Down Easy - 2000 - Timebird Stolen thing Dear carolyne Look, luck Badlands Strange companion Six prayers, no. 1 Shoeshine man Dandelion hills Tarbaby Aren't captives Angelyne I'm sad too Down easy

Boots - 2002 - Boots Prettiness My insomnia Climb Happiness Tinkerbell Stolen thing Look, luck Julia Wild blue & yonder Don't stop crying In memoriam Anna lisa (hidden track) Mp3 Clip

The world is bound by secret knots - 2003 - Riverwide Juniper Tower Black Madonna Garden Is the spirit here Midsummer night’s dream Feral Simple song Wings again Lilies Doll comes to life In the dark Oktober 29th

*** Don't forget to check the official site AND to buy her great records here ***

Down Easy

Timebird

A kid I know got frozen
Making angels in the snow
They pulled her out and burried her
As if she'd died in prayer
The funeral was fitting
There was nobody there
Now if teacher's burned your walking shoes
Then barefoot you must go

Oh when the timebird's landed
When the timebird comes
Baby put away your sorrows
Put away your sums
They will just be white lies
Out where the timebird flies

If I could only whisper
I would pinch my voice and sing
Just to blow it like a kettle
As it slowly burns to clay
I dreamed a black-eyed dog who tried
To eat my heart away
Now the window softly shimmers
At the rattlin' of a wing

Oh when the timebird's landed
When the timebird's here
Baby put away your angry eyes
Sistern every tear
They will just be fireflies
Out where the timebird flies

There may only be seconds
I'm counting back from ten
So call old mister taxidy
To make of me a cast
And keep it out of the light of the sun
To be sure that it will last
And you can do with it just as you wish
It will not fit again

Oh when the timebird's landed
When the timebird's here
Baby put away your angry eyes
Put away your fear
There will be a sunrise
Out in timebird skies

Stolen thing

Where in the hell is big blue eyes
Where’s your virginity
By the side of the freeway
I lost it recently
Oh it didn’t take so long
Oh it didn’t take so long
Oh it didn’t take so long
I am a stolen thing

I have a dream of big blue eyes
In my hands is a genie
You know he wouldn’t ever want to surprise no one
Singing, "little girl little girl set me free"
Oh, I know what he means
Oh, I know what he means
Oh, I know what he means
I am a stolen thing

Never cry in the pouring rain
Never lie to a pirate king
He will beat you at your game
Everything will scream and sing
Oh you make it get so good
Oh you make me get so mean
Oh you make me get so good
I am a stolen thing

By the rumble of the roaring rain
By the holes that it drills in me
I was naked as a blue jay
By the side of the freeway
Oh, I was dancin’ slow
Oh, I was dancin’ free
Oh, I was dancin’ slow
And this is the dance of the stolen thing

Dear carolyne

Can't you just see
Flies' eye mirrors and bull's eye red
Can't you just taste
Blue brain juice from a tikki head
"there's money in the desert
We'll be lithe and sly
And make it groove our way
I like the desert"
I heard dear carolyne say

And don't you just dream down easy
As a "for you baby, first time's free"
And don't it just seem
Like your wheel of fortune rolled over me
There's somethin bout the desert
It don't speak english but we understand
Somethin bout the desert
From the car's front seat
You squeezed my hand

Dear carolyne

You are sour cream in a rubber dress
A wet dream in a newfound mess
You're a day come apart
In the sky's messy open heart
There's black holes in the desert
Where the slickbacks pay in cash
And trash the place
Black holes in the desert
Looking out from carolyne's face

Dear carolyne

Waited forever
I come back alone
I pull the lever
Like carolyne showed
Pioneer casino in reno nevada
Where a couple of kids like us
Could make our fortunes in an hour

Dear carolyne

Look, luck

I am out of change
Terrible and strange
Under a fake blue sky

You’re spinning out of sight
I been up all night
And every road leads here

Look luck
Do not disappear
I can almost hear you trying
But luck
Do not disappear
You’re the only one that’s left to

Love so much love
You can’t pay in love
Talk to the big machine

Please I pawned my ring
I bet everything
In hope of a little

Luck
Do not disappear
I can almost hear you trying
But luck
Do not disappear
You’re the only one that’s left to love

Badlands

I was drivin
Through the badlands
A woman screaming
Cause she stuck in the radio
(my heart will go on)
He was a biker
That's what he told me
"where's your bike then?"
"well, I burried the pieces
Oily steel and bone"
I aint hip on ditchin
A stranger stranded at the lip of alone

Liquid night
There's a moon in my soup
Liquid night
They hang you up against the sky

You are a feather
I made a wish once
You are a bluebird
I am blue
I just wanna get next to you

Liquid night
There's a moon in my soup
Liquid night
They hang you up against the sky
Liquid night
I'm afraid of what I read
Liquid night
And everyone's afraid of me

