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2:45 | 
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
Steep is the water tower
Painted off-blue to match the sky Can't ignore the train Night walks in the valley silent You could swear the earth just moved Can't ignore the train Dust to be kicked up In the crack-faced idle sinister town Screen door to the rail station Devil in her, she ran alongside the wasted tracks Hem pins darted in her calves Can't ignore the train One spoiled girl with the tidiest apology Somehow wedged inside her throat Can't ignore the train Patience their virtue But I never could abide by that Dungeon life with electric light A clean towel and a basin Mantel figures mind their places And laughs where they belong Through adventure We are not adventuresome Rage to share with a wardrobe mirror In a room so beige and cold Can't ignore the train Window days saw the children pick their street games on thirty, thirty Thirty afternoons Molly, the boys are Starting in that rhyme again Teasing more and more the second daughter How she fell Young locked in some folks' prison Made to dwell Till they're braiding her gray hair Sitting in the wishing chair Sitting in the wishing chair Sitting in the wishing chair |
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3:14 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( music: John Lombardo & Robert Buck/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
power dizzy with it stumble detail a chance for us to quarrel anger my head is shaken violent if i could calm or restrain you for the sake of pity save the pistol save the cynics tongue save the cool white stare and treat me to an honest face sometime amaze me now trust is the greatest human error empty used me as a vessel ruthless you're not known for subtlety if i could calm or restrain you for the sake of pity save the pistol save the cynic's tongue save the cool white stare and treat me to an honest face sometime amaze me now artful well there's quite a skill to torture half smile was it all you could deliver token so hard to be pleasant if you could calm or restrain it for the sake of pity save the pistol save the cynic's tongue save the cool white stare and treat me to an honest face sometime amaze me now |
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2:19 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
On one morning
In the month of may When all the birds Were singing I saw a lovely maiden stray Across the fields at break of day She softly sung her roundelay The tide flows in The tide flows out Twice every day returning Her cheeks were red Her eyes were brown Her hair in ringlets hanging down Upon her face to hide the frown Just as the tide was a flowing The tide flows in The tide flows out Twice everyday returning A sailor's wife at home must bide She halted heavily she sighed "he parted from poor me , a bride I'm widowed by the sea" she cried Just as the tide was a flowing The tide flows in The tide flows out Twice every day returning |
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3:13 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( music: Robert Buck/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
come as we go far away from the noise of the street walk a path so narrow to a place where we feel at ease some think it is haunting to be drawn to the cemetery ground as we there's a stillness here thankful found child's pose angelic a stone lamb at her feet part the matted overgrowth to read the carven elegy some think it so haunting to be drawn to the cemetery ground as we there's a stillness here thankful found born in New Albion of Rice family elite wed to Myron Bilowe thrice with sons blessed was she some think it so haunting to be drawn to the cemetery ground as we God's acre is a fenced in hollow ground here soon to rise up Amelia tender and sweet her last words spoke all is well all is peace some think it so haunting to be drawn to the cemetery ground as we God's acre is a fenced in hollow ground |
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3:32 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( music: Dennis Drew/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
Jenny Jenny you don't know the nights I hide below a second story room to whistle you down the man who's let to divvy up time is a miser he's got a silver coin only lets it shine for hours while you sleep it away there's one rare and odd style of living part only known to the everybody Jenny a comical where's the end parade of the sort people here would think unusual Jenny tonight upon the mock brine of a Luna Sea far off we sail on to Back O' The Moon Jenny Jenny you don't know the days I've tried telling backyard tales so to maybe amuse o your mood is never giddy if you smile I'm delighted but you'd rather pout such a lazy child you dare fold your arms tisk and say that I lie there's one rare and odd style of thinking part only known to the everybody Jenny the small step and giant leap takers got the head start in the race toward it Jenny tonight upon the mock brine of a Luna Sea far off we sail on to the Back O' The Moon that was a sigh but not meant to envy you when your age was mine some things were sworn true morning would come and calendar pages had new printed seasons on their opposite sides Jenny Jenny you don't know the nights I hide below a second story room to whistle you down o the man who's let to divvy up time is a miser he's got a silver coin lets it shine for hours while you sleep it away there's one rare and odd style of living part only known to the everybody Jenny out of tin ships jump the bubble head boys to push their flags into powdered soils and cry no second placers no smart looking geese in bonnets dance with pigs in high button trousers no milk pail for the farmer's daughter no merry towns of sweet walled houses here I've found Back O' the Moon not here I've found Back O' the Moon |
