Tension Makes A Tangle
[ music: john lombardo/lyric: natalie merchant ]
As frail hinges
Pivot on a cases door
Commemorative
Souvenirs from places
Containers change
With each occasion
A cellophane encased
Display of paper
Certificate
To credit years of service
A tool of central enterprises
The early hope
For permanence
The words
The rings
Consistency
The social security
A miracle is high tragedy
Thought mistaken
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song performed by 10000 Maniacs
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The Colonial Wing
[ music: robert buck/lyric: natalie merchant ]
Here is the store house of her majesty
Well guarded by sentry
But looks are free
Call this the rayless and benighted age
Witches by tallow candles shifted
Shifted their shapes
Here is the pestle and mortar
That ground the poison seed
A lute, a suit for jousting
And the poems of a balladeer
When all the latin books were copied off
In golden script
Well hoarded away in
A monastery crypt
Superstition
Superstition beyond belief
Over mountain, over dune and over sea
Crude map and compass lead the caravan
And lead the fleet
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song performed by 10000 Maniacs
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My Mother The War
[ lyrics: natalie merchant & michael walsh/music: j.c.lombardo ]
She borders the pavement
Flanks avenues
Parades pass white glove attended by
My mother the war
Shell raise a shaft
Lift a banner
Toss a rose
My mother the war
Shes made every effort
To salvage the few
Bought fourteen liberty bonds
My mother the war
Mother the war
She knows every neighbor
Chats at their doors
Compare econosize electric appliances
My mother the war
Share tea and a seat
By my cradle with
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song performed by 10000 Maniacs
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Noahs Dove
You won a prize for that,
For telling lies like that
So well that I believed it.
And I never felt cheated.
You were the chosen one,
The pure eyes of noahs dove.
Choir boys and angels
Stole your lips and your halo.
In your reckless mind,
You act as if youve got more lives.
In your reckless eyes, you only have time and your love of danger
To it your no stranger.
In that august breeze
Of those forgotten trees,
Your time was set for leaving,
Come a colder season.
In your reckless mind,
You act as if youve got more lives
In your reckless eyes,
Its never too late for a chance to seize some final breath of freedom.
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song performed by 10000 Maniacs
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Big Star
Whoa
I saw a big star running from me
A world from a record on my bed
Turn the tables on me
What would happen if I fell
To the tune of a dreamer
To the tune of my heart
Big star running from me
I saw a world out sunning on my head
Turn the tables on me now
I would fall from heaven and ring your bell
Baby, catch me
In the middle of a lie
The boys are out tonight
Yeah, the boys are out tonight
The big shots singin from me
I saw a world out sunning on my head
Pity my heart signals
Center of a storm inside my head
Center of my
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song performed by 10000 Maniacs
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Anthem For Doomed Youth
[ music: john lombardo/lyric: john lombardo adapts wilfred owen ]
For whom the bells toll
When sentenced to die
The stuttering rifles
Will stifle the cry
The monstrous anger
The fears rapid rattle
A desert inferno
Kids dying like cattle
Dont tell me
Were not prepared
Ive seen todays marine
Hes eighteen and hes eager
He can be quite mean
No mockries for them
No prayers or bells
The demented choirs
The wailing of shells
The boys holding candles
On untraveled roads
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song performed by 10000 Maniacs
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Cherry Tree
[ robert buck/natalie merchant ]
Over your shoulder, please dont mind me
If my eyes have fallen onto your magazine
For Ive been watching and wondering
Why your face is changing with every line you read.
All those lines and circles, to me, a mystery.
Eve pull down the apple and give taste to me.
If she would be wonderful, but my pride is in the way.
I cannot read to save my life, Im so ashamed to say.
I live in silence, afraid to speak
Of my life of darkness because I cannot read.
For all those lines and circles, to me, a mystery.
Eve pull down the apple and give taste to me.
If she could it would be wonderful.
Then I wouldnt need someone elses eyes to see whats in front of me.
No one guiding me.
It makes me humble to be so green
At what every kid can do when he learns a to z,
But all those lines and circles just frighten me
And I fear that Ill be trampled if you dont reach for me.
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song performed by 10000 Maniacs
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Gold Rush Brides
[ buck/merchant ]
[ harmonica: charles fleischer ]
Follow the typical signs, the hand-painted lines, down prairie roads.
Pass the lone church spire.
Pass the talking wire from where to who knows?
Theres no way to divide the beauty of the sky from the wild western plains.
Where a man could drift, in legendary myth, by roaming over spaces.
The land was free and the price was right.
Dakota on the wall is a white-robed woman, broad yet maidenly.
Such power in her hand as she hails the wagon mans family.
I see indians that crawl through this mural that recalls our history.
Who were the homestead wives?
Who were the gold rush brides?
Does anybody know?
Do their works survive their yellow fever lives in the pages they wrote?
The land was free, yet it cost their lives.
In miners lust for gold.
A familys house was bought and sold, piece by piece.
A widow staked her claim on a dollar and his name, so painfully.
In letters mailed back home her eastern sisters they would moan
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song performed by 10000 Maniacs
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Few & Far Between
[ merchant ]
[ alto sax: maceo parker/tenor sax: alfred pee wee ellis/trombone: fred wesley (together: the jb horns) ]
Times are far between, and few I bet, when we can look upon our lives without regret.
Of all the things I have done, you think Im proud of everyone without exception?
till you make your peace with yesterday, youll never build a future.
I swear by what I say.
Whatever penance you do, decide what its worth to you and then respect it.
However long it will take to weather your mistakes, why not accept it?
My hands, for now, are tied.
Im a body frozen.
Im a will thats paralyzed.
When will you ever set aside your pain and misery?
No matter how I beg, no matter how I wish or plead, youll never be more than alive.
Youll never do more than survive until you expect it.
Do you want to build a world with our lives?
You better soon decide or you can forget it.
My hands, for now, are tied.
Im a body frozen.
Im a will thats paralyzed.
till you drop that heavy baggage youre dragging behind, there wont be room for us to both go this ride.
song performed by 10000 Maniacs
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To Sir, With Love
[ original version by lulu ]
Those schoolgirl days of telling tales and biting nails are gone
But in my mind I know they will still live on and on
But how do you thank someone who has taken you from crayons to
Perfume?
It isnt easy but Ill try
If you wanted the sky I would write across the sky
In letters that would soar a thousand feet high
To sir, with love
Those awkward years have hurried by - why do they fly away?
Why is it, sir, that children grow up to be people one day?
What takes the place of climbing trees and dirty knees in the world
Outside?
What is there for you I can buy?
If you wanted the world Id surround it with a wall
Id scrawl in words with letters ten feet tall
To sir, with love
The time has come for closing books and long last looks must end
And as I leave, I know that I am leaving my best friend
A friend who taught me right from wrong and weak from strong
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song performed by 10000 Maniacs
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