Natalie Merchant...what a Wonder!
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Tigerlily
  • San Andreas Fault
  • Wonder
  • Beloved Wife
  • River
  • Carnival
  • I May Know The Word
  • The Letter
  • Cowboy Romance
  • Jealousy
  • Where I Go
  • Seven Years


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    San Andreas Fault

    Top

    Go west
    paradise is there
    you'll have all that you can eat
    of milk and honey over there

    you'll be the brightest star
    the world has ever seen
    sun-baked slender heroine
    of film and magazine

    go west
    paradise is there
    you'll have all that you can eat
    of milk and honey over there

    you'll be the brightest light
    the world has ever seen
    the dizzy height of a jet-set life
    you could never dream

    your pale blue eyes
    strawberry hair
    lips so sweet
    skin so fair

    your future bright
    beyond compare
    it's rags to riches
    over there

    San Andreas Fault
    moved it's fingers
    through the ground
    earth divided
    plates collided
    such an awful sound

    San Andreas Fault
    moved its fingers
    through the ground
    terra cotta shattered
    and walls came
    tumbling down

    o promised land
    o wicked ground
    build a dream
    tear it down

    o promised land
    what a wicked ground
    build a dream
    watch it fall down


    Wonder

    Top
    Doctors have come
    from distant cities
    just to see me
    stand over my bed
    disbelieving what they're seeing

    they say I must be one of the wonders
    of god's own creation
    and as far as the can see they can offer
    no explanation

    newspapers ask
    intimate questions
    what confessions
    they reach into my head
    to steal the glory
    of my story

    they say I must be one of the wonders
    of god's own creation
    and as far as the can see they can offer
    no explanation

    I believe
    fate smiled and destiny
    laughed as she came to my cradle
    "know this child will be able"
    laughed as my body she lifted
    "know this child will be gifted
    with love, with patience
    and with faith
    she'll make her way"

    people see me
    I'm a challenge
    to your balance
    I'm over your heads
    how I confound you
    and astound you
    to know I must be one of the wonders
    of god's own creation
    and as far as you can see you can offer me
    no explanation

    I believe
    fate smiled and destiny
    laughed as she came to my cradle
    "know this child will be able"
    laughed as she came to my mother
    "know this child will not suffer"
    laughed as my body she lifted
    "know this child will be gifted
    with love, with patience
    and with faith
    she'll make her way"


    Beloved Wife

    Top

    You were the love
    for certain of my life
    you were simply my beloved wife
    I don't know for certain
    how I'll live my life
    now alone without my beloved wife
    my beloved wife

    I can't believe
    I've lost the very best of me

    you were the love
    for certain of my life
    you were simply my beloved wife
    I don't know for certain
    how I'll live my life
    now alone without my beloved wife
    my beloved wife

    I can't believe
    I've lost the very best of me

    you were the love
    for certain of my life
    for 50 years simply my beloved wife
    with another love I'll never lye again
    it's you I can't deny
    it's you I can't defy
    a depth so deep
    into my grief
    without my beloved soul
    I renounce my life
    as my right
    now alone without my beloved wife
    my beloved wife

    my beloved wife
    my love is gone she suffered long
    in hours of pain
    my love is gone
    now my suffering begins
    my love is gone
    would it be wrong if I should
    surrender all the joy in my life
    go with her tonight?

    my love is gone she suffered long
    in hours of pain
    my love is gone
    would it be wrong if I should
    just turn my face away from the light
    go with her tonight?


    River

    Top

    Young and strong Hollywood son
    in the early morning light
    this star fell down
    on Sunset Boulevard

    young and strong beautiful one
    we embraced so close
    is gone
    was torn away

    let the youth of America mourn
    include him in their prayers
    let his image linger on
    repeat it everywhere

    with candles, with flowers
    he was one of ours
    one of ours

    why don't you let him be?
    he's gone
    we know
    give his mother and his father peace
    your vulture's candor
    your casual slander
    you murder his memory
    he's gone
    we know
    it's nothing but a tragedy

    lay to rest your soul and body
    lay beside your name
    lay to rest your rage
    your hunger and amazing grace

    with candles, with flowers
    you were one of ours
    one of ours

    I saw cameras expose your life
    I heard rumors explode with lies
    I saw children in tears
    cry and crowd around the sight
    of where you had collapsed that day
    where your last breath and word
    had been sighed
    where your heart had burst
    where you had died

    I saw how they were lost in grieving
    all half believing you were gone
    the loss and pain of it
    crime and shame of it
    you were gone
    it was such a nightmare raving,
    "how could we save him from himself?"


    Carnival

    Top
    I've walked these streets
    a virtual stage
    it seemed to me
    make up on their faces
    actors took their
    places next to me

    I've walked these streets
    in a carnival
    of sights to see
    all the cheap thrill seekers
    the vendors and the dealers
    they crowded around me

    have I been blind
    have I been lost
    inside my self and
    my own mind
    hypnotized
    mesmerized
    by what my eyes have seen?

