was gray
And she wanted more than she ever could say
But she knew how it frightened her, and she turned away
And would not look at his face again.

And he said, "I want to live as an honest man
To get all I deserve and to give all I can
And to love a young woman who I don't understand
Your highness, your ways are very strange."

But the crown, it had fallen, and she thought she would break
And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached
She took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait
She would only be a moment inside.

Out in the distance her order was heard
And the soldier was killed, still waiting for her word
And while the queen went on strangeling in the solitude she preferred
The battle continued on

 
Knight moves

Watch while the queen
In one false move
Turns herself into a pawn

Sleepy and shaken
And watching while the blury night
Turns into a very clear dawn

Do you love any, do you love none,
Do you love many, can you love one,
Do you love me?

Do you love any, do you love none,
Do you love many, can you love one,
Do you love me?

One false move
And a secret prophecy
Well, if you hold it against her,
First hold it up and see
That it's one side stone
One side fire
Standing alone among all men's desire
They want to know

Do you love any, do you love none,
Do you love many, can you love one,
Do you love me?

Do you love any, do you love none,
Do you love many, can you love one,
Do you love me?

And if you wonder
What I am doing
As I am heading
For the sink
I am spitting out all the bitterness
Along with half of my last drink
I am thinking
Of your woman
Who is crying in the hall
It's like drinking gasoline
To quench a thirst
Until there's nothing there left at all

Do you love any, do you love none,
Do you love many, can you love one,
Do you love me?

Do you love any, do you love none,
Do you love many, can you love one,
Do you love me?

"Walk on the blind side"?
Was the answer to the joke
It's said there isn't a political bone
In her body

She would rather be a riddle
But she keeps challenging the future
With a profound lack of history

Do you love any, do you love none,
Do you love many, can you love one,
Do you love me?

Do you love any, do you love none,
Do you love many, can you love one,
Do you love me?

And watch while the queen
In one false move
Turns herself into a pawn

Sleepy and shaken
And watching while the blury night
Turns into a very clear dawn

Do you love me? X5

Neighborhood girls

"We had our
Neighborhood girl, she
Used to hang out, in front of
McKinsey's Bar, and we were
Interested in her, and her
Clientele...
We just wonder where she's gone..."
"Oh she's gone?"
"Yes, she's gone, gone, gone."

"I think you know your
Neighborhood girl, she
Lives on my street, now, with
Eyes of ice
I've seen her in the morning, when she is
Walking in the sun
And I always thought that she
Looked kind of nice

She spoke to me once
At a party, I think
And I thought at the time
That she had had too much to drink, because she
Said to me, `There's a backbone gone
And I've got to get it back
Before going on...'

And your neighborhood girl
Seems to have resigned
She was looking out at people
From the back of her mind
And before she went off
She spoke to me again
She came up and said

`You have the eyes of a friend
And there's a razor's edge
That I have lost somewhere
And I would like it back
So if you've seen it anywhere...
I've been out for a while
But I'll be back in a bit
I am just walking through the smoke
Finding out if this is it
Because I've got this feeling
That things are going grey
And I'd like to hear a straight line
To help me find my way...'

I looked at her
And I did not know waht to say.
She had long black hair."

"Must be a different
Neighborhood girl, cause
Ours had blonde hair, in front of
McKinsey's Bar
And we were interested in her
And her
Clientele...
We just wonder where she's gone..."
"Oh she's gone?"
"Yes, she's gone, gone, gone."


Day of open hand

Tired of Sleeping

Oh Mom, the dreams are not so bad
It's just that there's so much to do
And I'm tired of sleeping

Oh Mom, the old man is telling me something
His eyes are wide and his mouth is thin
And I just can't hear what he's saying

Oh Mom, I wonder when I'll be waking
It's just that there's so much to do
And I'm tired of sleeping

Oh Mom, the kids are playing in pennies
They're up to their knees in money
And the dirt of the churchyard steps

Oh Mom, that man he ripped out his lining
He tore out a piece of his body
To show us his "clean quilted heart"

Oh Mom, I wonder when I'll be waking
It's just that there's so much to do
And I'm tired of sleeping

Oh Mom, the bird on the string is hanging
Her bones are twisting and dancing
She's fighting for her small life

Oh Mom, I wonder when I'll be waking
It's just that there's so much to do
And I'm tired of sleeping

Oh Mom, I wonder when I'll be waking
It's just that there's so much to do
And I'm tired of sleeping


Men in a War

Men in a war
If they've lost a limb
Still feel that limb
As they did before

He lay on a cot
He was drenched in a sweat
He was mute and staring
But feeling the thing
He had not

I know how it is
When something is gone
A piece of your eyesight
Or maybe your vision

A corner of sense
Goes blank on the screen
A piece of the scan
Gets filled in by hand

You know that it was
And now it is not
So you just make do with
Whatever you've got

Men in a war
If they've lost a limb
Still feel that limb
As they did before

If your nerve is cut
If you're kept on the stretch
You don't feel your will
You can't find your gut

And she lay on her back
She made sure she was hid
She was mute and staring
Not feeling the thing
That she did

I know how it is
When something is gone
A piece of your eyesight
Or maybe your vision


Rusted Pipe

Now the time has come to speak
I was not able
And water through a rusted pipe
Could make the sense that I do

Gurgle, mutter
Hiss, stutter
Moan the words like water
Rush and foam and choke

Having waited
This long of a winter
I fear I only
Croak and sigh

Somewhere deep within
Hear the creak
That lets the tale begin

Now the time has come to move
I was not able
Water through a rusted pipe
Could make the moves that I do

Stagger, stumble
Trip, fumble
I fear I only
Slip and slide

Somewhere deep within
Hear the creak
That lets the tale begin

Somewhere deep within
Hear the creak
That lets the tale begin


Book of Dreams

In my book of dreams X3

I took your urgent whisper
Stole the arc of a white wing
Rode like foam on the river of pity
Turned its tide to strength
Healed the hole that ripped in living

In my book of dreams X3

The spine is bound to last a life
Tough enough to take the pounding
Pages made of days of open hand

In my book of dreams X3

Number every page in silver
Underline in magic marker
Take the name of every prisoner
Yours is there my word of honor