Thirsty gazer
Fraidy stare
Father empty
Are you there?
Now you see me
Now you shout
The de the de the de the de the de
The devil let me out

Liquid night
There's a moon in my soup
Liquid night
They hang you up against the sky
Liquid night
I'm afraid of what I read
Liquid night
And everyone's afraid of me

(to the microtonal weeping of a violin,
She goes loping, lonely, into the dark,
Bemoaning hercursed wretched state)
It aint a houseguest
More like hotel
And I have lived there
And I have lived well
The wind gets high and the fog gets low
There are days when the dogs know

Liquid night
There's a moon in my soup
Liquid night
They hang you up against the sky
Liquid night
I'm afraid of what I read
Liquid night
And everyone's afraid of me

Strange companion

They beat him til he broke in two
Bit harder than they meant
No driver but the aching world
It falls and loves descent

Trees on tiptoe looking up
A million eyes a blinking hill
No clutching hand to turn me on
No foot to force my thrill

They beat him til he broke in two
And half of him they locked in me
I didn’t see which half it was
They neutralled me and set me free

Does unattached a head still dream?
Do legs still ramble on?
The sun appears the forest screams
It is a flash and then is gone
Oh my strange companion
Oh my strange companion

And nature comes to welcome us
With tiny jaws and little grins
(I didn't know she's everywhere
I'd never ever seen her win)

We’ll cry you and I, be together til we die
It’s great just you wait, listen to the freeway
One year, maybe dear, somebody will find us here
But now, funny how nature has her way with me

Does unattached a head still dream?
Do legs still ramble on?
The sun appears the forest screams
It is a flash and then is gone
Oh my strange companion
Oh my strange companion

Pirates by the roadside
But they don’t want me
Pirates by the roadside
To set the metal free

Six prayers, no. 1

The melody of this song is based on fragments of a melody from ancient Ugarit.
The melody was written in an ancient form of notation on a slab of stone.
Many of the words were rubbed out, but it is believed to be a prayer to a sun god.

In the falling of the evening
Comes the fortune teller eating and consumed
When the folds of her dark flesh are all I see
Keep your big red eye on me
Keep your big red eye on me

Brushed your teeth up silver white as stars and knives
Patched your stockings up with
Oriental rugs and brothel silk
Someone told me "traveler, you'll go far"
I'll go with you if I may
I'll go with you if I may

Shadows don't believe in window panes
Entering and leaving as they please
Now your laughter rattles like fifty wrong keys
At how I think that every knock's for me
Come to take me home
Come to take me home

Shoeshine man

Who's that spankin' up the
Weather of the afternoon?
Exterminater for the legions of the
Cockroaches of gloom
Mister ears hang low
I'm barkin' at you

It gets scary in the morning
When the silver night has flown
We make merry in the gutter
Where rats like us belong
You try to rough ride against the tide
But the tide is awful strong
La la la la la la

Shoe shine man
I get hazy on my own
You get what I'm sayin'?
Shoe shine man
You leave them a shine
But they leave you alone

I been in my bed
Just a tossin' the night away
I been dinghy for a schooner
Row - rowin' the seas of grey
I was lost but now I'm found
And running down the drain
La la la la la la

Shoe shine man
I get crazy on my own
You get what I'm sayin'?
Shoe shine man
They leave you a dime
But they leave you alone

I'll be on my way
If I can keep it under me
Belly flopping for a medal
Or a nowhere I have seen
I'm gonna miss this emptiness
Like sailors miss gangrene
La la la la la la

Shoeshine man
Horse - horsin' 'neath the
Lady city's whip
Shoeshine man
I'll give you a dime and
I'll give you the slip

Dandelion hills

Overripe underage spin me a whirl
You with your face like a lemon in pain
Moon is a coin to be spent on a girl
Come to inebriate out of the rain

Days i have violinned tragic and crass
Weepingly bowing the people i'd meet
But now all the music is here in my glass
Three sips from the bottom one drink from the street

One drink from the hole
Three sips from my fill
Tonight i will roll
Down the dandelion hills
Dandelion hills

Blackberry patch stripteasing its leaves
You are naked and trembling and quiet and blue
You are a rock in my rocketing shoes
And i go where i choose and you do what you do
And sleepers in bundles they all look like lambs
The more that are slaughtered the fewer complain
Larry-lon-lie i'm a rag on the road
It's kindly to tarry here out of the rain

One drink from the hole
Three sips from my fill
Tonight i will roll
Down the dandelion hills
Dandelion hills

That one's a tearful and this one's a whore
Then there are spirits and then there is you
Here take my hand in your quietly mad
Quitting time's cruel but what can you do?

