Dory Previn

I have flown

To star-stained heights

On bend and battered wings

In search of

Mythical kings

Mythical kings

Sure that everything of worth

Is in the sky and not the earth

And i never learned

To make my way

Down

Down

Down

Where the iguanas play

I have ridden

Comet tails

In search of magic rings

To conjure

Mythical kings

Mythical kings

Singing scraps of angel-song

High is right and low is wrong

And i never taught

Myself to give

Down

Down

Down

Where the iguanas live

Astral walks i try to take

I sit and throw i ching

Aesthetic bards

And tarot cards

Are the cords

To which i cling

Don't break my strings

(i wish you would)

Or i will fall

(i wish i could

I wish i could

I wish i could)

Curse the mind

That mounts the clouds

In search of mythical kings

And only

Mystical things

Mystical things

Cry for the soul

That will not face

The body as an equal place

And i never learned

To touch for real

Or feel the things

Iguanas feel

Down

Down

Down

Where they play

Teach me

Teach me

Teach me

Reach me.

We never stop to wonder
Till a person's gone
We never yearn
To know him
Till he's travelled on
When someone is around us
We never stop to ask
Hey, what's behind your mirror
Hey, who's beneath your mask
We never stop to wonder
Till a person's gone
We never yearn
To know him
Till he's packed
And travelled on

Sweet Marilyn Monroe
On the silver screen
Platinum reflection
In a movie magazine
Well, did you ever
Have a headache
Did your mama own a gramaphone
Did you like to be an actress
Were you scared
To be alone

We never stop to wonder
Till a person's gone
We never yearn
To know him
Till he's travelled on
When someone is around us
We don't know what we're seeing
We take a polaroid picture
To find the human being
We never stop to wonder
Till a person's gone
We never yearn
To know him
Till he's packed
And travelled on

Sweet beautiful Jesus
On a painted cross
Polystyrene body
With a superficial gloss
Hey, were you
Jealous of your father
Were you short
When you were fully grown
Did you like to walk on water
Were you scared
To be alone

I think perhaps tomorrow
I'll try to make a friend
To really get
To know him
Instead of pretend
I'll ask him if his feet hurt
Has he burdens to be shared
And if he doesn't walk away
I'll ask him
If he's scared
And if he doesn't walk away
If his eyes don't
Turn to stone
I'll ask him
If he's scared
To be alone

My daddy says
I ain't his child
Ain't that something
Ain't that wild
Daddy says
I ain't his child
Ain't that something

Wild
My hair is curly
My freckles are tan
Could my daddy be
The garbage man
My legs are stumpy
My fingers are short
Like my Uncle Will
Who is the
Bowling sport
My eyes are slanty
Like Mister Woo
Hey
Mister laundryman
Is it you
I'm ugly as Steve
With the big moustache
But mama says Poles
Are a piece of trash

Hey
Anybody I might
Have missed
Would you care to state
That I exist
I ain't quite sure
What it is
I did
To make him swear
That I ain't
His kid
But he told mama
And she told me
Back when I was
Just about three
She felt my face
And she
Kind of smiled
And she said
He say
You ain't my child

My daddy says
I ain't his child
Ain't that something
Ain't that wild
Daddy says
I ain't his child
Ain't that
Something
Wild
Ain't that
Something
Wild

I'm always loving someone

More than he loves me

Lord

I wish

Just this once

That's not how it would be

I always try too hard

When i find someone new

God

I wish

Just this once

You'd need me more

That i need you

I danced

To please my father

Just to win once glance

Some sign of his approval

I danced and danced

And danced and danced

I smiled

To make my mother

Proud i was her child

To gain some small attention

I smiled and smiled

And smiled and smiled

My books and bikes

I bartered to try

To buy a friend

Now i'm grown

This heart i own

Is the currency

I spend and spend

And spend

And

In the end

I'll give you

Everything i own

Sure

You'd never want me

For myself alone

How i hate the way i am

Always trying to impress

Lord

If i could love me more

I could love you less

And if i could

Love you less

I would not

Confuse you

Dancing

Dancing

Smiling

Smiling

Till

Of course

I lose you....