I took your urgent whisper
Stole the arc of a white wing
Rode like foam on the river of pity
Healed the hole that ripped in living

In my book of dreams X3


Institution Green

Institution green
The walls are cracked and dim
And we are standing in a line
Waiting for our faces to be seen

Institution green
Watch the floor and cound the hours
None will meet my eyes
Private people in this public place

I wonder if they'll take a look
Find my name inside that book
Lose me on the printed page
Where to point the aimless rage

I cast my vote upon this earth
Take my place for what it's worth
Hunger for a pair of eyes
To notice and to regognize

Institution green
A woman stands behind a table
She will call my name
After that I'll be admitted in

I wonder if she'll take a look
Find my name inside that book
Lose me on the printed page
Where to point the aimless rage

I cast my vote upon this earth
Take my place for what it's worth
Hunger for a pair of eyes
To notice and to regognize

Institution green
Teach me how to pull the lever
Push the curtain closed
Take what's needed then just
Let me go


Those Whole Girls (Run In Grace)

Those whole girls
Hurl down words
Run in packs
With bloom to spare

They know health
Know it well
Skim the cream
And fill the brim

Drip with news
Spin intact
Blaze and stun
And feel no lack

Breathe with ease
Need no mercy
Move in light
Run in grace

Run in grace X3


Room Off the Street

Somewhere in a room
With a poster on a wall
Of a man with his hand
In a fist

Is a woman who's drinking
And her dress is so tight
You can see every breath
That she takes

Every sigh, every sway
You can hear everything that they say
Something's begun like a war
Or a family or a friendship
Or a fast love affair

The man on the wall
Is his symbol of freedom
It means he has brothers
Who believe as he does

She is moved by
The thing that she sees in his face
Whe he talks of
The cause

Every sigh, every sway
You can hear everything that they say
Something's begun like a war
Or a family or a friendship
Or a fast love affair

She leans against him
Her dress is so red
They talk of the salt
And the truth and the bread

The night goes along
The fan goes around
In the room off the street
At the end of the town

Every sigh, every sway
You can hear everything that they say
Something's begun like a war
Or a family or a friendship
Or a fast love affair


Big Space

He said you stand in your own shoes
I said I'd rather stand in someone else's
He said you look from your direction
I said I like to keep perspective

Close to the middle of the network
It seems we're looking for a center
What if it turns out to be hollow?
We could be fixing what is broken

Between the pen and the paperwork
There must be passion in the language
Between the muscle and the brain work
There must be feeling in the pipeline

Beyond the duty and the discipline
I know there's anger in a cold place
All feelings fall into the big space
Swept up like garbage on the week-end

Between the pen and the paperwork
There must be passion in the language
Between the muscle and the brain work
There must be feeling in the pipeline

All feeling
Falls into the big space
All feeling
Swept into the
Avenues of angles

Between the pen and the paperwork
I'm sure there's passion in the language
Between the muscle and the brain work
I know there's feeling in the pipeline


Predictions

Let's tell the future
Let's see how it's been done.
By numbers. By mirrors. By water.
By dots made at random on paper.

By salt. By dice.
By meal. By mice.
By dough of cakes.
By sacrificial fire.

By fountains. By fishes.
Writing in ashes.
Birds. Herbs.
Smoke from the altar.

A suspended ring or the mode of laughing
Pebbles drawn from a heap
One of these things
Will tell you something.

Let's tell the future
Let's see how it's been done.
By dreams. By the features. By letters.
By dropping hot was into water.

By nails reflecting the rays of the sun.
By waling in a circle.
By red hot iron.
By passages in books.
A balanced hatchet.

A suspended ring or the mode of laughing
Pebbles drawn from a heap
One of these things
Will tell you something.

Let's tell the future
Let's see how it's been done.
How it's been done.

Fifty-Fifty Chance

50-50 chance
The doctor said
In the cardiac room
As she's lying in bed

There's a pan on the floor
Filled with something black
I need to know
I'm afraid to ask

I hug you
I hum to you
I've come to you
I touch you

I tell you
I love you
I sing to you
Bring to you
Anything

Her little heart
It beats so fast
Her body trembles
With the effort to last

I hug you
I hum to you
I've come to you
I touch you

I tell you
I love you
I sing to you
Bring to you
Anything

She's going home
Tomorrow at ten
The question is
Will she try it again?


Pilgrimage

This line is burning
Turning to ash as it hits the air
Every step is a day in the week
It's a Sunday or Monday
A march over months of the year

This life is burning
Turning to ash as it hits the air
Every death is an end in the race
It's a stopping and starting
A march over millions of years

Travel. Arrival
Years of an inch and a step
Toward a source
I'm coming to you
I'll be there in time

This land is burning
Turning to ash as it hits the air
Every line is a place on a map
It's a city or valley
A mark on these miles of fields

Travel. Arrival
Years of an inch and a step
Toward a source
I'm coming to you
I'll be there in time

This line is burning
Turning to ash as it hits the air
Every step is a day in the week
It's a Wednesday or Thursday
A march over months of the year

Travel. Arrival
Years of an inch and a step
Toward a source
I'm coming to you
I'll be there in time

I'm coming to you
I'll be there in time

Take this
Mute mouth
Broken tongue.
Now this
Dark life
Is shot through with light

 

Solitude

Tom's diner

I am sitting
In the morning
At the diner
On the corner

I am waiting
At the counter
For the man
To pour the coffee

And he fills it
Only halfway
And before
I even argue

He is looking
Out the window
At somebody
Coming in

"It is always
Nice to see you"
Says the man
Behind the counter

To the woman
Who has come in
She is shaking
Her umbrella

And I look
The other way
As they are kissing
Their hellos

I'm pretending
Not to see them
Instead
I pour the milk

I open
Up the paper
There's a story
Of an actor

Who had died
While he was drinking
It was no one
I had heard of

And I'm turning
To the horoscope
And looking
For the funnies

When I'm feeling
Someone watching me
And so
I raise my head

There's a woman
On the outside
Looking inside
Does she see me?