One drink from the hole
Three sips from my fill
Tonight i will roll
Down the dandelion hills
Dandelion hills

Tarbaby

Mud, leaves, roofing rot
Black tar tires are all that I got
So how can I have made
This rubber duchess in her rich brokade
Black dress, seven rips
Kissing coals, her burnout lips
Ask old Bruo, who salts the snails
She's sticky sweet, hard as...
Asphalt in winter

Tarbaby

His days are plain
But his dreams are gaudy
Rhinestone kisses on a
Backside nagahyde body
Propped in the rotten weeds
One whiff of at her and he was incomplete
She and I we had plans
Kicking cows and shooting cans
I know you were with her cause
I saw her stuck all over your hands

Tarbaby tarbaby

Clouds cry on a roof of tin
Like an ace high, I brave the din
I know you were with her
Cause I saw her stuck all over your chin
Like I said, we had plans, she and I
High as a rod on the fourth of July
She was gaping at me like an earthquake crack
As you took her away on your dirty old back

"she stuck by my side
Seemed to enjoy the ride
I threw her in the bayou
For she would not be my bride"
Tarbaby tarbaby born again born again...

Aren't captives

The pilot of the 747 couldn't stop thinking about the young pilot whose voice he'd heard over the radio.
In his hotel room that evening he imagined the successful water landing.
The torn plane sank down into the light eating water, a rope came worming down from above,
The young pilot was choking on freezing salt, until he was scrambling into a harness,
Until he was airborne, lifted for the first time since childhood without the womb of walls around him.
In childhold there were hands to lift him, now there are ropes, and machines that plow water and spit sky.
Dangling, salvaged. Limp. Live weight. Whale bait. Living meat. He's waving! Alive.
Now upward to dry deck and cheering strangers.

The next day when he got to the airport for his next flight, the pilot of the 747 heard about the young pilot who had been killed,
Crashing into the ocean after his cessna lost oil pressure.
This was the man whose voice had kept him flipping back through the channels to listen.
The voice had kept its balance as the slow descent began.
The strange limbo of a man who has time to think about it.
A man who has twenty minutes until question mark.
Until life or question mark? And the pilot of the 747 remembered the young pilots words.
The sky against the roofs. The warm rain in summer. His girl. Her favorite dress. Blue.
Air conditioned. She is transluscent in the light. She is soft and white.

The children they would have someday together.
She told him, they're always there, towing along behind us, like balloons tied to our ankles.
They aren't captives, just clouds. Only clouds.

He was thinking of you. Of you.
And blue. And aren't captives, tied to our ankles.

Angelyne

The sun hanging above the wing
I have no fear of flying
The stars lose height by morning's light
As slowly they are dying

My only eye my tiny light
The meter on the cable
An airy moon a silver spoon
The eaters at your table

Angelyne in your blue dress
Where's the meaning in a powdered night
Pressed between these memories of flight

If chance should spill her darkened cup
If one day we should marry
The crows would chortle in the trees
Our closest calls to bury

Or safe within your radio
I sleep til morning dawns on you
When weather or the telephone
Will tell you I have gone from you

Angelyne in your blue dress
Where's the meaning in a powdered night
Pressed between these memories of flight

I'm sad too

Any fool will tell ya
Not to look at toby mills
On a day you got a twinkle in your eye
He got hands like chew toys
From his work on the machines
And he waters them like roses when he cries

So I guess you got a secret
It gets bigger every day
As the subaru is filling up with rain
And the road is going nowhere
Though the arrow says New York
And the hour says it’s time to say it plain

I’m sad too
Me and you we got to
Stick stick stick together
I’m sad too
Me and you we got to
Stick stick stick together

The twilight says, "I’m outta here"
The evening says, "I know"
The kids are clowning up to hit the cars
I always thought you’d wind up
Like the ghosts on my TV
And they’d shine you up and hang you in the stars

Sometimes I get afraid but
These dreams they die so brave
They just flip their fins and whistle as they’re drowned
And I drunk up all my money
So I’d best forget to pay
And you haven’t finished dealing
And they’re wheeling you away
And the bus comes round to fill ‘er up
The same time every day
But it’s looking like we better stick around

I’m sad too
Me and you we got to
Stick stick stick together
I’m sad too
Me and you we got to
Stick stick stick together

The new year is a stillborn
We are running through the streets
Setting all the Christmas trees on fire
Rooted down and clutching
At the sheet metal sky
Like a bird electrocuting on the wire

Doo doo doo doo do doo…
And I drunk up all my money
So I’d best forget to pay
And you haven’t finished dealing
And they’re wheeling you away
And the bus comes round to fill ‘er up
The same time every day
But it’s looking like we better stick around

I’m sad too
Me and you we got to
Stick stick stick together
I’m sad too
Me and you we got to
Stick stick stick together

