Natalie Merchant - Retrospective 1995-2005 [compilation] (2005) by Natalie Merchant (보컬) on maniadb.com

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
Oooooooooooo
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
Oooooooooooo
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"

Well, I've walked these streets
A virtual stage
It seemed to me
Makeup on their faces
Actors took their places next to me

Well, 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 myself and my whole mind?
Hypnotized, mesmerized, by what my eyes have seen?

Well, I've walked these streets
In a spectacle of wealth and poverty
In the diamond market
The scarlet welcome carpet that they just rolled out for me

And I've walked these streets
In the madhouse asylum they can be
Where a wild-eyed mystic prophet on a traffic island stopped
And he raved of saving me

Have I been blind?
Have I been lost inside myself and my whole 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?
Have I been wrong?
Have I been wise?
Have I been strong?
Have I been hypnotized, mesmerized
By what my eyes have found?

In that great street carnival

Have I been blind?
Have I been lost?
Have I been wrong?
Have I been wise?
Have I been strong?
Have I been hypnotized, mesmerized
By what my eyes have found?

In that great street carnival, in that carnival

Oooh, 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?

Oooh, jealousy

Is she bright
So well read
Are there novels
By her bed?

Is she the sort
You've always said
Could satisfy
Your head?

Oooh, 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
Just by mistake
Accidentally do you say my name

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
You're 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 the walls came
Tumbling down

Oh promised land
Oh wicked ground
Build a dream
Tear it down

Oh promised land
What a wicked ground
Build a dream
Watch it all fall down

La-la-la-la...
You've been so kind and generous
I don't know how you keep on giving
For your kindness, I'm in debt to you
For your selflessness, my admiration
For everything you've done, you know I'm bound
I'm bound to thank you for it

La-la-la-la...
You've been so kind and generous
I don't know how you keep on giving
For your kindness, I'm in debt to you
And I never could have come, this far without you
For everything you've done, you know I'm bound
I'm bound to thank you for it

La-la-la-la...
Oh, I want to thank you for so many gifts you gave
The love, the tenderness, I wanna thank you
I want to thank you for your generosity, the love
And the honesty that you gave me
I want to thank you show my gratitude
My love, and my respect for you, I want to thank you
Oh, I want to thank you, thank you; thank you, thank you
I want to thank you, thank you; thank you, thank you

People down-cast in despair
See the dis-illusion everywhere
Hoping their bad luck will change
It's a little harder everyday

People struggle, people fight
For the simple pleasures in their life
The trouble comes from everywhere
It's a little more than you can bear

I know that it will hurt
I know that it will break your heart
The way things are
The way they've been
And the way they've always been

People shallow, self-absorbed
See them push and shove for their rewards
With nothing else on their minds
You can read about it in their eyes

People ruthless, people cruel
The damage that some people do
Full of hatred, full of pride
It's enough to make you lose your mind

I know that it will hurt
I know that it will break your heart
The way things are
And the way they've been

I know that it will hurt
I know that it will break your heart
The way things are
And the way they've been

Don't spread the discontent
Don't spread the lies
Don't make the same mistakes
With your own life

You know we're all a little low sometimes

I know that it will hurt
I know that it will break your heart
The way things are
And the way they've been

Don't spread the discontent
Don't spread the lies
Don't make the same mistakes
In your own life

And don't disrespect yourself
Don't lose your pride
And don't think everybody's gonna change their side

Oh no

It's a pity, it's a crying shame
People hold you down again
How painful it must be
To bruise so easily inside
It's a pity, it's a downright crime
It happens all the time
You want to stay little daddy's girl
You want to hide from the vicious world outside
Don't cry, you know the tears will do no good
So dry your eyes
Oh, your daddy, he's the iron man
battleship wrecked on dry land
Your mamma she's a bitter bride
She'll never be satisfied, you know
And that's not right.
But don't cry, you know the tears will do no good
So dry your eyes
Oh, they told you life is hard
misery from the start,
it's dull, it's slow, it's painful
But I tell you life is sweet
In spite of the misery
There's so much more, be grateful
Well, who do you believe
Who will you listen to
Who will it be
'cause it's high time that you decide
in your own mind
I've tried to comfort you
I've tried to tell you to be patient
They are blind, and they can't see
Fortune gonna come one day
They're all gonna fade away
Your daddy the war machine
And your momma the long and suffering
Prisoner of what she cannot see
For they told you life is hard
Misery from the start,
It's dull, it's slow, it's painful
But I tell you life is sweet
In spite of the misery
There's so much more, be grateful
So, who will you believe
Who will you listen to
Who will it be
'cause it's high time that you decide
It's time to make up your own
your own state of mind
Oh they told you life is long
Be thankful when it's done
Don't ask for more, be grateful
But I tell you life is short
Be thankful because
Before you know it
it will be over
'cause life is sweet, life is also very short
life is sweet and life is also very short
life is sweet