No she does not
Really see me
Cause she sees
Her own reflection

And I'm trying
Not to notice
That she's hitching
Up her skirt

And while she's
Straightening her stockings
Her hair
Is getting wet

Oh, this rain
It will continue
Through the morning
As I'm listening

To the bells
Of the cathedral
I am thinking
Of your voice...

And of the midnight picnic
Once upon a time
Before the rain began...

I finish up my coffee
It's time to catch the train

Luka

My name is Luka
I live on the second floor
I live upstairs from you
Yes I think you've seen me before

If you hear something late at night
Some kind of trouble. some kind of fight
Just don't ask me what it was
Just don't ask me what it was
Just don't ask me what it was

I think it's because I'm clumsy
I try not to talk too loud
Maybe it's because I'm crazy
I try not to act too proud

They only hit until you cry
And after that you don't ask why
You just don't argue anymore
You just don't argue anymore
You just don't argue anymore

Yes I think I'm okay
I walked into the door again
Well, if you ask that's what I'll say
And it's not your business anyway
I guess I'd like to be alone
With nothing broken, nothing thrown

Just don't ask me how I am X3

Ironbound/Fancy poultry

In the ironbound section near Avenue L
where the Portuguese women come to see what you sell
the clouds so low the morning so slow
as the wires cut through the sky

The beams and bridges cut the light on the ground
into little triangles and the rails run round
through the rust and the heat
the light and sweet coffee color of her skin

Bound up in wire and fate
watching her walk him up to the gate
in front of the ironbound school yard.

Kids will grow like weeds on a fence
She says they look for the light they try to make sense.
They come up through the cracks
Like grass on the tracks
She touches him goodbye.

Steps off the curb and into the street
the blood and feathers near her feet
into the ironbound market

In the ironbound section near Avenue L
where the Portuguese women come to see what you sell
the clouds so low the morning so slow
as the wires cut through the sky

She stops at the stall
fingers the ring
opens her purse
feels a longing
away from the ironbound border

"Fancy poulty parts sold here.
Breasts and thighs and hearts.
Backs are cheap and wings are nearly free.
Nearly free"


In the eye

If you were to kill me now right here
I would still look you in the eye
And I would burn myself into your memory
as long as you were still alive

I would live inside of you
I'd make you wear me like a scar
And I would burn myself
into your memory
and run through everything you are

I would not run, I would not turn, I would not hide X2

In the eye

If you were to kill me now right here
I would still look you in the eye
And I would burn myself
into your memory
as long as you were still alive

I would not run, I would not turn, I would not hide X2

In the eye
Look me in the eye


Night vision

By day give thanks
By night beware
Half the world in sweetness
The other in fear

When the darkness takes you
With her hand across your face
Don't give in too quickly
Find the thing she's erased

Find the line, find the shape
Through the grain
Find the outline, things will
Tell you their name

The table. the guitar
The empty glass

All will blend together when
Daylight has passed

Find the line, find the shape
Through the grain
Find the outline, things will
Tell you their name

Now I watch you falling into sleep
Watch your fist curl against the sheet
Watch your lips fall open and your eyes dim
In blind faith

I would shelter you
Keep you in light
But I can only teach you
Night vision X3

Solitude standing

Solitude stands by the window
She turns her head as I walk in the room
I can see by her eyes she's been waiting
Standing in the slant of the late afternoon

And she turns to me with her hand extended
Her palm is split with a flower with a flame

Solitude stands in the doorway
And I'm struck once again by her black silhouette
By her long cool stare and her silence
I suddenly remember each time we've met

And she turns to me with her hand extended
Her palm is split with a flower with a flame

And she says "I've come to set a twisted thing straight"
And she says "I've come to lighten this dark heart"
And she takes my wrist, I feel her imprint of fear
And I say "I've never thought of finding you here"

I turn to the crowd as they're watching
They're sitting all together in the dark in the warm
I wanted to be in there among them
I see how their eyes are gathered into one

And then she turns to me with her hand extended
Her palm is split with a flower with a flame

And she says "I've come to set a twisted thing straight"
And she says"l've come to lighten this dark heart"
And she takes my wrist, I feel her imprint of fear
And I say "I've never thought of finding you here"

Solitude stands in the doorway
And I'm struck once again by her black silhouette
By her long cool stare and her silence
I suddenly remember each time we've met

And she turns to me with her hand extended
Her palm is split with a flower with a flame


Calypso

My name is Calypso
And I have lived alone
I live on an island
And I waken to the dawn
A long time ago
I watched him struggle with the sea
I knew that he was drowning
And I brought him into me
Now today
Come morning light
He sails away
After one last night
I let him go.

My name is Calypso
My garden overflows
Thick and wild and hidden
Is the sweetness there that grows
My hair it blows long
As I sing into the wind
My name is Calypso
And I have lived alone
I live on an island
I tell of nights
Where I could taste the salt on his skin

Salt of the waves
And of tears
And though he,pulled away
I kept him here for years
I let him go

My name is Calypso
I have let him go
In the dawn he sails away
To be gone forever more
And the waves will take him in again
But he'll know their ways now
I will stand upon the shore
With a clean heart

And my song in the wind
The sand will sting my feet
And the sky will burn
It's a lonely time ahead
I do not ask him to return
I let him go
I let him go

Language

If language were liquid
It would be rushing in
Instead here we are
In a silence more eloquent
Than any word could ever be

These words are too solid
They don't move fast enough
To catch the blur in the brain
That flies by and is gone
Gone
Gone
Gone

I'd like to meet you
In a timeless, placeless place
Somewhere out of context
And beyond all consequences

Let's go back to the building
(Words are too solid)
On Little West Twelfth
It is not far away
(They don't move fast enough)
And the river is there
And the sun and the spaces
Are all laying low
(To catch the blur in the brain)
And we'll sit in the silence
(That flies by and is)
That comes rushing in and is
Gone (Gone)

I won't use words again
They don't mean what I meant
They don't say what I said
They're just the crust of the meaning
With realms underneath
Never touched
Never stirred
Never even moved through

If language were liquid
It would be rushing in
Instead here we are
In a silence more eloquent
Than any word could ever be

And is gone
Gone
Gone
And is gone


Gypsy

You come from far away
With pictures in your eyes
Of coffeeshops and morning streets
In the blue and silent sunrise
But night is the cathedral
Where we recognized the sign
We strangers know each other now
As part of the whole design

Oh, hold me like a baby
That will not fall asleep
Curl me up inside you
And let me hear you through the heat

You are the jester of this courtyard
With a smile like a girl's
Distracted by the women
With the dimples and the curls
By the pretty and the mischievous
By the timid and the blessed
By the blowing skirts of ladies
Who promise to gather you to their breast

Oh, hold me like a baby...