Down easy

Just let me down easy
Just let me down easy

They let you run wild
Trajedy's child
Geranium nose
Drunk as a car crash
You are what you see
A world stark and free
You get misty before me
And then we spin around
And around
And all of the memories that cry in your night
Spin around and around
And I catch on your thermals and fly like a kite

Just let me down easy
Just let me down easy

You can never go home
The sparrow has flown
The only one I have known
To remember to future
The prophecy's clear
Tomorrow is here
With eyes overflowing
And so we spin around and around
And nothing is ever as sad as it seems
Spinning round and around
With the starbreasted comic book girl of your dreams

Just let me down easy
Just let me down easy

Boots

Boots

I go to the corner where it all goes down
And i do things i'll regret but not right now
They say "angel, you been here before"
Yeah, i had my boots to carry me

Just like pandora with her box
I let everything out and spin around
And when they come to me, it's like a river to cross
But i have my boots to ferry me

And i remember how it feels
I always stop and remember but i do it again
And i jump up and slap my heels
Cause i have my boots on
I'd like to see my eyes in someone else's face
I'd like to see my face on a magazine
The things i want, the life i need
My boots keep me between

I passed out on a subway train
And a woman she came and took my hand
But i'm alright i'm okay i can fall like rain
Long as i have my boots to help me stand

And the streets they empty hour by hour
Til they were finally drained and i was all alone
And just like pandora, i was sorry now
But i had my boots to carry me home

The sky is wild and full of holes
The wind is wild and it's full of coughs
Sometimes i think i'd float away
If i took my boots off
I'd like to see my eyes in someone else's face
I'd like to see my face on a magazine
The things i want, the life i need
My boots keep me between

Prettiness

I have never been one for prettiness prettiness
Thinking of lace 'bout makes me puke
But the thing i just bought has a little bit little bit
I'm putting it on and i'm thinking of you

When i was a child i followed some holy men
Going into woods to do their work
I had an overcoat on just to cover me cover me
Listening for anything i might learn

And there were stars up in the heavens
And if they caught me, what could they do?
They did not know i was a woman
At least i didn't think they knew

I think about it when i look at him look at him
Everybody hides from what they are
Take me, i used to think i was as empty as an emperor
That's what i thought but i've come so far

His turkish drums and two way mirrors
The way he moves, slow motion slow
He does not know i am a woman
But i think i might want him to know

My insomnia

I went down to the dock
I turned off all my clocks
But there is nothing left to dream

Get in bed and try to fall
Lay starin' at the wall
And like a prayer i say your name

My insomnia my insomnia

Tried to ask if it's alright
If we take off a night
But i couldn't find your head
Drowning in a sea of love
In the expanses of my bed

My insomnia my insomnia my insomnia

You exhaust me

Climb

Can you hear me?
I don't love anybody else
Keep you near me
Just like i try to keep myself near

All the givers
And all the rivers in the world
Cannot quench it
The arid desert that you
Bring to everyone you know

I see you counting lovers in the street
I see you kissing anybody's feet
You are a kitten caught up in a tree
I see you climb away

Tiny birdling
Scrambling for any scraggy tree
I am thinking
You make your nest where none can be
In the summer
The streets are waving in the heat
I am thinking about the water that you keep
In the corners of your mouth

Climb away

I see you counting lovers in the street
I see you licking anybody's feet
You are a kitten caught up in a tree
You are unreachable by me
I see you climb away

Happiness

We were sitting in a t-bird
It has not consented to run since 1970
Brothers bent on the destruction of innocent t-birds
Crowbarred everything but the
Radio, windshield, driver's side mirror
Love is alone with the radio on
And love is a newly blind
Fumbling fumbling
Tell me what to do with all this
Happiness

Lobsters nesting in a dead man
Waiting at the bottom of the lonely ocean
Neighbors swimming in their fishbowls
Television blue glow if you go i won't know anyone
Taking a bath in the deadly sunshine
Time is a car with the radio on and
Time is a broken boat
Ruddering ruddering
Tell me what to do with all this
Happiness

Busted and broken didn't get very far
Busted and broken sittin right where you are
[let it last another summer]
But i'm a feather flying, i'm a leaf on the wind
There's no school like driving with the wind on your skin
[let it last another summer]

Love is a newly blind
Time is a broken boat
Taking a bath in the deadly sunshine
Time is a car with the radio on
And time is a broken boat
Ruddering ruddering
Tell me what to do with all this
Happiness

Tinkerbell

Tinkerbell busts her brains
Bashing into window panes
But who is gonna need a light
In the buggy buzzy neon night?

Tinkerbell takes off her rags
Empties out her saddle bags
And watching all the cracks in the wall rearrange
Tinkerbell is open to a change

"probably time i looked into
Some other things a girl can do
Could sell my body
To light up someone's t.v..."