When she made her first communion
Esther made the perfect union
In her dress of white and wispy veil
Esther's parents said to please us
You got to go an marry Jesus
And her father took her to the alter rail

When she made her first communion
Esther made the perfect union
And that night she though of him in bed
She decided if he sees us
We ought to get a look at Jesus
And she began to see the one she wed

I began to see little Jesus
He was sitting on my bed
That's what Esther told her mother
And to which her mother said
You're an evil child to tease us
Glory be I hope to Jesus
That your father never hears this
He would wash your mouth with soap

When she made her first communion
Esther made the perfect union
But she never saw his little face again
Yeh her mother said don't tease us
So instead of seeing Jesus
She began to see a lot of other men

What she saw was quite a collection
Older men and young ones too
Cousins friends and even a brother
One at a time and quite a few
She began to see a gay uncle
Who resembled Billy Graham
She began to see perfect strangers
She didn't even know by name

When she made her first communion
Esther made the perfect union
But she never saw his face again
Yeh her mother said don't tease us
So instead of seeing Jesus
She began to see a lot of other men
But she never told her mother again
No she never told her mother again
No

Oh babe
He loves you
But he just can't make it with you
And he just can't tell you it's true
How can he pass the test
When he just can't hardly move himself
Let alone prove himself the best

Oh babe
He wants you
But he just can't get it on as you planned
And i guess a girl just can't understand
How much a guy goes through
All she has to do is let herself
She doesn't have to get herself up
On cue
Like a performing seal
In a zoo

How was last night's
Performance babe?
Was it better than
The night before?
Are the old credentials
Any good any good any good any more
Or is the act beginning to bore you?
He can sing!
He can dance!
He can juggle!
He a regular one-man band
His costume's a little tattered
His label says
Made in japan
But he beats his battered drum
And he rattles his empty can
And he somehow gets
His flag to fly
Looka him
Looka him
He's a man!

Oh babe
Inside him
It's like there's a
Little kid in a jail
Crying denying he's fragile and frail
Hey looka him
He's a male
But it's the wail
Of the weary minstrel
It's the dance
Of the desperate clown
Singing
Don't put
Don't put me down
If i fail
Please babe
Don't put me down
If i fail

Yada yada yada yada yada

Let's top talking talking talking

Wasting precious time

Just a lot of empty noise

That isn't worth a dime

Words of wonder

Words of whether

Should we shouldn't we

Be together

Yada yada yada yada yada yada

Let's top talking talking talking

Taking up out lives

Saying things that don't make sense

Hoping help arrives

Curse my questions

Damn your qualms

Tomorrow they could be

Dropping bombs

And we go yada yada yada yada yada

So we sit

At a restaurant table

Discussing reasons

We're unable to commit

That's not it

All i want

Is to please and enjoy you

What makes you think

I'll be out to destroy you

If you commit

That's not it

Is it something you sense

Underneath my defenses

That makes me a threat

That's not it

And yet

Suppose that's it

Ow wow wow i don't want to

Think about that now

Let's top talking talking talking

Every lame excuse

Justifying alibying

Listen what's the use

The sparrow chirps

The chipmunk chatters

And we go on as mad as a hatter

And nothing at all gets said

Talk to me please

In bed

Where it matters

Yada yada yada yada yada

I walk in
I ain't too dumb
I know i got some handicaps t'overcome
I mean y'seen one midget
Y'seen 'em all
Oh yeah midget
Oh yeah small
And that's as far as you can see
Is that the sum
And total substance of me?
Midgets d-warfs chimps in a zoo
They all look alike to you

Well listen good
'cause i don't lie
There's a whole lot more to me
Than meets the eye
And it fills my little soul
With midget hate
The way that people will not learn
To differentiate
Yeah sure midget
That's what you say
And that's as far as it goes
But have you ever said
That's a hungarian midget?
Or that's a midget with
A wart on his nose?