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3:19 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( music: Natalie Merchant/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
the legs of Maddox kitchen tables my whole life twisted on a lathe in a foreman's torrent my first English was "faster boy if you want your pay" barking commands loud and simple we could all obey then I was forever pulling silvers rubbed the sawdust always deeper in my eye varnish vapor that could linger on my skin it held tight the whine of spinning blades still echoes to bother my sleep at night see that ox stamped dead center on the letter head of the company mail four decades a spitting image of the animal I portrayed at Maddox Table a yoke was carved for my neck sun through the window oil spattered and in mason jars tricked plenty seeds thrive the standing joke around the shop was with my green thumb anything'd grow my part was to laugh show and ornery jig had cut it at the knuckle bone see that ox trade mark burned into every stick of furniture from horn to tail four decades a spitting image of the animal I portrayed at Maddox Table a yoke was carved for my neck was tailor made o my Dolly was a weak not a burdened girl treat her to a piece of vaudville a Wintergarden moving picture show Bemus Point on July Sundays by trolley we'd go to your benefit we's strike or bargain with the waving fist a union man not just for smokes spirits candy and cologne but for automobile keys cash in the bank and the deed on a place called home |
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4:05 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( 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 here's the loot and plunder they bore home ivory tusk inlaid with precious stone raw silk and spices by the barrel load a soft skin drum with mallets of human bone a world wide rampage rampage of greed so here the tour concludes The Colonial Wing the rooms of the most refined museum property an early pair of spectacles a claw footed divan ornate clocks with birds that strut on the half hours and quarter hours hear them chime |
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3:08 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( lyrics: Natalie Merchant/music: J.C.Lombardo & Robert Buck )
there was light and atomic fission swelling wind rising ash tide of black rain cement seared shawdow traces reminiscent of their last commands instantly one thousand flames arising ill scent the burning hides surrounding a settlement debased entirely enola gay had made a casual delivery please build a future, darling with our bomb cherish and love it for the sake of earth bound kingdom come the undersides of fallen metal trusses evil debris of human bodies each window's glass shards pelted secure confines brittle collapse neighbors lay beside each other unknowing faces scorched of all familiar bearing too few hands many wounds for closing marred by thirsting anguish fear lamenting here we stand at the door to gold atomic age don't spoil your face with worry trust in earth bound kingdom come |
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3:07 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( music: Robert Buck & Dennis Drew/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
dance to the sun a kiss to the earth embrace a stone come the small black book come the brandy cask one strange disease the well worded paper signed by the drunken hands of thieves and suddenly they were told to leave as the snake uncoiled on a road the length was eighty miles wagons' weary horses lead the feverish exiles barefoot in the early snow on a ridge where they beheld their home coarse and barren not the haven promised by the Father Jaksa Chula Harjo Jaksa Chula Harjo Jaksa Chula Harjo ** the Red Sticks first and the Dancing Ghosts were pierced with arms of fire and the weeping widows left could not avenge so the Western Star manifest its will drove them clear into the Pacific O gone the way of flesh turned pale and died by your god's decree for he hated me ** Cherokee name for Andrew Jackson the 7th president of the U.S.A. |
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3:17 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( music: John Lombardo/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
why are some men born with minds that earn degrees the loving cups gilded plaques grace their study walls hide the cracks while their genius is turned to works of tyranny then off to market to market go selling these with words so fiery and persuasive they steal cunningly riches no one can exceed and why are some men born with a fate of poverty one firm bed for a swollen back year by year the bodies wracked while their obedience is had with gradual defeat by the pace by the pace and the urgency through a muddled thought they phrase it God knows we're deceived barter for what they need and where they go disdain and jeering for fools to call the noble peasantry o how it puzzles me I pressed flat the accordion pleats that had gathered in his cotton sleeves while he thumbed yes thumbed I wouldn't say caressed the final piece a mountain's crest soon to reply assuredly o for man aged ninety years no words to waste on sermons he'd be pleased to answer short and sincere girl there's a nonsense in all these heaven measures it's a heathen creed so your grandma says but better to live by... drink it all in before it's dry he ended there with a rattle cough cough I took away the long gone cold coffee cup as a trail of Camel ashes fell on the floor |
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3:23 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( music: John Lombardo/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