But something comes through at last
So it doesn't come to that
Luckily a girl lost her ring in the rain
So tinkerbell is dangling down a drain

And there in the sewer she
Sees a thing she's never seen
A constellation <---(crossed out) thousands of shiny useless objects
Glimmering

Stolen thing

Where in the hell is big blue eyes?
Where's your virginity?
By the side of the freeway
I lost it recently
Oh it didn't take so long
Oh it didn't take so long
Oh it didn't take so long
I am a stolen thing

I have a dream of big blue eyes
In my hand is a genie
You know he wouldn't ever wanna surprise no one
Singin' "little girl little girl set me free"
Oh i know what he means
Oh i know what he means
Oh i know what he means
I am a stolen thing

Don't ever cry in the pouring rain
Never lie to a pirate king
He will beat you at your game
Make everything everywhere scream and sing
Oh you make it get so good
Oh you make me get so mean
Oh you make it get to good
I am a stolen thing

By the rumble of the roaring rain
By the holes that it drills in me
I was naked as a blue jay
By the side of the freeway
Oh i was dancing slow
Oh i was dancing free
Oh i was dancing slow
And this is the dance of the stolen thing

Look, luck

I am out of change
Terrible and strange
Under a fake blue sky

You're spinning out of sight
I been up all night
But every road leads here

Look, luck
Do not disappear
I can almost hear you trying
But luck
Do not disappear
You're the only one that's left to love

So much love
You can't pay in love
Talk to the big machine
Please
I pawned my ring
I'll do anything
In hope of a little

Luck
Do not disappear
I can almost hear you trying
But luck
Do not disappear
You're the only one that's left to love

Julia

Tell you who i miss the most
Dressed in see-through like a ghost
Julia julia
She pulled me in and she locked the door
Gave me wine and gave me more
Julia julia

If you need a place to go
You can always crib with
Julia julia
If you're sick she'll cool you down
Til you're only sick for
Julia julia

Julia don't take this wrong
It's not to say that i'm the one
To take more than an hour or a day from

Taken with pills, taken with beer
Many come for love is
Julia julia
What i'd give to taste again
All the dreams i left in
Julia julia

Funny, that last time i left
The wind was howls the sky was cleft
And summer clouds were dumping on the harbor

At times i think of goddesses pissing love on everyone
Goddess piss is sunny and full of tears like julia

Julia don't take this wrong
It's not to say that i'm the one
To take more than an hour or a day from
Cause you deserve a quiet place
That doesn't move or change its face
And everywhere i ran, i ran away from

Wild blue & yonder

Wild blue and yonder
Which way to go
Wild blue and yonder
Wear white in the snow
Pack seven sandwiches
It's farther than you know from here

Witch in the kitchen
Gin and a knife
Christmas is outta here
Tinsel and fife
Lover, how shall we spend this
Ribbon-flannel life she spared?

There must be a way out
Tossed by the side of the freeway
Shackled and shamed as a blue jay
Jacked up on whiskey and death
And we will find it
Slip through the cracks of the evening
Grinning as memory leaves me holding
Nothing but my breath

Wild blue and yonder
Riding the fright
Wild blue and yonder
You shine like a light
Lover it's been so long
Tell me where you are tonight?

There must be a way out
Tossed by the side of the freeway
Shackled and shamed as a blue jay
Jacked up on whiskey and death
And you will find it
Blow in the breeze like the reeds do
Grinning as memory leaves you holding
Nothing but your breath

Don't stop crying

April morning
In '85
You came to visit
I came alive
The things you'd speak of
The tales you'd tell
No one would guess you'd been through hell

But i was dirty
I was unplanned
And i was born to feel and understand
Your falling pieces in my tiny hands

Whichever way we'd go
Whichever way we'd go

You're so much older
It's really strange
Everyone grows colder
You never change
It's like the ocean when you rush in
It's like you're standing here again

Don't stop crying
You'll flood the street
We'll take our boats out
Just you and me
And we will see the things we see

Whichever way we go
Whichever way we go

In memoriam

When she takes out
Her trusty switchblade
Maddy can bring
Enormous men to their knees

And in the night
Came to my window
Flushed with the running
Or whatever it was

All of our days
Obliterating
I will remember
Swear to you that i will

Anna lisa

Oh anna lisa
Who are you now?
Somebody's pisspot or somebody's crown
You throw up your hands and let destiny steer
Oh anna lisa
How long has it been
Since i crawled out of your
Generous dream
Waking up early with drums in my ears

Anna lisa
Anna lisa

So Anna lisa
I decided i'd go
And that if i came back
I'd have something to show
And we'd laugh at the people who're laughing at you

Anna lisa
Anna lisa
None of it came true

Oh anna lisa
Your sex and your spark
Winter companions that glow in the dark
There's love in the way that you held out on me
But though anna lisa
I'd love to believe
In the cheap magic tricks from your cavernous sleeves
I'm not at all what you thought i would be...