You have hands of raining water
And that earring in your ear
The wisdom on your face
Denies the number of your years
With the fingers of the potter
And the laughing tale of the fool
The arranger of disorder
With your strange and simple rules
Yes now I've met me another spinner
Of strange and gauzy threads
With a long and slender body
And a bump upon the head

Oh, hold me like a baby...

With a long and slender body
And the sweetest softest hands
And we'll blow away forever soon
And go on to different lands
And please do not ever look for me
But with me you will stay
And you will hear yourself in song
Blowing by one day

Oh, hold me like a baby...

Wooden horse

I came out of the darkness
Holding one thing
A small white wooden horse
I'd been holding inside

And when I'm dead
If you could tell them this
That what was wood became alive
What was wood became alive

In the night the walls disappeared
In the day they returned
"I want to be a rider like my father"
Were the only words I could say

And when I'm dead
If you could tell them this
That what was wood became alive
What was wood became alive

Alive
And I fell under
A moving piece of sun
Freedom

I came out of the darkness
Holding one thing
I know I have a power
I am afraid I may be killed

But when I'm dead
If you could tell them this
That what was wood became alive
What was wood became alive
Alive


99.9F

Rock in this pocket

Excuse me
If I may
Turn your attention
My way
One moment
I won't plead
It isn't much
It's what I need

And what's so small to you
Is so large to me
If it's the last thing I do
I'll make you see

If you turn from me
You darken my sun
You snap that thin thread
I call my horizon
And I'd like to remind you
Of something small
That the rock in this pocket
Could cause your fall

And what's so small to you
Is so large to me
If it's the last thing I do
I'll make you see

So small to you
And so large to me
If its the last thing I do
I'll make you see

I might be out like a light
Extinguished in the throw
But I'll hit my mark
And you'll know
Because I'm really well acquainted
With the span of your brow
And if you didn't know me then
You'll know me now
You'll know me now

And what's so small to you
Is so large to me
If its the last thing I do
I'll make you see

So small to you
And so large to me
If it's the last thing I do
I'll make you see
Make you see
Make you see

Blood makes noise

I'd like to help you doctor
Yes I really really would
But the din in my head
It's too much and it's no good
I'm standing in a windy tunnel
Shouting through the roar
And I'd like to give the information
You're asking for

But blood makes noise
It's a ringing in my ear
Blood makes noise
And I can't really hear you
In the thickening of fear

I think that you might want to know
The details and the facts
But there's something in my blood
Denies the memory of the acts
So just forget it Doc.
I think it's really
Cool that you're concerned
But we'll have to try again
After the silence has returned

Cause blood makes noise
It's a ringing in my ear
Blood makes noise
And I can't really hear you
In the thickening of fear

Blood makes noise...


In liverpool

In Liverpool
On Sunday
No traffic
On the avenue
The light is pale and thin
Like you
No sound, down
In this part of town
Except for the boy in the belfry
He's crazy, he's throwing himself
Down from the top of the tower
Like a hunchback in heaven
He's ringing the bells in the church
For the last half an hour
He sounds like he's missing something
Or someone that he knows he can't
Have now and if he isn't
I certainly am

Homesick for a clock
That told the same time
sometimes you made no sense to me
if you lie on the ground
in somebody's arms
you'll probably swallow some of their history

And the boy in the belfry
He's crazy, he's throwing himself
Down from the top of the tower
Like a hunchback in heaven
He's ringing the bells in the church
For the last half an hour
He sounds like he's missing something
Or someone that he knows he can't
Have now and if he isn't
I certainly am

I'll be the girl who sings for my supper
You'll be the monk whose forehead is high
He'll be the man who's already working
Spreading a memory all through the sky

In Liverpool
On Sunday
No reason to even remember you now

Except for the boy in the belfry
He's crazy, he's throwing himself
Down from the top of the tower
Like a hunchback in heaven
He's ringing the bells in the church
For the last half an hour
He sounds like he's missing something
Or someone that he knows he can't
Have now and if he isn't
I certainly am

In Liverpool X2


99.9F

99.9 Fahrenheit degrees
Stable now, with rising possibilities
It could be normal but it isn't quite
Could make you want to stay awake at night

You seem to me
Like a man
0n the verge of burning
99.9 Fahrenheit degrees

Pale as a candle
And your face is hot
And if I touch you
I might get what you've got

You seem to me
Like a man
On the verge of running
99.9 Fahrenheit degrees

Something cool
Against the skin
Is what you could be
Something cool
Against the skin
Is what you
Could be needing

99.9 Fahrenheit degrees

You seem to me
Like a man
On the verge of burning
99.9 Fahrenheit degrees

Something cool
Against the skin
Is what you could be
Something cool
Against your skin
Is what you
Could be needing

99.9 Fahrenheit degrees X2

Blood sings

When blood sees blood
Of its own
It sings to see itself again
It sings to hear the voice it's known
It sings to recognize the face

One body split and passed along the line
From the shoulder to the hip
I know these bones as being mine
And the curving of the lip

And my question to you is:
How did this come to pass?
How did this one life fall so far and fast?

Some are lean and some with grace, and some without;
All tell the story that repeats
Of a child who had been left alone at birth
Left to fend and taught to fight

See his eyes and how they start with light
Getting colder as the pictures go
Did he carry his bad luck upon his back?
That bad luck we've all come to know

And my question to you is:
How did this come to pass?
How did this one life fall so far and fast?