Have you ever taken the time to notice
A midget with curly hair
It isn't fair
There are skinny midgets
Fat midgets
Gay midgets flat midgets
There are midgets in deep despair
Half a soul half a brain
Half a heart
And twice the pain
Sure they're cute
And they're a lot of fun
But would you want your sister
To marry one?

Midget small
That's it and that's all
The classification it is made
Midget runt
Well now i gotta be blunt
I wish i was born
I wish i was born a spade
Sure i would still be a midget
But i would have such
Such beautiful coloration
And among my fellow midgets
I would be a sensation
Talk about standing out
In the pack
I wish i was black
Midgets d-warfs chimpanzees
Ain't it all relative
When you're on your knees?
So don't tell me
Don't tell me
About minorities
I wish to christ
I wish to christ
I was black

The left hand is
We always say
The demon devil's side
The left had does
The dirty work
The shameful things
You hide
Judas kissed the left cheek of christ
It's satan's special mark
There were no left-footed animals
Allowed on noah's ark
Left-handed people are impure
They go against the grain
Left-handed children
Play with themselves
And drive themselves insane

I was born left-handed
But the nuns where i went to school
They said it wasn't right so they
Broke me of it
And now i'm right-handed
Just like i'm supposed to be
And now
I'm fine
I'm just fine
Really
Really

But sometimes
I get so low so low
Sometimes
I get so depressed
As though i lost
A part of me that loved me
The part that knew me best
The child in me that cried
To be cherished
The side of me
That tried to be my friend
In the heart of me was living
And loving
But it perished
And i'll never be
Completely me again

My right had fills the china teacups
And needlepoints with old maid aunts
My right hand clings to rosary beads
And waters dying plants
But it's never painted a picture
Nor has it run for president
My left hand
Might have done these things
If its roots
Had not been bent
A sculptor
A poet
It might have been
Instead of a useless thing
To decorate with bangles and bracelets
And my mother's wedding ring

Something
It might have accomplished
Or nothing
But now i'll never know
Oh
My lost
My left
My natural hand
My god
I miss you so

When a man wants a woman
He says it's a compliment
He says he's only trying
To capture her
To claim her
To tame her
When he wants everything, everything of her
Her soul her love
Her life forever and more
He says
He's persuading her
He says
He's pursuing her

But when a woman wants a man
He says she's threatening him
He says she's only trying
To trap him
To train him
To chain him
When she wants anything, anything of him
A look a touch
A moment of his time
He says
She's demanding
He swears
She's destroying him

Why is it
When a man wants a woman
He's called a hunter?
But when a woman wants a man
She's called a predator?

Loved i two men

Equally well

Though they were diff'rent

As heaven and hell

One was an artist

One drove a truck

One would make love

The other would fuck

Each treated me

The way he knew best

One help me lightly

One bruised my breast

And i responded

On two diff'rent levels

Like children reacting

To angels and devils

One was a poet

Who sang and read verse

One was a peasant

Who drank and who cursed

Before you decide

Who's cruel and who's kind

Let me explain

What i felt

In my heart and my mind....

The artist was tender

But suffered from guilt

Making him sorry

The following day

And he made me feel guilty

The very same way

In his bed on the following day

The other would take me

And feel no remorse

He'd wake with a smile

In the bed where we lay

And he made me smile

In the very same way

In his bed on the following day

The blow to my soul

By fear and taboos

Cut deeper far

Than a bodily bruise

And the one who was gentle

Hurt me much more

Than the one who was rough

And made love on the floor.