Anna lisa
Anna lisa
None of it came true

The world is bound by secret knots

Riverwide

The mirror must be broken
Or else how do you explain the scattered light?
The mirror must be broken
And the day dissolving into night
They think I am sleeping
But I woke up on the edge of the river wide
Of all the broken pieces
Of all the pieces I can find
Of all the diamond splinters
There is one keeps sticking in my mind—
“hurry past the border
Everyone is waiting for you on the other side of
Where you hide, love,
By the riverwide

Juniper

Mama oh mama I don’t wanna come down
Not if it’s all like it was on the ground
Hiding my feet ‘cause I’m too shy to dance
Hiding my face behind both of my hands

Mama oh mama don’t make me come down
‘cause I don’t know what will come out of my mouth
People will hear they won’t know who I am
People will hear and they won’t understand

Mama i’ve seen them the others like me
Once I could see it was all I could see
The silent procession that crosses the snow
In which skeleton ladies like skeletons go

Mama oh mama up here where I’m free
I have seen beauty you wouldn’t believe
Juniper’s ledges and Juniper’s birds
Where Juniper’s edges and mine become blurred

Mama oh mama if you only heard
The reasons for living the freedom of words
The blooming balloon of a thought being born
Safe in the branches of Juniper’s arms

Mama oh mama I’m not like you think
Some harrowing walker down narrowing streets
If I had my way I would bring the whole world
Every sleepwalker and each hungry girl

Mama oh mama and old uncle tom
My father the thinker my daughter the song
Tell every bell to just wake up and ring
Tell this whole choir to just shut up and sing

Mama oh mama I’m holding your hand
In these glorious dreams in which you understand
Mama oh mama we’re spinning around
Mama oh mama don’t make me come down

Tower

There is an ocean
I have been holding in my hands
There is an ocean
I have been holding back for years
Where I was standing
Now I am rocking to and fro
Will you still love me
After you see this tower come down?

We used to play at
Light as a feather stiff as a board
We used to play at
Listening in to the darker world
Oh how strangely
Applicable those games seem now
Will you still know me
After you see this tower come down?

Girl i’ve forgotten
How to be brave could you show me how?
Girl I’d forgotten,
Where did you go? I’m lonely now…
That’s when it struck me
And I rang out just like a bell
She’ll be there laughing
In the place where the tower fell

Bricks and mortar
Raining down on the little ones heads
Bricks and mortar
Raining down on the little ones little ones

You will awaken
Your sensuality
You will awaken
It’s an eventuality
Here comes an ocean
I’ve been holding in my hands
Here comes and ocean
I’ve been holding back for years

Black Madonna

Black Madonna will come down for you
With open arms and a veil to hide her face
And Black Madonna will come down for you
And there is no sickness and there is no suffering
And there is no anguish and no anger that she cannot erase

You might see Black Madonna walking between the sheets of an angry day
Or you might see her smile a strange-sad smile as she steps out of your way
Or you might not see her at all
But she might be coming down for you
With her arms spread wide and her head on fire
‘cause she sees you been down so long

There isn’t a sin that you could make that she will not forgive

But oh, Black Madonna, I did not believe her beauty
I thought I did not need her mercy
I thought I did not need
Traded my belongings and my body
My memory and my mind
My center of gravity and my sense of direction
‘til I woke up half an hour from the city
And realized I had lost all sense of the passage of time
So I don’t know if it’s been a day or a week or a year
All I know is I’m still here
And I always thought you’d lift me up
And you never did
What the fuck?

>>there isn’t a sin that you could make
That she will not forgive
No there isn’t a sin that you could make
In the ways that a stray must live

So what I wanna know is this
If you believe in everything fitting into a kind of place
If you believe that everything and everybody has a certain space they fit into—babies entering into a welcoming world in jubilant curls of star gazing wonder
And the sick yes even the sick just a shuffling into sleep’s dark brother
And the sleepers in the sleet
The heaps in the street
Nestled under trestles for to get a little heat
And if the trestles watch over the sleepers
And if life ushers her lucky winners
Through fleshy gates to four star dinners
And if sleep ushers his population
To plug into the dream life radio station
And if thin souls whose bodies haven’t wrecked them
Walk smoky streets that know and expect them
Then what I want to know is this—
What of strays who have turned their backs on the god of strays?

>>what of strays who’ve turned their backs
On the god of strays, yeah, what of them?