When I was just a little girl
My mamma said to me
"Beware of the devil my chld
in the dark rocky places he'll keep
Beware of the devil my child
Beware of his charming ways
You'll fall under an evil spell
just looking at his beautiful face
You gotta build yourself a levee deep inside"

"Don't go walking by the riverside
alone in the pale moonlight
He'll come upon you girl
With no earthy body in sight
Come up upon you girl
and he'll whisper something sweet
then take you
where the waters rise so high and run so deep"

"You gotta build yourself a levee deep inside
Gotta build yourself a levee deep inside
Build yourself a levee girl
When the waters run high"

Now when I was just a little girl
My mamma said to me
"Beware of the devil my child
but if by chance you should meet
Beware of his cold dark eyes
Full of bold and unholy deceit
He'll tempt you with a whirling pool of lies
and promises he'll deny
or that he'll never keep"

"You gotta build yourself a levee deep inside
Build yourself a levee deep inside
You gotta build yourself a levee deep inside
Build yourself a levee girl
when the waters run high"

Lately I've been walking all alone
through the wind and through the rain
Been walking through the streets
and finding sweet relief in knowing
that it won't be long.
Lately it's occurred to me that I've had enough of that
and lately I've been satisfied by simple things
like breathing in and breathing out

Never again, not in this life
will I be taken twice
Never again, never on your life
Will I make that same mistake
I can't make it twice

Lately it's occurred to me
exactly what went wrong
I realized I compromised
I sacrificed far too much for far too long

Never again, not in this life
Will I be taken twice
Never again, not on your life
Will I make that same mistake
I can't make it twice
Starting out from here today
Swear I'm gonna change my ways
Once mistaken in this life
but never twice

Where in hell can you go
far from the things that you know
far from the sprawl of concrete
that keeps crawling it's way about
1,000 miles a day
Take one last look behind
commit this to memory and mind
Don't miss this wasteland,
this terrible place
When you leave keep your heart off of your sleeve

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes
lullaby me to sleep
Keep me safe, lie with me
Stay beside me don't go
Don't you go
Oh my five & dime queen tell me what have you seen
The lust and avarice
The bottomless, the cavernous greed
Is that what you see

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes
lullaby me to sleep
Keep me safe, lie with me
Stay beside me don't go

It's your happiness I want most of all
and for that I'd do anything at all
Oh mercy me
If you want the best of it
or the most of it all
if there's anything I can do at all

Now come on shot gun bride
what makes me envy your life
Faceless, nameless, innocent
blameless and free
what's it like to be

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes
lullaby me to sleep
Keep me safe, lie with me
Stay beside me don't go
Don't go

Well, I lived in a town
Way down south
By the name of Owensboro
And I worked in a mill
With the rest of the “trash"?
As we're often called
As you know

Well, we rise up early
In the morning
And we work all day real hard
To buy our little meat and bread
Buy sugar, tea, and lard

Well, our children
Grow up unlearned
With no time to go to school
Almost before they learn to walk
They learn to spin and spoon

Well, the folks in town
They dress so fine
And spend their money free
But they would hardly look
At a factory hand
Who dresses like you or me

Would you let them wear
Their watches fine
Let them wear their gems
And pearly strings

But when that day
Of judgement comes
They'll have to share
Their pretty things

Sally Ann


A woman of beauty
a woman of pain
in France or Jakarta
her shadow's the same
you go home with Sally Ann
you go home with Sally Ann
you go home

A woman of kindness
with bracelets of jade
in China, in Japan
choices are made
you go home with Sally Ann
you go home with Sally Ann
you go home

A woman of chances
with no family or friends
in Argentina
she knows only men
you go home with Sally Ann
you go home with Sally Ann
you go home

A woman of color
with debts to be paid
in Trenton or Detroit
she lives by the blade
you go home with Sally Ann
you go home with Sally Ann...............
You go home