(click title to listen)
do i look handsome in my little skirt to you?
do i look much like a soldier with my heart of baby blue?
& did you ever chance to fancy that you know what I might do
that you know from where my river flows & where it’s flowing to?
men may stake their claim that i have vanished in the night & yet
a magic pair of spectacles could bring me into sight
to where the earth is vast & gentle & a wide wide ocean sways
and all the men who came as captives bow to pray.
on the pearl of circumstance, on the precipice of the odds
we will stand & make our offerings to gods
the story goes that every man is a captive in his heart
that he’s cuckold by the sirens till the winds rip him apart
& even now the name Odysseus brings back the dreams of far & near
& i lift my purple cloak to hide a tear
the men have started whispering that my ship will not return & that
the dust of me will float back in a pink & silver urn & that
that the odyssey is nothing more than the tickle of a breeze & still
they crouch down like leopards planning treason in the seas
on the pearl of circumstance, on the precipice of the odds
we will stand & make our offerings to the gods
i never stopped to wonder of the things you took from me until
i found them in a bottle that was cast upon the sea & then
i reapplied the beauty & the youth of younger years & then
i drank again the succor & the sweetness of my tears.
now that i’ve found my tongue again you are too far gone to hear
of my story of the little boy who broke & shook in fear & how
the goddess found him broken & she rubbed him down with oil & then
he came back as a boy & then he came back as a girl
on the pearl of circumstance, on the precipice of the odds
we will stand & make our offerings to the gods.
I think I’d like to go away
with no one else around
That’s when it feels like the day.
I think I’d like to be alone
with no one else around
That’s when it feels like a home.
I think I’d like to flow the time
with no one there to shake away
It’s just a place in my mind.
I think I’d like to know the way that he dreams
when no one else can see the way
It’s just a float down the stream.
Talk about an old guitar
Talk about an easy way to fly
Everybody wants to go
but they won’t take the time.’
Talk about an old guitar
Talk about an easy way to feel
Everybody wants to know
but they won’t touch the real.
I think I’d like to know the way that he rings
and though I kick myself again
It’s just the way with these things.
I think I’d like to know he’s hoping in side
I see his eyes turn out towards me
But they’re lost in the ride.
Talk about an old guitar.
Talk about the crazy worlds you know
Everybody wants to climb
but it won’t stop the show.
Talk about an old guitar.
Talk about the crazy things you’ve seen
Everybody wants to go
but it won’t stop the dream.
I think I’d like to know a world that is mine
just one step beyond the ocean
Someplace you’ll never find.
I think I’d like to know a world that is green
just one step beyond the water
Someplace far from the dream.
Well i’m walking this road with mud on my shoes
& the coats of the men are clean
& their pockets are filled with pennies
& their ladies laugh at me
& i’m cheered by the way the birds show off
& the flags that blow against the wind
but every time i cross a man
i start shaking in my boots again.
good lord! good lord!
i want someone to kiss me, take off my clothes
make love to me, i don’t know
good lord! good lord!
well this place aint much like the old world
it don’t seem much like the old world
three big men, they corner me:
we got a bone to pick with you
your numbers they just don’t add up
& your wings is stained with glue
& the good guys don’t wear no funny clothes
& the honest guys don’t rhyme
& the pure of heart they hide their light
& the innocent don’t shine
& the truth it looks a bit like us
& common sense is where we stand
& the farthest point our eyes can see
is the farthest point of this land
good lord! good lord!
i want someone to kiss me, take off my clothes
make love to me, i don’t know
good lord! good lord!
well this place ain’t much like the old world
it don’t seem much like the old world
my tongue is tired & defeated
it don’t wanna speak no more
i just wanna bury my head in my hands
& slouch way down on the floor
but then i think of that long lost day
when I sat in a field with you
you said, beautiful day, beautiful child
i wanna give my life to you
so you slit your wrists & the blood poured out
& we watched a thousand roses bloom
then i kissed you till the flesh turned back
like a baby soft & new
good lord! sweet lord!