Oh Black Madonna I was thinking about the days that I spent with you
‘cause now I doze and daze and drown
And cling to the wreckage of a sinking town
And I walk your dire streets in search of anything that’s still pure
‘cause I once thought you watched over me
But now I’m not so sure

Garden

I lay my head upon your chest
Bones of iron bones of lead
And death is rattling the cage
Like a bird that would escape
But there’s no room for thoughts like these
In the garden where we sleep

And I am on a burning ship
Clothes all flying in the wind
But I am beautiful like this
When you hold me in your hands
But there’s no room for thoughts like these
In the garden where we sleep

Always searching for those breasts
Pumping morphine
Always searching for--
Don’t you fly to them
Don’t you fly to them
You can fly to me

I’ll take the moment in my hands
Pull it open ‘til it sings
Before the motion of this place
Where nothing stops to have a name
Will leave us hanging like a tear…

Is the spirit here

You’re tuning out like a snowy television
You’re turning into something you don’t understand
Caught amongst the hungry ghosts
Fluttering in windows
Caught amongst the hungry ghosts that take you by the hand
You used to dream that you would meet a stranger
You used to dream that one day
You would catch a whale
But now you walk alone
It is not a walk through pansies
Where did it go?
Is the spirit here?
No

Broken bottles broken bones
She had a man who used to beat her
Don’t let anybody know
Heavy hands, hair of cedar
And they come and use you up
And then leave you where they found you
‘til you sigh and let it go
Is the spirit here?

Definitely no

Swollen bellies hungry souls
Swollen cities hungry nation
Their opinions are a crutch
For a dead imagination
Empty eyes and broken homes
And I wonder, have I joined them?
Well at least I’m not alone
Is the spirit here?

Definitely no

Like a flatline, without pain
Like a doctor who keeps talking
Catch a bottle full of rain
Like a robot I went walking
Then the roof came flying off
Like a border open wide
Like a flower where you died
Like a sinister banister slide
Into the minds
Of the houses you’ve abandoned
Through a sea of shattered lives
Like a swan without my pride
Like a monster in a dress
Near forgotten left a mess
Like the only one you can’t impress
Is the spirit here?

Yes

Midsummer night's dream

Aslan and the Silver Queen
Couldn’t stop time
Although they tried
Now just look at me
Seventeen and seventy
Turn it around
Follow me down
Midsummer night’s dream

The bite of wind the taste of rain
Getting called names
Comets of pain
And other bright things
My favorite things and favorite places
Covered in kisses
When all of this is memories
What kind of creature shall I be?

>> how’d you get in here?
-- shh! It’s a secret
>> tell me!
-- on flying heels and wagon wheels… (rest is unintelligible)

So I run out but not away
Shooting off sparks into the dark
Out in the street
‘cause one day I am going to bloom
Patient and proud
With fish in my mouth
And eyes in my wings
What kind of creature shall I be?

Aslan and the Silver Queen
Turn it around
Follow me down
Midsummer night’s dream

Feral

I wanna run ‘til my feet start bleeding
I wanna make it all the way to the ocean
I wanna live for life and no other
Cause I don’t ever wanna be like my mother
I wanna learn to walk on the water
Cause I don’t wanna be like my father
I have a sister and I got a little brother
And I don’t ever wanna be like them either

Uh uh Uh
Feral

I had a place I’d go in the garden
Where I’d pretend that nobody made me,
Watch the sun going down on the day like a
Gentleman going down on a lady
And I had friends who would come and meet me
And we would stay ‘til early evening
Singing, “we’re not gonna die away so easy
We’re not gonna die away die away, no”

Uh uh UH!

I’m not scared to walk like a lady
And I’m not scared to cry like a baby
I’m not scared I’m not scared I’m not
I’m not scared I’m not…

Simple song

A traveler stops at the old inn yard
It has been so many miles and it’s been so hard
I’ve grown silver as a widow since then
And now a traveler’s come to see me again

He has the mouth of a river the face of a child
But don’t forget what he’s hiding underneath his smile
And that old silver splinter that he left inside of me
Oh don’t forget hmmm

I could not walk it off

Then he began and slow slowly
I could feel his web beginning to undo me
Slow rivers awoke in my shoulders and my legs
Slow rivers awoke I was floating away
And beauty is tired of playing dead
And beauty is tired of hiding her head
I go over to the window
I go over to the window

I could feel the droplets hanging on the edges of my leaves
I could feel the tears coming and I couldn’t believe
I go over to the window
I go over to the window
And beauty is tired of playing dead
And beauty is tired of hiding her head
Yeah beauty is tired of playing dead
Oh beauty is tired so tired

So I gave up and sang along
And rode off on the wings of a simple song…

Wings again

I have wings again
Can you see them?
I can’t but I know they’re there
My wings again
Now you’re gone there’s
Nothing left to keep me here

And you can tell my friends
They won’t believe
When I broke down like a plastic heart
That I had them then
But for some reason
I would rather fall apart
Than notice them

Nights I spent puzzling over where they went
Caught like an act on your high wire
Plummeting like a bird on fire
Tumbling over
Believe it or not I nearly forgot
The stumps where my wings were cut off oh
Cut off oh