When blood sees blood
Of its own
It sings to see itself again


Fat man & dancing girl

I stand in a wide flat land
No shadow or shade of a doubt
Whore the megaphone man
Met the girl with her hand that's
Covering most of her mouth

Fall in love with a bright idea
And the way a world is revealed to you
Fat man and dancing girl
And most of the show is concealed from view

Monkey in the middle
Keeps singing that tune
I don't want to hear it
Get rid of it soon

MC on the stage tonight
Is a man named Billy Purl
He's The International Fun Boy
And he knows the worth of beautiful girl

Stand on the tightrope
Never dreamed I would fall

Monkey in the middle
Keeps doing that trick
It's making me nervous
Get rid of it quick

I stand in a wide flat land
No shadow or shade of a doubt
Where the megaphone man
Met the girl with her hand
That's covering most of her mouth

Does she tell the truth?
Does she hide the lie?
Does she say it so no one can know?
Fat man and the dancing girl
And it's all part of the show

Stand on the tightrope
Never dreamed I could fall

Monkey in the middle
Keeps singing that tune
I don't want to hear it
Get rid of it soon

Monkey in the middle
Keeps doing that trick
It's making me nervous
Get rid of it quick


( If you were ) in my movie

If you were in my movie
I'd have you as the doctor
Small black bag
And a big black coat

I'd have you make a house call
To the woman
You could lay your
Diagnostic hand
Upon her belly and her throat

If you were in my movie
You could be the detective
You could sit behind the desk
With a question on your lip

Examine her for motive
Investigate the scene
In the ever present danger
Keep the holster at your hip

If you were in my movie
If you were in my movie
If you were in my movie

If you were in my movie
You could be the priest
Long black frock
White collar at the neck

You could come to the confession
You could give a girl a thrill
You could save her from her passion
Keep her body in check

If you were in my movie
If you were in my movie
If you were in my movie

If you were in my movie
You could be the gangster
Double-breasted pinstriped
Man with the cigarette

Go running down the alley
With a double-crossing blond
Explaining to the jury
That you hadn't done anything yet

If you were in my movie...


As a child

As a child
You have a doll
You see this doll
Sitting in her chair

You watch her face
Her knees apart
Her eyes of glass
In a secretive stare

She seems to X3
Have a life

Pick up a stick
Dig up a crack
Dirt in the street
Becomes a town

All of the people
Depend on you
Not to hurt them
Or bang the stick comes down

And they seem to
They seem to X2
Have a life

As a child
You see yourself
And wonder why
You can't seem to move

Hand on the doorknob
Feel like a thing
One foot on the sidewalk
Too much to prove

And you learn to
You learn to X2
Have a life


Bad wisdom

Mother the doctor knows something is wrong
Cause my body has strange information
He's looked in my eyes and knows I'm not a child
But he doesn't dare ask the right question

Mother my friends are no longer my friends
And the games we once played have no meaning
I've gone serious and shy and they can't figure why
So they've left me to my own daydreaming

What price to pay
For bad wisdom
What price to pay
For bad wisdom
Too young to know
Too much too soon
Bad wisdom X2

Mother you've taught me the laws are so fine
If I'm good that I will be protected
I've fallen through the crack and there's no getting back
And I'll never trust whoever gets elected

Mother your eyes have gone suddenly cold
And it wasn't what I was expecting
Once I did think that I'd find comfort there
And instead you've gone hard and suspecting

What price to pay
For bad wisdom
What price to pay
For bad wisdom
Too young to know
Too much too soon
Bad wisdom X2

Mother I'm cut at the root like a weed
Cause there's no one to hear my small story
Just like a woman who walks in the street
I will pay for my life with my body

What price to pay
For bad wisdom
What price to pay
For bad wisdom
Too young to know
Too much too soon
Bad wisdom X2


When heroes go down

When heroes go down
They go down fast
So don't expect any time to
Equivocate the past

When heroes go down
They land in flame
So don't expect any slow and careful
Settling of blame

I heard you say
You look out for the feet of clay
That someone will be falling next
Without the chance
For last respects
You feel the disappointment

When heroes go down
Man or woman revealed
You can't expect any kind of mercy
On the battlefield

I heard you say
You look out for the feet of clay
That someone will be falling next
Without the chance for last respects
You feel the disappointment

When heroes go down
Man or woman revealed
Do you show any kind of mercy
On the battlefield?

When heroes go down X3

As girls go

You make a really good girl
As girls go
Still kind of look like a guy
I never thought to wonder why

If I could pull this off
Would I know for certain
The real situation
Behind the curtain

So beautiful
damsel in distress
Not exactly natural
Stunning none the less

What happened to you?
To make you more girl than girls are
Would you ever show or tell
Cause you're so good so far

You make a really good girl
As girls go X5

Let's chronicle
The dark side of the life
Did you ever keep the date
With the steel side of the knife

Doesn't matter to me
Which side of the line
You happen to be
At any given time

You make a really good girl
As girls go X5

Song of sand

If sand waves were sound waves
What song would be in the air now
What stinging tune
Could split this endless noon
And make the sky swell with rain

If war were a game that a man or a child
Could think of winning
What kind of rule
Can overthrow a fool
And leave the land with no stain.


Nine objects of desire

Birth-day ( Love made real )

one thing I know
this pain will go

step through all that's left to feel
I wait to meet my love made real

don't move don't touch
don't talk so much

strip and find the place to kneel
I wait to meet my love made real

one thing I know

this day will go

don't touch don't talk crawl the wall
she's the ticket to the future don't listen down the hall
you can say your prayer to the head of this bed
when it begins at your knees and goes right to your head

birth-day

strap me down from wrist to heel
I wait to meet my love made real

one thing I know
this day will go

shake all over like an old sick dog
there's a needle here needle there tremble in the fog
it's a tight squeeze vice grip ice and fire
she's a hot little treasure and the wave goes higher

birth-day X2

Headshots

The sign said "Headshots"
And that was all,
A picture of a boy
And a number you could call,
Two eyes in the shade
A mouth so sad and small,
It's strange the way a shadow
Can fall across the wall,
And make the difference
In what you see
Ah...

He's just a poster, but
He's everywhere,
A face under a street lamp
Ripped and hanging in the air,
Turn the corner
And he's still there,
Watching all the people
Who are passing unaware,
Is there a judgement
In what he sees?
Ah...