    I've walked these streets
    in a spectacle of wealth and poverty
    in the diamond markets
    the scarlet welcome carpet
    that they just rolled out for me

    I've walked these streets
    in the mad house asylum
    they can be
    where a wild eyed misfit prophet
    on a traffic island stopped
    and he raved of saving me

    have I been blind
    have I been lost
    inside my self and
    my own mind
    hypnotized
    mesmerized
    by what my eyes have seen?

    have I been wrong
    have I been wise
    to shut my eyes
    and play along
    hypnotized
    paralyzed
    by what my eyes have found
    by what my eyes have seen
    what they have seen?

    have I been blind
    have I been lost
    inside my self and
    my own mind
    hypnotized
    mesmerized
    by what my eyes have found
    in that great street carnival
    in that carnival?


    I May Know The Word

    Top
    I may know the word
    but not say it
    I may know the truth
    but not face it
    I may hear a sound
    a whisper sacred and profound
    but turn my head
    indifferent

    I may know the word
    but not say it
    I may love the fruit
    but not taste it
    I may know the way
    to comfort and to soothe
    a worried face
    but fold my hands
    indifferent

    If I'm on my knees
    I'm begging now
    if I'm on my knees
    groping in the dark
    I'd be paying for deliverance
    from the night into day

    but it's all grey here
    it's all grey to me

    I may know the word
    but not say it
    this may be the time
    but I might waste it
    this may be the hour
    something move me
    someone prove me wrong
    before the night comes
    with indifference

    if I'm on my knees
    I'm begging now
    if I'm on my knees
    groping in the dark
    I'd be praying for deliverance
    from the night into the day

    but it's all grey here
    but it's all grey to me

    I recognize the walls inside me
    I recognize them all
    I've paced between them
    chasing demons down
    until they fall
    in fitful sleep
    enough to keep their strength
    enough to crawl
    into my head
    with tangled threads
    they riddle me to solve

    again and again and again


    The Letter

    Top
    If I ever write this letter
    the pages I could write
    but I don't know where to send it
    you have vanished
    heaven knows where you live
    heaven only knows

    if I ever write this letter
    bitter words it would contain
    just and unrequited lover
    wishing she had never
    spoken your name
    had never known your name

    but if I ever write this letter
    the truth it would reveal
    knowing you brought me pleasure
    how I'll often treasure
    moments that we knew
    the precious, the few


    Cowboy Romance

    Top
    It's a Saturday afternoon romance
    between a cowboy and a fool
    a drunken meet up
    in a crude saloon
    a poor Rocky Mountain town
    he's a scoundrel and
    she's no pearl
    together they are two lovers cruel

    got her balanced on his knee
    he knows exactly what to say

    "you ain't been born
    til you get out of town
    and honey,
    you might come with me"

    "if you do...
    spare the innocent ones
    I'll take you with me
    together we will be drifters free"

    got her tangled in his arm
    she's a lusting, trusting fool

    "no man born can rule me
    that I've sworn
    but stranger if you do
    I'll belong to you"

    "if you do...
    would you spare the innocent ones
    would you take me with you?
    can you love the land
    and love me too?"

    as he grows sober
    sees his love anew
    in morning light so true
    he gets on the move
    on the move


    *Jealousy*

    Top
    O, jealousy

    is she fine
    so well bred
    the perfect girl
    a social deb?

    is she the sort
    you've always thought
    could make you
    what you're not?

    o, jealousy

    is she bright
    so well read
    are there novels
    by here bed?

    is the sort
    you've always said
    could satisfy
    your head?

    o, my jealousy

    does she talk
    the way I do
    is her voice reminding you
    of the promises
    the little white lies too
    sometimes, tell me
    while she's touching you
    just by mistake
    accidentally do you say my name?


    Where I Go

    Top
    Climbing under
    a barbed wire fence
    by the railroad ties

    climbing over
    the old stone wall
    I am bound for the riverside

    well I go to the river
    to soothe my mind
    ponder over
    the crazy days of my life
    just sit and watch the river flow

    find a place
    on the riverbank
    where the green rushes grow
    see the wind
    in the willow tree
    in the branches hanging low

    well I go to the river
    to soothe my mind
    to ponder over
    the crazy days of my life
    watch the river flow
    ease my mind and my soul
    where I go

    well I will go to the river
    from time to time
    wander over
    these crazy days in my mind
    watch the river flow
    where the willow branches grow
    by the cool rolling waters
    moving gracefully and slow

    child it's lovely
    let the river take it all away
    the mad pace, the hurry
    the troubles, the worries
    just the river take them all away
    flow away


    *Seven Years*

    Top

    How did I love you?
    there was no measuring
    far above this dirty world
    far above everything
    in your tower over it
    you were clean

    so warm and insightful
    were you in my eyes
    I was sure the rightful
    guardian of my life
    damn you betrayer
    how you lied

    but for seven years
    you were loved
    I laid golden orchid crowns
    around your feet

    for seven years
    I bowed down
    to touch the ground
    so wholly your devotee

    you were
    all I could see

    I've got my sight now
    I see everything you hid
    so don't you try to right now
    all the wrong you did
    I might forget you
    but never forgive

    but for seven years
    you were loved
    I laid golden orchid crowns
    around your feet

    for seven years
    I bowed down
    to touch the ground
    so wholly your devotee

    for seven years
    you were so revered
    I made offerings of
    anything and everything I had

    you were
    all I could see