You’re standing on the ledge
You watch the empty sky fade out
And there’s no one
To pull you back from the edge
I raise my arms above my head
And I close my eyes
And I hold my breath
I wonder why would you rather fall apart than notice them?
Nights I spent puzzling over where they went
Nights I spent puzzling over where where where where they went
Puzzling over the stumps where my wings were cut off oh
Cut off oh

Lilies

I lay me down like a truth amongst the dares
I lay me down and someone cut my hair
I lay me down I cannot remember where

I think about it less than you’d think
The thing that happened when I was asleep
I think about it more than you’d know
The things that waking I myself chose

I dreamed a woman where the night sky met my eyes
I dreamed a woman she had lilies in her eyes
I feel that something inside me wants to rise

I think about it less than you’d think
The thing that happened when I was asleep
Sometimes it weighs heavy on me
The things I did when I was awake
Sometimes it weighs heavy on me

Doll comes to life

Canopy of light and sound
Moving freely
Rising up from falling down
Can you see me?

Find yourself another doll
To pin your dreams upon
Find yourself another doll
Cause this one’s leaving

In the dark

Ask this girl
You for me
In the dark
What did you see?

First I stopped listening ‘til I couldn’t hear
Then I stopped living out of books and mirrors
Then I stopped looking ‘til I couldn’t see
When I say darkness this is what I mean

Ask this girl
Eye to mind
In the dark
What did you find?

And in the dark I touch with all my toes
And in the dark I taste with all my teeth
And in the dark I kiss and dance and scream
I’m not afraid of being anything

And I remember when I was a kid
Feeling about unicorns the way I did
First I poked through to it like a stitch in time
Now I am reuniting horn and mind

I will buck up against the city lights
When it goes blurry and I am afraid
‘Til I can feel you uncompromised
‘Til I can feel you

Oktober 29th

Wallgreens opened her door to death today
And she rode in
Taught and saucy from the facelift
Beaming her made for this little while smile
Tall as a tale, legs long as a lie
Cross my heart and hope to die, I'm mulling over which razor to buy
Hey baby, says a voice like a song
You drippin' sorrow, you lookin long!
She smacks her wet and wild lips
Snips her scissor thighs, says
Come on, lithe and on the sly
I'll give you a hand, you give me a try...
And I never let nothin pass me by, but she's slippin round on the linoleum like she's sweating petroleum
So I excuse myself back to the nail care shelf, into
Which one, bluest midnight, or jealous jade?
Bluest midnight, you got it made, she say
A tear of spit lands as she presses my hand to her jaw
I'm having a vision of eyes in her hair
There there, she says, you're so young and alive
So in your prime
So BI-O-LOG-I-CAL
(the syllables roll around like marbles in her mouth)
Bluest midnight like the window of a magic eight ball that when it finally comes to
LAUGHS at you in the midst of its endless blue
Your future might be drowning around in there
If you could just smash it out
But those balls are unbreakable
And past that lucky little laugh, into the oil night
Aint nobody gonna see in there
Aint nobody gonna see in, understand me?

Unhand me
This is the part where I bustle away

Take my card, she say
Eyes by the pair blink in her hair
And she reaches into those inky nylon tresses
And pulls out
A red eyed cleft lip buck toothed knock kneed little mister something or other
And I say
What's that?
And she says
That's a promise
Not now, but some day

And the little thing grapples onto my hair and burrows and is gone
And I'm gone, got the hell out of there and tried to bend my mind back to nail painting
But on my lonesome, with the trees septembrin'
I get to remembering about this time a bus spit out a blind woman
And she fell into my arms like a long lost lover and said
How come you look like that?
And I say how do you know what I look like, you're blind?
And she says
That's how come I know
I say what you see?
She says the hospital's that way
The doctor can look at you
Have a little lookie while you have a little shut-eye
Tell them it hurts, they'll ask you where
But aint nobody gonna see in there
Aint nobody gonna see in

I'm Sick

So the next time I see you in the hygiene aisle
Cracking your back like a whip
Lighting the tabloid underbrush on fire with your matchstick fingers
I'll take one good long stretchmark look and say
Who are you really?
We girls shrink from inside our skin like aging fruit
You were born shrunken with a hundred different skin bags
Who are you really?
Weaving promises in our hair
A mask like a million dollars
Sign of the times plastic skin
Eyes too blue not to be new
Like two of a kind
But what's behind?
Aint nobody gonna see in there
Aint nobody gonna see in!

So
Pants on fire if I'm a liar
Tree me down if I tell a lie
I'll be mulling over which razor to buy
To raze myself slick as an eel in the fountain of youth
Soft as a new lamb with ears perked up white and wide...
My dawns will dress in their winter clothes
Their hurricanes and rain
When you press up against the frosty pane
Crowned this time in waving insects
For we two shall suck on sweet memories of living days
Red eyed
Promises
Broken