On a day
As cold
And gray
As today...

The sign says "Headshots"
It's all I see,
A boy becomes a picture
Of guilt and sympathy,
And so I think of you
In memory
Of the days we were together,
And I knew that you loved me
That was the difference
In what we see,
But that's history...
Ah...

Caramel

It won't do
to dream of caramel,
to think of cinnamon
and long for you.

It won't do
to stir a deep desire,
to fan a hidden fire
that can never burn true.

I know your name,
I know your skin,
I know the way
these things begin;

But I don't know
how I would live with myself,
what I'd forgive of myself
if you don't go.

So goodbye,
sweet appetite,
no single bite
could satisfy...

I know your name,
I know your skin,
I know the way
these things begin;

But I don't know
what I would give of myself,
how I would live with myself
if you don't go.

It won't do
to dream of caramel,
to think of cinnamon
and long
for you.

Stockings

I don't care for tights, she says
and does not tell me why
She hikes her skirt above her knee
revealing one brown thigh

I see, I say, and wonder at
her slender little fingers
How cleverly they pull upon
the threads of recent slumbers

Do you know where friendship ends
and passion does begin?
It's between the binding of
her stockings and her skin.
(oh yeah)

She stayed up so late I thought
she'd ask me to go dance
But something in the way she laughed
told me I had no chance

The fiction in her family
was that she was never nice
I'd say she was very
I just did not see the price

Do you know where friendship ends
and passion does begin?
When the gin and tonic
makes the room begin to spin.
(oh yeah)

There may be attraction here
but it will never flower
So I'm assigned to read her mind, now
in this witching hour

Here's no game for those who claim
to be easily bruised
But how can I complain
when she's so easily amused?

Do you know where friendship ends
and passion does begin?
(When she does not show you
the way out on the way in) --
It's between the binding
of her stockings and her skin.
(oh yeah)

Casual match

I only turned to see
What hand had set this inner field alight
Against the flame I see
The outline of a man against a night

Take back your sympathy
I do not need to drink that bitter stuff
I'd rather break the thread
That bound us close, and say we called a bluff

A casual match
In a very dry field
What could be
The season's yield?

My eyes have gone to coal
It's nothing I would be concerned about
Observe the moment
When the heat of love becomes the chill of doubt

A casual match
In a very dry field
Fire and ash
Is the season's yield

We look for a sign
But it is not revealed
Fire and ash is the
Season's yield

Thin man

He is not my friend, but he is with me
Like a shadow is with a foot that falls
His hand is on my back when I step from the sidewalk
Or when I'm walking down these darkened halls

He's the Thin Man
With a date for me
To arrive at some point
I don't know when it will be

I can feel his eyes when I don't expect him
In the back seat of a taxi down Vestry Street
His arm is around my waist and he pulls me down to him
He whispers things into my ear that sound so sweet

He's the Thin Man
With a date for me
To arrive at some point
I don't know when it will be

He is not my friend, but he is with me
And he promises a peace I never knew
I cannot give in, no, I must refuse him
But could I really be the one to resist that kiss so true

He's the Thin Man
With a date for me
To arrive at some point
I don't know when it will be

No cheap thrill

Ante up. And don't be shy.
Who is that man who is catching my eye?
What's underneath all of the deadpan face?
Sitting so pretty with a criminal grace?

Lamebrain Pete wants to Spit in the Sea.
He's got a cool hand but it isn't for me.
Butcher Boy thinks he'll be splitting the pot.
But I've seen what he's got and it isn't a lot.

(When deuces are wild you can follow the queen.
I'd go too except I know where she's been.)

I'll see you, I'll call you, I'll raise you
But it's no cheap thrill
It will cost you, cost you, cost you
Anything you have to pay.

I limit the straddles, and you shuffle and deal.
When will the dealer reveal how he feels?
Is the lucky beginner just a five-card stud?
Is this winning streak going to be nipped in the bud?

I'll see you, I'll call you, I'll raise you
But it's no cheap thrill
It will cost you, cost you, cost you
Anything you have to pay.

I'll match you, I'll bet you, I'll play you,
But it's no cheap thrill
It will cost you, cost you, cost you
Anything you have to pay.

World before columbus

If your love were taken from me
Every color would be black and white
It would be as flat as the world before Columbus
That's the day that I lose half my sight

If your life were taken from me
All the trees would freeze in this cold ground
It would be as cruel as the world before Columbus
Sail to the edge and I'd be there looking down

Those men who lust for land
And for riches strange and new
Who love those trinkets of desire
Oh they never will have you

And they'll never know the gold
Or the copper in your hair
How could they weigh the worth
Of you so rare

If your love were taken from me
Every light that's bright would soon go dim
It would be as dark as the world before Columbus
Down the waterfall and I'd swim over the brim

Those men who lust for land
And for riches strange and new
Who love those trinkets of desire
Oh they will never have you

And they'll never know the gold
Or the copper in your hair
How could they weigh the worth
Of you so rare

Lolita

Lolita
Almost grown
Lolita
Go on home

Hey girl
Don't be a dog all your life
Don't beg for
Some little crumb of affection

Don't try
To be somebody's wife
So young
You need a word of protection

Lolita
Almost grown
Lolita
Go on home

Hey girl
I've been where you are standing
Leaning in the doorway
In your mother's black dress

So hungry
For the one understanding
Looking for a token of
Blood or tenderness

Lolita
Almost grown
Lolita
Go on home

Lolita...