You know the hollywood sign
That stands in the hollywood hills
I don't think the christ of the andes
Ever blessed so many ills
The hollywood sign seems to smile
Like it's constantly saying "cheese"
I doubt if the statue of liberty
Ever welcomed more refugees

Give me your poor
Your tired your pimps
You carhops your cowboys
Your midgets your chimps
Give me your freaks
Your whores your harlots
Your flunkies your junkies
Give me your starlets

Mary cecilia brown
Rode to town on a malibu bus
She climbed to the top
Of the hollywood sign
And with the smallest possible fuss
She jumped off the letter "h"
'cause she did not become a star
She died in less than a minute and a half
She looked a bit like hedy lamarr

Sometimes i have this dream
When the time comes for me to go
I will climb that hill
And i'll hang myself
From the second or third letter "o"

When mary cecilia jumped
She finally made the grade
Her name was in the obituary column
Of both the daily trades

I hope the hollywood sign
Cries for the town it touches
The lady of lourdes in her grotto
Saw fewer cripples and crutches

Give me your poor
Your maladjusted
Your sick and your beat
And your sad and your busted
Give me your has-beens
Give me your twisted
Your loners your losers
Give me your black-listed

You know the hollywood sign
The witness to our confusion
A symbol of dreams
Turns out to be
A sign
Of disillusion.

I was riding in my car

Screaming at the night

Screaming at the dark

Screaming at fright

I wasn't doing nothing

Just drive about

Screaming at the dark

Letting it out

That's all I was doing

Just letting it out

Well along comes a motorcycle

Very much to my surprise

I said officer was I speeding

I couldn't see his eyes

He said no you weren't speeding

And he felt where his gun was hung

He said lady you were screaming

At the top of your lung

And you were

Doing it along

You were doing it alone

You were screaming in your car

In a twenty-mile zone

You were doing it alone

You were doing it alone

You were screaming

I said I'll roll up all my windows

Don't want to disturb the peace

I'm just a creature

Who is looking

For a little release

I said

And what's so wrong with screaming

Don't you do it at your games

When the quarterback

Breaks an elbow

When the boxer beats and maims

But you were

Doing it alone

You were doing it alone

You were screaming in your car

In a twenty-mile zone

You were doing it alone

You were doing it alone

You were screaming

I said animals roar

When they feel like

Why can't we do that too

Instead of screaming

Banzai baby

In the war in the human zoo

He said I got to take you in now

Follow me right behind

And let's have no more screaming

Like you're out of your mind

So he climbed aboard his cycle

And his red-eyed headlight beamed

And his motor started spinning

And his siren screamed

He was doing it alone

He was doing it alone

He was screaming on his bike

In a twenty-mile zone

He was doing it alone

He was doing it alone

He was screaming

I was doing it alone

I was doing it alone

I was screaming in my car

In a twenty-mile zone

I was doing it alone

I was doing it alone

I was screaming

We were doing it together

We were doing it together

We were screaming at the dark

In a twenty-mile zone

We were doing it together

We were doing it together

We were screaming

We were doing it together

We were doing it

Together

Alone

In a twenty-mile zone

Michael Michael
Superman
Muscle-bound
And supertan
Leather jacket
Denim pants
Never did learn
How to dance
How to dance
Digs karate
Raps on Zen
Michael makes it
Best with men
Digs karate
Raps on Zen
Michael makes it
Best with men

Michael Michael Michael
Superman
Muscle-bound
And supertan
When he walks
And talks
And moves
Michael proves
And proves
And proves
Michael is a
Hyper superman

Pushes acid
Peddles hash
That's how Michael
Gets his stash
Rides his cycle
Likes a king
Knows his number
Does his thing
Does his thing
And if he wants to
He can con
Any bird
He's turning on
If he wants to
He can con
Any bird
He's turning on

Michael Michael Michael
Superman
Muscle-bound
And supertan
When he walks
And talks
And moves
Michael proves
And proves
And proves
Michael is a
Hyper superman
But
Late at night
He sometimes seems
To hear
His mother's voice
In dreams
Calling to him
Clear and plain
But she calls him
Mary Jane
Mary Jane
And Michael answers
Plain and clear
I am coming
Mother dear
Michael answers
Plain and clear
I am coming
Mother dear
Michael Michael Michael
Superman
Muscle-bound
And supertan
When he walks
And talks
And moves
Michael proves
And proves
And proves
Michael is a
Hyper superman
A superman

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