| Disc 1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |
| 3:31 | 
|
|||
|
( music: Natalie Merchant/words: Natalie Merchant )
O, Baby blankets and baby shoes, baby slippers, baby spoons, walls of baby blue. Dream child in my head is a nightmare born in a borrowed bed. Now I know lightning strikes again. It struck me once, then struck me dead. My folly grows inside of me. I eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now. Well, the egg man fell down off his shelf. All the good king's men with all their help struggled 'til the end for a shell they couldn't mend. You know where this will lead, to hush and rock in the nursery for the kicking one inside of me. I eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now. When the boy was a boy, the girl was a girl, they found each other in a wicked world. Strong in some respects, but she couldn't stand for the way he begged and gave in. Pride is for men; young girls should run and hide instead. Risk the game by taking dares with "yes". Eat for two, walk for two, breathe for two now. Walk for two? I'm stumbling. Breathe for two? I can't breathe. Five months , how it grows. Five months now, I begin to show. |
||||||
| 2. |
| 3:24 |
|
|||
|
"Mercy, mercy," why didn't we hear it?
"Mercy, mercy," why did we read it buried on the last page of our morning papers? The plan was drafted, drafted in secret. Gunboats met the red tide, driven to the rum trade for the army that they created. But the bullets were bought by us, it was dollars that paid them. Please forgive us, we don't know what was done, Please forgive us, we don't know what was done in our name. There'll be more trials like this in mercenary heydays. When they're so apt to wrap themselves up in the stripes and stars and find that they are able to call themselves heroes and to justify murder by their fighters for freedom. Please forgive us, we don't know what was done. Please forgive us, we didn't know. Could you ever forgive us? I don't know how you could. I know this is no consolation. Please forgive us, we don't know what was done, Please forgive us, we didn't know. Could you ever believe that we didn't know? Please forgive us, we didn't know. I wouldn't blame you if you never could. Please forgive us, we didn't know. I wouldn't blame you if you never could. Please forgive us, and you never will. |
||||||
| 3. |
| 4:01 |
|
|||
|
( music: Jerome Augustyniak/words: Natalie Merchant )
Detroit to D.C. night train, Capitol, parts East. Lone young man takes a seat. And by the rhythm of the rails, reading all his mother's mail from a city boy in a jungle town postmarked Saigon. He'll go live his mother's dream, join the slowest parade he'll ever see. Her weight of sorrows carried long and carried far. "Take these, Tommy, to The Wall." Metro line to the Mall site with a tour of Japanese. He's wandering and lost until a vet in worn fatigues takes him down to where they belong. Near a soldier, an ex-Marine with a tattooed dagger and eagle trembling, he bites his lip beside a widow breaking down. She takes her Purple Heart, makes a fist, strikes The Wall. All come to live a dream, to join the slowest parade they'll ever see. Their weight of sorrows carried long and carried far, taken to The Wall. It's 40 paces to the year that he was slain. His hand's slipping down The Wall for it's slick with rain. How would life have ever been the same if this wall had carved in it one less name? But for Christ's sake, he's been dead over 20 years. He leaves the letters asking, "Who caused my mother's tears, was it Washington or the Viet Cong?" Slow deliberate steps are involved. He takes them away from the black granite wall toward the other monuments so white and clean. O, Potomac, what you've seen. Abraham had his war too, but an honest war. Or so it's taught in school. |
||||||
| 4. |
| 3:14 |
|
|||
|
Trouble me, disturb me with all your cares and your worries.