Honeymoon Suite

the ceiling had a painting on it
in our room in France
so we were living underneath
some angels in a dance

my husband was not feeling well
and so we went to bed
he woke up complaining
of an aching in his head

he said a hundred people
had come through our room that night
that one by one the old and young
asked if he was all right

one by one the old and young
lined up to touch his hand
he spent the night explaining
they had come to the wrong man

the concierge was less than helpful
when we asked her the next day
with coffee and a magazine
we went to the desk to pay

"what happened in that room?" he asked
"a death or something strange?"
she smiled at him politely
and returned to him his change

well, what I'd like to know
and this will be a mystery,
is with all the people in that room
why none appeared to me?

when we sleep so close together that
our hair becomes entwined
I must have missed that moment
in the gateway to his mind

Tombstone

I like a tombstone cause it
weathers well
and if it stands or if it crumbles
only time will tell

if you carve my name in marble
you must cut it deep
there'll be no dancing on the gravestone
you must let me sleep
and time is burning burning burning
it burns away

I don't need to see the gates of
famous men
but I do try to see the kingdom
every now and then

if you ask me where it is it's on a
humble map
and I know that to enter in the doorway
show your handicap
and time is burning burning burning
it burns away

My favorite plum

My favorite plum
hangs so far from me
See how it sleeps
and hear how it calls to me
See how the flesh
presses the skin,
It must be bursting
with secrets within,
I've seen the rest, yes
and that is the one for me

See how it shines
it will be so sweet
I've been so dry
it would make my heart complete
See how it lays
languid and slow
Never noticing
me here below
I've seen the best, yes
and that is the one for me

Maybe a girl will take it
Maybe a boy will steal it
Maybe a shake of the bough
will wake it and make it fall

My favorite plum
lies in wait for me
I'll be right here
longing endlessly
You'll say that I'm
foolish to trust
But it will be mine
and I know that it must
cause I've had the rest, yes
and that is the one for me
I've seen the best, yes
and that is the one for me


Songs in red and gray

Penitent

Once I stood alone so proud
held myself above the crowd
now i am low on the ground.

From here i look around to see
what avenues belong to me
I can't tell what ive found.

Now what would You have me do
i ask you please?
I wait to hear.

The mother, and the matador,
the mystic, all were here before,
like me, to stare You down.

You appear without a face,
disappear, but leave your trace,
i feel your unseen frown.

Now what would you have me do
I ask you please?
i wait to hear
your voice,
the word,
you say.
i wait to see your sign
would i 
obey?

I look for you in heathered moor,
the desert, and the ocean floor
how low does one heart go.

looking for your fingerprints
i find them in coincidence,
and make my faith to grow.

Forgive me all my blindnesses
my weakness and unkindnesses
as yet unbending still.

struggling so hard to see
my fist against eternity
and will you break my will?

Now what would you have me do
i ask you please?
i wait to hear
your voice,
the word
you say
i wait 
to see your sign 
could i 
obey?

for all new album lyrics ***

Widow's walk

Consider me a widow, boys
and I will tell you why.
It's not the man, but it's the marriage
that was drowned.

So I walk the walk
and wait with watchful eye out to the sky,
Looking for a kind of vessel
I have never found.

Though I saw it splinter
I keep looking out to sea,
Like a dog with little sense,
I keep returning,

To the very area where 
I did see the thing go down
as if there's something at the site 
I should be learning.

That line is the horizon.
We watch the wind and set the sail,
but save ourselves when all omens
point to fail.

If I tell the truth
then I will have to tell you this
Though I grieve (and I believe
i feel it truly)

But I knew that ship was empty 
by the time it hit the rocks,
we could not hold on
when fate became unruly.

So consider me a widow, boys, 
and I have told you why.
Does the weather say 
a better day is nearing?

I'll set my house in order now
and wait upon the Will
It's clear that I need 
better skill in steering...

That line is the horizon.
We watch the wind and set the sail,
But save ourselves when all omens
point to fail.

(I'll never be) your Maggie May

I'll never be your Maggie May
the one you loved and left behind
the face you see in light of day
and then you cast away
that isn't me in that bed you'll find

I'd rather take myself away
be like those ladies in Japan
rather paint myself a face
conjure up some grace
or be the eyes behind a fan

And so you go
no girl could say no
to you

There's the way we may appear
but that will change from day to night
would you ever see within?
underneath the skin?
could I believe you had that sight?

And so you go
no girl could say no
to you

I'll never be your Maggie May
the one you loved and then forgot
I'll love you first and let you go
because it must be so
and you'll forgive or you will not

And so a woman leaves a man
and so a world turns on it's end
so I'll see your face in dreams
where nothing's what it seems
you still appear some kind of friend

And so you go
no girl could say no 
to you

It makes me wonder

The virgin mary on a chain
has hit me in the mouth again
as we explore the carnal score
of sacred and profane

Sulky boy won't drink his milk 
mothers breast beneath the silk
remains untouched it's way too much
reject all of that ilk

I have to say it makes me wonder
if you are holding me
to the same blue flame that you are under
i feel you scolding me

Your virgin mary's in the way
hallucinate her face by day
obscure the view in front of you
it's me here made of clay

You're playing near that line so thin,
austerity? or just give in
to endless appetite,
embrace that white oblivion?

I have to say it makes me wonder
if you are holding me
to the same blue flame that you are under
i feel you scolding me

And why so high the expectation?
who could live up to this?
well, there's no time now for explanation
cold as an angel's kiss

I have to say it makes me wonder
if you were holding me
to that cold blue flame that you are under
when you were holding me

Soap and Water

Soap and water
take the day from my hand
scrub the salt from my stinging skin
slip me loose of this wedding band

Soap and water
hang my heart on the line
scour it down in a wind of sand
bleach it clean to a vinegar shine

Daddy's a dark riddle
Mama's a headful of bees
you are my little kite
carried away in the wayward breeze

Soap and water
wash the year from my life
straighten all that we trampled and tore
heal the cut we call husband and wife

Daddy's a dark riddle
Mama's a handful of thorns
you are my little kite
caught up again in the household storms

Daddy's a dark riddle
Mama's a headful of bees
you are my little kite
carried away in the wayward breeze

Song in Red and Grey

The reproach in your daughter's most beautiful face
made me wonder just how she could know
of that something that happened between you and me
so much more than a long time ago

Her mother, I can see, lives within her still
cause she looked at me with her eyes
though I had only just met her right then
I feel that she peeled back my guilty disguise

Did i break the thread, or did you break the thread?
well at this point we could ask who cares
as for the promises broken and frayed
it's 19 years late for repairs

The grey pewter vase held the deep red rose,
one piece of coral shone white,
by the brass candlestick near your red velvet coat,
is everything I can recall of one night

Will you please tell me why I remember these things
after all of this time, I don't know
i must have left all those feelings inside 
cause that year I had no courage to show