well this place aint much like the old world
it don’t look much like the old world
on a mexican trail
i got a horse with a tail & a skinny leg
thru a green mountain pass
thru a sky made of glass
i guide my horse with his skinny leg
i got a hat & its red
it covers half of my head
i keep my eyes on the ground
i never look all around
because i already know wha’ts before & behind
i’m only here as a guide
only biding my time
on a mexican, on a horse with a tail,
& a skinny leg, a skinny leg
chorus: tell me what other lady wants to terrify you
flipping wildly through your pansies
rip your prospects in two
never fall into your arms
never tumble from above
just to lead you on & on
it must be some kind of love.
In the darkness of night
when the luvers kling tight
when the sky isn’t blue
i hover high above you
i’m never touching your back
i’m too exalted for that
i think about other things
i watch your back with my wings
you’re lying down on the ground
i keep you safe from the million things that fly around.
Chorus
i see the other riders going round
too big for their horses and
their feet dragging down on the ground
kicking dust all around
riding into the town or maybe
just going for a ride all around.
They ain’t nothing like me
i’m going straight to the sea
on a cliff way up high
i’m stretching up to the sky
with the rope on your neck
i’ll have to tell you goodbye
you’ll remember my name
you’ll be a living testament to my fame.
Chorus
If you want to cross to the other side,
I will follow you.
Splash the water over my face now,
Deepest shade of blue.
Follow the hand of an invisible man;
I still have eyes to see.
Cross the water where the moonlight glistens,
Like waking from a dream.
Oh did I fly? Fly? Fly right next to you?
Did we run on legs to the mountain top
Palest shade of blue?
Oh did I fall? Fall so far I couldn’t breath?
Did you watch my eyes through the bubbling waves
Beginning to believe?
If you call to me from the other side,
I will always come;
Come in the body of a feathery bird
Sucking on my thumb.
Whistle to me through a deep blue wave,
I still have ears to hear.
Splash the water over my face now,
The hard things disappear.
And we will run, run, run through fields of green
And you will cry out, what a happy surprise,
Things were never what they seemed.
And God will run, run beside us like a dog
And we will toss him sticks, and teach him tricks
As the golden sun dissolves.
But if you want to stay in an indelicate world,
I will stay with you.
Splash the water over my face now,
Blackest shades of blue.
Three men watch from across the hill,
Head to toe in black.
Lines are drawn and when you cross them
You’re never going back.
But I could fight, fight, fight just like a dream,
And I could teach myself to always believe that things are what they seem.
And I could hate, hate, hate right by your side
And we could struggle to take the western gate
Before the golden sun declines.
I don’t like microbes- please don’t touch my arm with your fingernails
I’ve already thrown up in my own mouth three times today
I twist and spin, still the world presses in like a gauzy veil
Covers my eyes, lies, fuzzy, and white
Voices smile, laugh, holding me tight to the ground- I’ll survive
Let me be- I’m not going outside
Where the butterflies fly too far away to be seen
Over the green.
I don’t like good people, they don’t feel what they say feel
They’ll never give up their candy for children to eat
They flit and shine as the world crumbles down to obey their will
Buries me down, brown under their feet
Hear me beg, cry, I know defeat- it’s alright- I’ll survive
Let me be- I’m not going outside
Where the butterflies fly too far away to be seen
Over the green.
Stick to the underside, shrug it off for the final time
Spit out the silk line and follow it home.
I don’t like feeling that your brain is in this same building
I’ll blank my my mind as I stare at a big empty screen
A bag of chips and a diet coke; that’s all I need now
You can poke, prod, urge me to live
You can stare, scratch tell that that I must forgive-I’ll survive
Let me be, I’m not going alive
I will fight, bite, leave me alone
Here to die, fly, I’m going home- it’s alright- I’ll survive
In a way, I’m already outside
Where the butterflies fly too far away to be seen
Over the green.