Trouble me on the days when you feel spent. Why let your shoulders bend underneath this burden when my back is sturdy and strong? Trouble me. Speak to me, don't mislead me, the calm I feel means a storm is swelling; there's no telling where it starts or how it ends. Speak to me, why are you building this thick brick wall to defend me when your silence is my greatest fear? Why let your shoulders bend underneath this burden when my back is sturdy and strong? Speak to me. Let me have a look inside these eyes while I'm learning. Please don't hide them just because of tears. Let me send you off to sleep with a "There, there, now stop your turning and tossing." Let me know where the hurt is and how to heal. Spare me? Don't spare me anything troubling. Trouble me, disturb me with all your cares and your worries. Speak to me and let our words build a shelter from the storm. Lastly, let me know what I can mend. There's more, honestly, than my sweet friend, you can see. Trust is what I'm offering if you trouble me. |
||||||
| 5. |
| 3:38 |
|
|||
|
( music: Robert Buck/words: Natalie Merchant )
How did they teach you to be just a happy puppet dancing on a string? How did you learn everything that comes along with slavish funnery? Tell me something, if the world is so insane, is it making you sane again to let another man tug at the thread that pulls up your nodding head? How did they teach you to be just a happy puppet dancing on a string? How do you manage to live inside this tiny stage you can't leave? Tell me something, if the world is so insane, is it making you sane again to let another man tug at the thread that pulls up your nodding head? A dullard strung on the wire. When the master's gone you hang there with your eyes and your limbs so lifeless. How did they teach you to be just a happy puppet dancing on a string? How do you manage to speak, your mouth a frozen grin? A dullard strung on the wire. When the master's gone you hang there with your eyes and your limbs so lifeless. Tell me something, if the world is so insane, is it making you sane again to let another man tug at the thread that pulls up your empty wooden head? Your hollow head, your marble eyes, your wooden hands and your metal jaw pins all wait in limbo for the man who knows how to move you this way. |
||||||
| 6. |
| 4:17 |
|
|||
|
( music: Natalie Merchant/words: Natalie Merchant )
To your common sense firm arguments I won't listen to your voice of reason trying to change my mind. I mind my feelings and not your words. Didn't you notice I'm so headstrong even when I know I'm wrong? Take this to your heart and into your head now: before you waste your time, call a truce and call a draw. What's the use in mapping your views out in orderly form when it does nothing but confuse and anger me more? I mind my feelings and not your words. Didn't you notice I'm so headstrong. You're talking to a deaf stone wall. Take this to your heart and into your head now: the old wives' tale is true, I'll repeat it. All is fair in love and war, that's how the famous saying goes. Open up your eyes, see me for what I am: cast in iron, I won't break and I won't bend. Take this to your heart and into your head now: the old wives' tale is true, I'll repeat it. All is fair in love and war, that's how the famous saying goes. If I told you we were out to sea in a bottomless boat, you'd try anything to save us, you'd try anything to keep us afloat. And if we were living in a house afire, I don't believe that you could rush out and escape it and not rescue me. Take this to your heart and into your head now: the old wives' tale is true, I'll repeat it. All is fair in love and war, that's how the famous saying goes. Listen, I think they were talking to you. |
||||||
| 7. |
| 3:09 |
|
|||
|
( music: Dennis Drew/words: Natalie Merchant )
Tell me what's gone wrong. I tilt my head there, under the faucet, but when I turn it on -- dry as paper. Call the neighbors. Who's to blame for what's going on? In the dark without a clue I'm just the same as you. O, they tell us there's poison in the well, that someone's been a bit untidy and there's been a small spill. Not a lot, no, just a drop. But there you are mistaken, you know you are. I wonder just how long they knew our well was poisoned but they let us just drink on. O, they tell us there's poison in the well, that someone's been a bit untidy and there's been a small spill. All that it amounts to is a tear in a salted sea. Someone's been a bit untidy, they'll have it cleaned up in a week. But the week is over and now it's grown into years since I was told that I should be calm, there's nothing to fear here. But I drank that water for years, my wife and my children. Tell me, where to now, if your fight for a bearable life can be fought and lost in you backyard? O, don't tell us there's poison in the well, that someone's been a bit untidy, that there's been a small spill. All that it amounts to is a tear in a salted sea. Someone's been a bit untidy, they'll have it cleaned up in a week. |
||||||
| 8. |
| 4:12 |
|
|||
|
I should know to leave them home.