one time you made me cry be proud that I remember my chin is sore the bruise is gone but the spot is tender gave my hand a sister coy to Cotton Alley where you did enjoy your wicked games you curious boy tied my laces up together when I fell you laughed until your belly was sore in the brick laid aisle behind the five and dime store that's how I made you blush but doubt if you remember were my tears genuine or those of a skilled pretender nothing precious plain to see don't make a fuss over me not loud not soft but somewhere in between say sorry let it be the word you mean I was a little pest who never took a hint could never take a hint you pinched my fingers in a door tossed my coloring book in a rusty barrel pulled spiders from my hair fingers in the door my favorite blue blouse stained on the back running from a berry war can you hear me scream in Cotton Alley scream in Cotton Alley in Cotton Alley |
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4:30 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( lyrics: Natalie Merchant & J.C. Lombardo/music: J.C. Lombardo )
like a weasel in the clover you tilt toss pop turn over sit down! tremble and weave like a moth by flame deceived sit down! spill with your words caught up dance in your room slide like you're buttered up roll back the tomb sit down! bolt scuff jilt chase circle riddle shake in haste sit down! when the thunderclouds sound ants scatter to high ground |
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3:32 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( 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 she'll raise a shaft lift a banner toss a rose my mother the war she's 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 my mother the war mother the war caressing the globe touch on his isle she wrings hands in pensive waiting my mother the war haunts her doorway begs her postman is there word for my mother the war momentos of distant vigil three years each tour "hands of god enfold him" prayed my mother the war mother the war in bitter defiance she's spitting the corps she's wet a brood short league for combat my mother the war well acquainted with sorrow left millions in grief my mother the war fold laced carrion blood soaked robes mother the war |
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3:33 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
As frail hinges
Pivot on a case's 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 For a memory Clear the dust from Smiles in boxes Pass a patterned wall Recall their voices A local post Will list your friends In order of Disappearance The lawn scattered Tins feed birds A portion baked for Absent guests And the mass edition icon God sent comfort Your salvation But who grants absolution For sins that Never were committed Tension makes a tangle Of each thought Becomes an inconvenience Sound as it never penetrates As servile edges Break and Feint Thought mistaken For a memory A dress length Assassination A fractured family tie Another christening Christening Christening Christening |
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2:18 |
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from 10000 Maniacs, 10000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair (1985)
( music: Natalie Merchant/lyric: Natalie Merchant )
wide open falsehood the clan destine truths rival till the end in a series of duels pardon the drapery language I choose Waltz in Vienna has taught me to use every tall room a fiction leather bound treasure books up to the ceiling gold spine upon spine the guile and the treason the faith and allegiance wide open falsehood the clan destine truths rival till the end in a series of duels pardon the drapery language I choose the author grew fat to imagine his lead pen careening gave voice to the scheming an Aryan cabale to dethrone the guile and the treason the faith and allegiance to the empire unknown the baron and his mistress dine in fine banquet hall as rebel insurgents plot in the attic space crawl wide open falsehood the clan destine truths rival till the end in a series of duels pardon the drapery language I choose his small hand did strive to explain all the rants and raves of a people enslaved by the cant of the shrewdest capable men the guile and the treason the faith and allegiance now lie in my hand the guile and the treason the faith and allegiance now lie in my hand |
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from 10000 Maniacs - The Earth Pressed Flat (2001)
Detroit, L.A., Boston, San Francisco,
first time o'er the ocean on a plane a billion stars below me lay, circle slowly JFK, so much there to see inside of a week they came looking for something new try to press it flat inside of a few days Old Dominion Saturday, Arlington's eternal flame Sunday tour Niagara Falls in the mist. Monday I'll be heading south New Orleans the Cajun sound Tuesday's Tupelo Elvis's home . . . try to press it flat inside of a few days what a wonderful stay, on a mule Grand Canyon ride on Wednesday, hope to get to Denver in a day Friday ride to Washington, in the glacial mountain sun hop a train for Canada to the east they came looking for something new try to press it flat inside of a few days what a wonderful stay |
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from 10000 Maniacs - The Earth Pressed Flat (2001)
Music by 10,000 Maniacs - Lyrics by Mary Ramsey
Eager to please was just the way that he was though his attempts there falling short, expectation see he would tell of all his conquests, was he bragging? but in the evening all alone Ellen unplanned delays saving for someone who really cared about you invincible they say married to your name she was the kind between a child and a lady, quick was her temper like a blaze from an ember no one had measured to her standard, so in the evening all alone all alone how do I tell them to open their minds and to take a chance maybe on finding life's treasure stubborn they stay set in their ways really not wanting to be lonely not alone. |
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from 10000 Maniacs - The Earth Pressed Flat (2001)
Music by 10,000 Maniacs - Lyrics by Mary Ramsey & John Lombardo
