- The Dutchman's not the kind of man to keep his thumb jammed in the dam that holds his dreams in, but that's a secret only Margaret knows. When Amsterdam is golden in the morning Margaret brings him breakfast; She believes him. He thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snow. He's mad as he can be but Margaret only sees that sometimes. Sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes. Let us go to the banks of the ocean, where the walls rise above the Zuider Zee. Long ago I used to be a young man and dear Margaret remembers that for me. The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes, his cap and coat are patched with love that Margaret sewed in. Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam. He watches tugboats down canals and calls out to them when he thinks he knows the captain 'til Margaret comes to take him home again. Through unforgiving streets that trip him though she holds his arm. Sometimes he thinks that he's alone and calls her name. The windmills whirl the winter in, he winds his muffler tighter they sit in the kitchen; Some tea with whiskey keeps away the dew. He sees her for a moment, calls her name, she makes the bed up humming some old love song; She learned it when the tune was very new. He hums a line or two, they hum together in the night. The Dutchman falls asleep and Margaret blows the candle out.
- Well I woke up to the sound of silence and cries were cutting like knives in a fist fight. And I found you with a bottle of wine, your head in the curtains and heart like the Fourth of July. You swore and said, "We are not, we are not shining stars." This I know, I never said we are. Though I've never been through hell like that, I've closed enough windows to know you can never look back. If you're lost and alone, or you're sinking like a stone: Carry on. May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground: Carry on. So I met up with some friends at the edge of the night, at a bar off 75. And we talked and talked about how our parents will die, all our neighbours and wives. But I like to think I can cheat it all, to make up for the times I've been cheated on, and it's nice to know when I was left for dead. I was found and now I don't roam these streets, I am not the ghost you are to me. My head is on fire but my legs are fine, after all, they are mine. Lay your clothes down on the floor, close the door, hold the phone; show me how no one’s ever gonna stop us tonight.
- Remember when our songs where just like prayers? Like gospel hymns that you called in the air. Come down, come down sweet reverence, unto my simple house and ring…and ring. Ring like silver, ring like gold, ring out those ghosts on the Ohio. Ring like clear day wedding bells. Were we the belly of the beast or the sword that fell? We’ll never tell. Come to me clear and cold on some sea, watch the world spinning waves like some machine. Now I've been crazy couldn't you tell? I threw stones at the stars, but the whole sky fell. Now i’m covered up in straw, belly up on the table, well I sang and drank, and passed in the stable. That tall grass grows high and brown; Well I dragged you straight in the muddy ground and you sent me back to where I roam. Well I cursed and I cried, but now I know…now I know. And I ran back to that hollow again. The moon was just a sliver back then and I ached for my heart like some tin man, when it came oh it beat and it boiled and it rang..its ringing. Ring like crazy, ring like hell. Turn me back into that wild haired gale. Ring like silver, ring like gold. Turn these diamonds straight back into coal.
- Kiss me, out of the bearded barley; Lightly, beside the green, green grass. Swing, swing, swing the spinning step-I'll wear those shoes and you will wear that dress. Oh, kiss me beneath the milky twilight. Lead me out on the moonlit floor. Lift your open hand and strike up the band and make the fireflies dance, silver moon’s sparkling, so kiss me. Kiss me down by the broken tree house. Swing me upon its hanging tire. Bring, bring, bring your flowered hat; we’ll take the trail marked on your father’s map. Kiss me beneath the milky twilight; Lead me out on the moonlit floor. Lift your open hand, strike up the band and make the fireflies dance silver moon’s sparkling, so kiss me.
- Fare you well, my dear, I must be gone, and leave you for a while; If I roam away I'll come back again, though I roam ten thousand miles, my dear. The sea will never run dry, my dear, nor the rocks melt with the sun, but I never will prove false to the bonny lass I love till all these things be done, my dear. Till all these things be done.
- Get up in the evening, and I ain't got nothing to say. I come home in the moring, I go to bed feeling the same way. I ain't nothing but tired, man I'm just tired and bored with myself. Hey there baby, I could use just a little help. You can't start a fire, you can't start a fire without a spark. This gun's for hire even if we're just dancing in the dark. Message just keep getting clearer, radio's on and I'm moving round the place. I check my look in the mirror wanna change my clothes my hair my face. Man I ain't getting nowhere I'm just livin in a dump like this. There's something happening somewhere baby I just know that there is. You sit around getting older there's a joke here somewhere and it's on me. I'll shake this world off my shoulders come on baby the laughs on me. Stay on the streets of this town and they'll be carving you up alright. They say you got to stay hungry hey baby I'm just about starving tonight. I'm dying for some action I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book. I need a love reaction come on baby give me just one look. You can't start a fire, sittin' 'round cryin' over a broken heart. This gun's for hire even if we're just dancing in the dark. You can't start a fire, worryin' about your little world falling apart; This gun's for hire even if we're just dancing in the dark.
- In an old house on a hillside next to the sea, far from the madness, that folds around me. Peaceful and gentle, like sails on the breeze, in an old house on a hillside next to the sea. There’s a warm light on a cold night and clean cotton sheets, soap smelling skin and tingling feet with stars lining the skyline and shine through the trees. In an old house on a hillside next to the sea. And when the autumn comes down we’ll get what we need from the town and all of our friends will be round in an old house on a hillside next to the sea. Moon white as paper and night like asleep with old things behind us and new things to be in an old house on a hillside next to the sea. And when the sunshine comes down, my hair will turn golden and my skin will turn brown and all of our friends will be round.
may 28 2014 ∞
jun 5 2014 +