They follow me through the store with these toys I can't afford. "Kids, take them back, you know better than that." Dolls that talk, astronauts, T.V. games, airplanes, they don't understand and how can I explain? I try and try but I can't save. Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away. I've tried and tried but I can't save. My youngest girl has bad fever, sure. All night with alcohol to cool and rub her down. Ruby, I'm tired, try and get some sleep. I'm adding doctor's fees to remedies with the cost of three day's work lost. I try and try but I can't save. Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away. I've tried and tried but I can't save. The hole in my pocketbook is growing. There's a new wind blowing they say, it's gonna be a cold, cold one. So brace yourselves my darlings, it won't bring anything much our way but more dust bowl days. I played a card in this weeks game. Took the first and the last letters in three of their names. This lottery's been building up for weeks. I could be lucky me with the five million prize, tears of disbelief spilling out of my eyes. I try and try but I can't save. Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away. I've tried and tried but I can't save. The hole in my pocketbook is growing. There's a new wind blowing they say, it's gonna be a cold, cold one. So brace yourselves my darlings, it won't bring anything much our way but more dust bowl days. |
||||||
| 9. |
| 3:04 |
|
|||
|
( music: Natalie Merchant & Dennis Drew/words: Natalie Merchant )
Can I be unhappy? Look at what I see: a beast in furs and crowned in luxury. He's a wealthy man in the poorest land, a self-appointed king, and there's no complaining while he's reigning. The lambs are bare of fleece and cold; the lion has stolen that, I'm told. There must be some creature mighty as you are. The lambs go hungry (not fair), the biggest portion is the lion's share. There must be some creature mighty as you are. Can I be unhappy? Listen and agree, no words can shame him or tame him. The lambs are bare of fleece and cold; the lion has stolen that, I'm told. There must be some creature mighty as you are. The lambs go hungry (not fair), the biggest portion is the lion's share. There must be some creature mighty as you are, as you are. Razor claws in velvet paws, you dunce in your guarded home, 'til a stronger beast will call on you and pounce upon your throne. Do we pay? Dearly, for the lion takes so greedily and he knows that what he's taken, it is ours. That's how the wealth's divided among the lambs and king of the beasts, it is so one-sided. Until the lamb is king of the beasts we live so one-sided. |
||||||
| 10. |
| 4:31 |
|
|||
|
( music: Natalie Merchant/words: Natalie Merchant )
In the dark night a giant slumbered untouched for centuries 'til awakened by a white man's cry: "This is the Eden I was to find." There were lands to be charted and to be claimed for a crown, when a hero was made by the length he could stay in this dangerous land of hateful hate. Curiosity filled the heads of these, there was an upper room they had to see. Curiosity killed the best of these for a hero's hometown welcoming. Still they moved on and on. Who came building missions? Unswerving men of the cloth who gave their lives in numbers untold so that black sheep entered the fold. Captured like human livestock, destined for slavery. Naked, walked to the shore where great ships moored for the hellbound journies. Bought and sold with a hateful hate. Curiosity filled the breasts of these with some strange ecstasy. Curiosity killed the best of these by robbing their lives of dignity. Still they moved on and on. Calling men of adventure for a jungle bush safari. Come conquer the, his claws and teeth. See death in his eyes to know you're alive. European homesteads grew up in the colonies with civilized plans for wild hinterlands, their guns and God willing. Such a hateful hate. Curiosity spilled the blood of these for their spotted skins and ivory. Curiosity filled the heads of these madmen with the lies of destiny. Curiosity spilled the blood of these, then blotted their lives from history. Curiosity filled the heads of these, one man claimed all that he could see. Curiosity still entices these madmen with a lusting and a greed. Their legacy, legacy, legacy... |
||||||
| 11. |
| 6:08 |
|
|||
|
He fills the flower vases
Trims the candle bases Takes small change from the poor box Tyler has the key He takes nail and hammer To tack up the banner of felt scraps glued together reading, "Jesus Lives in Me" Alone in the night he mocks the words of the preacher: "God is feeling your every pain" Repair the Christmas stable Restore the plaster angel Her lips begin to crumble and her robes begin to peel For Bible study in the church basement Hear children Gospel citing Matthew 17:15 Alone in the night he mocks the arms of the preacher raised to the ceiling "Tell God your pain" To him the world's defiled In Lot he sees a likeness there He swears this Sodom will burn down. Near Sacred Blood there's a dance hall Where Tyler Glen saw a black girl and a white boy kissing shamelessly Black hands on white shoulders White hands on black shoulders Dancing, and you know what's more He's God's mad disciple, A righteous title for the Word he heard He so misunderstood Though simple-minded, a crippled man, to know this man's to fear this man To shake when he comes Wasn't it God that let Puritans in Salem Do what they did to the unfaithful? Boys at the Jubilee Slowly sink into brown-bag whiskey drinking And reeling on their feet Girls at the Jubilee In low-cut dresses yield to the caresses and the man-handling Black hands on white shoulders White hands on black shoulders Dancing, and you know what's more Through the tall blades of grass he Heads for the Jubilee With a bucket in his right hand Full of rags soaked in gasoline He lifts the shingles in the dark and slips the rags there underneath He strikes a matchstick on the box side and watches the rags ignite He climbs the bell tower of the Sacred Blood to watch the flames Rising higher toward the trees Sirens wailing now toward the scene |
||||||
|