This was once a city harmony a common theme but these complications now make life a bit uneasy hallowed buildings scrape the sky voices ride the airwaves once a city years gone by will they still be standing in thecenturies ahead going underground little children hiding, bullets never meant for them must there be such bloodshed in our hearts, our homes, ourheads? will I be walking, walking so free? this was a city once this was once a city harmony a common theme but these complications once a city, once a dream. |
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from 10000 Maniacs - The Earth Pressed Flat (2001)
Music by 10,000 Maniacs - Lyrics by Mary Ramsey
In the coolness of the morning sparing moments here in magical tide I would meet you without question to share a starry gaze a look through the sky from the start there was this kind of glow the start when it's right you'll know, fascinating love's a secret an ancient riddle with no reason or rhyme unpredictable the muses they play never knowing whether teasing or shy. |
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from 10000 Maniacs - The Earth Pressed Flat (2001)
Music by 10,000 Maniacs - Lyrics by Mary Ramsey
Shards of glass cut through my gaze broken streamers hanging at my legs drunk and giddy full of fate at the cabaret smokey stares from the bar do stray bottles tumble I feel the misty spray what a perfect, perfect day for the cabaret from afar he sees Venus rise overwhelmingly beautiful he sighs the look of love was in her eyes puts his hand upon her leg looking closer his lust begins to fade what a drag the queen did say. could this be a dream I'm in? ( Fellini would be proud ) gluttony enfolds the scene give them one last round , shining faces dance away swinging skirts between the panted legs kaleidescoping then shassez in a blink the glasses fly suddenly joy becomes a fight there they tossed and turned a sight. |
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from 10000 Maniacs - The Earth Pressed Flat (2001)
( 10,000 Maniacs )
( unreleased song on Euro and Australian MTT CDS ) I was thinking today if you would remember you'd choose to remember what you left me out there in the cold Days fading away I see you so near I hear your voice calling it calls me from these pages to you Beyond the blue so sudden too soon secrets we knew And I was thinking today if you would surrender you'd choose to surrender to feelings that you tried deserting And if given the choice I'd still wait for the moment still wait for the moment when I could have a hero like you Beyond the blue so sudden too soon secrets we knew Days are fading away but I see you clear I hear your voice calling it calls me from these pages to you Beyond the blue so sudden too soon secrets we knew |
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from 10000 Maniacs - The Earth Pressed Flat (2001)
Music by 10,000 Maniacs - Lyrics by Mary Ramsey & John Lombardo
When the day ends and church bells are ringing when the valley is shroudedin snow, when you're feeling that hope somewhere vanished and there's no poetry left to console you, with the smallest step you'll find a way oh of fate borne and life is a jewel but stone will tarnish as dust will descend take a minute and wipe free the lustre, it'll mirror a day without end with the smallest step you'll feel it starts a journey your way. oh they tried to tell me but I'll learn for myself and when they tried to tell me you know the words disappeared on the wind I was running away and when the laughter echoes through you in a pale beaming ray and you'll know always and ever within you anyway. |
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from 10000 Maniacs - The Earth Pressed Flat (2001)
lyrics/music - Mimi Fariña
In the quiet morning there was much despair and in the hours that followed no one could repair That poor girl tossed by the tides of misfortune Barely here to tell her tale Rolled in on a sea of disaster Rolled out on a mainline rail She once walked tight by my side I'm sure she walked by you Her striding steps could not deny Torment from a child who knew That in the quiet morning there would be despair and in the hour that followed no one could repair That poor girl she cried out her song so loud it was heard the whole world round (A symphony of violence The great southwest unbound) In the quiet morning there was much despair and in the hour that followed no one could repair That poor girl tossed by the tides of misfortune Barely here to tell her tale Rolled in on a sea of disaster Rolled out on a mainline rail |
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from 10000 Maniacs - The Earth Pressed Flat (2001)
Music by 10,000 Maniacs - Lyrics by Mary Ramsey & John Lombardo
I saw time turn so much there to unlearn, you were envy you wouldn't say you tore heart strings that sorry day dark light hid the tears one for each of the years love has reasons reason never knows time turns over love overflows I should have spoken sooner on that sorry day your arms are open and I wondered why wondered why five years passed to the day time heals some people say when you hurt the ones I love you're also hurting me and time turns over turning you from me I thought you'd never reach me on that sorry day your arms were open wide and I wondered why |
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from 10000 Maniacs - The Earth Pressed Flat (2001)
I see the leaves of autumn changing falling turning what was green
I see a door standing open, open to curiosity we could be together tear it all apart would you ever notice what was hidden in my heart heartstrong do we ever listen closely as willows start to weep there as we stood upon the threshold who said forever was for keeps? would you ever notice what was hidden in my heart, my deep heart is reeling forward and steady on to keep, who made me miss the last ferry? who made this river so deep? |
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