Was i the name you could never pronounce?
or did i even figure at all?
all of this happened before she was born
did i shadow her young pencil marks on the wall

Still i am sure i was only but one
of a number who darkened that door
of your home and your hearth and your family and wife
who'd been darkened so often before

Oh, the red leaf looks to the hard gray stone
to each other, they know what they mean
somewhere, their future is still yet to come 
in ways that are yet as of now unforeseen

Last year's troubles

Last year's troubles are so old fashioned
the robber on the highway the pirate on the seas
maybe it's the clothing that's so entertaining
the earrings and swashbuckling blouses that please

here we have heroes of times that have passed now
but nobody these days has that kind of chin
over there the petticoats of ladies of virtue
you can hardly tell them from the petticoats of sin 

last year's troubles

look at all the waifs of Dickensian England
why is it their suffering is more picturesque?
must be cause their rags are so very Victorian
the ones here at home just don't give it their best

last years troubles they shine up so pretty
they gleam with a luster they don't have today
here it's just dirty and violent and troubling

last year's troubles 

but trouble is still trouble and evil still evil
sometimes we wonder; is there more now, or less?
if we had a tool or could tally the handfuls
measure for measure it's the same would be my guess

Priscilla

She'd come to my house
and dance in the hall
with the music up loud
against the light on the wall

I danced beside her
feeling no shame
we were in costume
and this was a game

She'd put on her skirt
of layers of chiffon
the top of the umbrella had come off
so I put that on

We'd dance together then
an awkward ballet
she was 20 years older than I was
but still we did play

She was 20 years older than me
and many times my size
but it's her little feet I remember
and the look in her eyes

Once when I saw her
she made me a doll
of ribbon and paper and ink
and lace, I recall

I danced beside her
feeling no shame
we were in costume
and this was a game

I think of her now I'm older
I still love to dance
something will shine through the body
if you give it a chance

If i were a weapon

If I were a weapon
you said I'd be a gun
lethal at close range i guess
with silencer and stun

but I feel more like a needle
always pulling on the thread
always making the same point again 
and wondering if you heard what I just said

if you were a weapon
a hammer's what you'd be
blunt and heavy at the end
and coming down on me

but i've concealed a weapon 
in a pocket knife attack
all folded up inside until you see the shine
and then you'll want it back

oooh
if I were a weapon
you said i'd be a gun
lethal at close range I guess
w silencer and stun

well, if I am that weapon
I am pointing now at you
so just put down the hostage and we'll
talk it down until we see this through

Harbor song

i dreamed you were a rich man
and that i had no place to go
i came to you to see if you would take me in
through golden curtains you told me you'd let me know.

well, you drink for ten and you smoke for twenty
and your fickle heart will never be true
but still i feel the wind in from the harbor
thats when i know the longing for you 
when i know the old longing for you.

i saw you in my mind's eye
you were laid out on your final day
i stood in line to see that handsome face once more
it had been so dear to me, and i kissed you as you lay
you were so dear, i kissed you as you lay.

now, whenever i do travel
if to portugal, england, or spain
as i do walk by the shipyards and the harbors
i smell the salt, and the bay rum of your ghost again
i know the salt, and the bay rum, you beside me again.

Machine ballerina

Am I an afternoon's pastime?
a thing on a string
to be thrown and retrieved
like a phone call received
on somebody's birthday
to tease and delight
and then say goodnight
and then just say goodbye?

Am I a toy on a tray ?
a soft piece of clay
queen or clown for the day
machine ballerina
soldier of tin
standing so loyal
while you sit so royal
then I'm put away?

For your approval,
perusal,
and your possible
refusal,
I'm amusing,
I'm a puppet for your play.

Am I your Mad Magazine?
skin trampoline
pin-up pinball machine
your fantasy girl
of puzzling parts
but none fits or starts
we match wits but not hearts
I'm heard but never seen?

For your approval,
perusal,
and your possible
refusal,
I'm amusing,
I'm a puppet for your play.

Solitaire

Black on the red and the red on the black.
It's a tic of a tired mind.
Come and sit down, won't you try your luck.
See if you unwind.

Never use your threes and twos.
Follow superstition.
Otherwise you are going to lose.
Compulsion makes you listen.

Take what's wrong, and make it go right.
Weave it like a prayer.
Wonder if you you'll spend the night?
Playing solitaire?

Do it again, when you find you're all done.
Like an idiot savant.
Shuffle up your luck. You see, you almost won.
Now wrestle down what you want.

Jack on the Queen, and the ten on the Jack.
It's a happy repetition.
You and your fate in a kind of check-mate.
And you are your only competition.

Take what's wrong, and make it go right.
Weave it like a prayer.
Wonder if you you'll spend the night?
Playing solitaire?

St. Clare

call on that saint 
and the candle that burns
keeping her safe
until her return

plaster and paint
holding the fire
a poor woman's saint
holding all man's desire

bold little bird
fly away home
could I but ride herd
on the wind and the foam

all of the souls 
that curl by the fire
they never know
all man's desire

watercress clings
to the banks of the stream
in the first grip of spring
when the snow melts to green

barefoot and cold
and holding a lyre
by the side of the road
holding all man's desire

call on the saint
when the white candle burns
keeping her safe 
until her return


Woman On The Tier (I'll See You Through)

( Dead Man Walking Soundtrack )

Too hot. No air.
Loud fan and a big tin can.
Wait here. Steer clear.
They've gone to get your man.

10 AM.
Through gate 3 with picture ID.
This old billfold
Experiences security.

I hear the click. These men are hard.
I'll see your face through bar and guard.
You're new to me. I'm new to you.
I see your fate. I'll see you
You through.

Ice within.
And it's all cement in the government.
Approved? Then move
To the plywood booth where the prisoner's sent.

You read in red
The letters on the door and you know what they're for.
You feel unreal.
And the rattling chain's coming over the floor.

I hear the clock. These walls are green.
I see your face through tin and screen.
You're new to me. I'm new to you.
I see your fate. I'll see you
You through.

Too hot. No air.
Loud fan and a big tin can.
Wait here. Steer clear.
They've gone to get your man.