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Bathroom Window
She came in through the bathroom window,
Protected by a silver spoon But now she sucks her thumb and wonders
By the banks of her own lagoon
Didn’t anybody tell her
Didn’t anybody see
Sundays on the phone to Monday
Tuesdays on the phone to me.
She said she’d always been a dancer
She worked at fifteen clubs a day
And though she thought I knew the answer
Well I knew but I could not say.
And so I quit the police department
And got myself a steady job
And though she tried her best to help me
She could steal but she could not rob.
Didn’t anybody tell her
Didn’t anybody see
Sundays on the phone to Monday
Tuesdays on the phone to me
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Ode To Billie Joe
It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton, my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty that I've got to plow"
And Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge
Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, stopped by today"
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl who looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news about Billy Joe
Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now Mama she don't seem to wanna do much, much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge
And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge |
Lonely At The Top
I've been around the world,
Had my pick of any girl
You'd think I'd be happy,
But I'm not
Everybody knows my name,
Still it's just a crazy game,
Oh, it's lonely at the top
Listen to the band they're playin', just for me,
Listenin' to the people payin', just for me,
All the applause and all the parades,
And all the money I have made,
Oh, it's lonely at the top
Listen all you fools out there,
Go on and love me I don't care,
Oh, it's lonely at the top
Ohhhhh, it's lonely at the top
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Real Emotional Girl
She's a real emotional girl
She wears her heart on her sleeve
Every little thing you tell her,
She'll believe,
She really will
She even cries in her sleep,
I've heard her
Many times before
I never had a girl who loved me
Half as much as this girl loves me She's a real emotional girl
For 18 years she lived at home
She was daddy's little girl
And daddy helped her move out on her own
She met a boy,
He broke her heart
And now she lives alone
And she's very, very careful, yes she is
She's a real emotional girl
She lives way down deep inside herself
She turns on easy
It's like a hurricane
You would not believe it
You gotta hold on tight to her
She's a real emotional girl
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Fancy
I remember it all very well lookin' back
It was the summer I turned eighteen
We lived in a one room, run-down shack
On the outskirts of New Orleans
We didn't have money for food or rent
To say the least we were hard pressed
Then Mama spent every last penny we had
To buy me a dancin' dress
Mama washed and combed and curled my hair
And she painted my eyes and lips then I stepped into a satin
dancin' dress split on the side clean up to my hips
It was red velvet trim and it fit me good
Then starin' back from the lookin' glass
Was a woman where a half gown kid had stood
Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
Mama dabbed a little bit of perfume on my neck
And she kissed my cheek
Then I saw the tears well up in her troubled eyes
When she started to speak
She looked at a pitiful shack
And then she looked at me and took a ragged breath
Your Pa's run off and I'm real sick
And the baby's gonna starve to death
She handed me a heart shaped locket that said
"To thine own self be true"
And I shivered as I watched a roach crawl across
The toe of my high heel shoe
It sounded like somebody else that was talkin'
Askin' Mama what do I do
Well just be nice to the gentlemen Fancy
And they'll be nice to you
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My Dear Companion
Oh have you seen my dear companion
For he was all this world to me
But now he's gone to some farcountry
And so he cares no more for me
I wish that I were some swallow flying
I'd fly to a high and lonesome place
I'd join the wild birds in their crying
Thinking of you and your sweet face Oh have you seen my dear companion
For he was all this world to me
But now the stars have turned against me
And so he cares no more for me Oh when the dark is on the mountain
And all the world has gone to sleep
I will go down to the cold dark waters
And there I'll lay me down and weep
Oh have you seen my dear companion
Oh have you seen my dear companion
Oh have you seen my dear companion
For he was all this world to me |
Barbara Song
I used to believe in the days I was pure,
And I was pure, as you used to be,
My wonderful someone,
Would come to me someday,
And then it would all depend on me,
If he's a good man,
If he's a rich man,
Wears a fine cravat, smokes a cigar,
And if he's good and treats me like a lady,
Then I shall tell him, "Sorry"
Chin up high,
Keep your powder dry,
Don't relax or go too far,
Oh, that moon is gonna shine till dawn,
Keep that little rowboat cruising on and on,
You stay perpendicular
Oh, you can't just let a man woalk over you,
Cold and dignified is what you are,
Such a whole lot of things can happen,
So firmly say, but sweetly (in a whisper) "Sorry"
The first to appear was a young man from Kent,
He was all that a man ought to be,
The second was older, and bolder I know,
And the third one was crazy mad for me,
They were all rich men,
They were all fine men,
Wore silk cravats, smoked a big cigar,
And since they always made me feel a perfect lady,
I said politely, "Sorry"
I would sigh, Keep my chin up high,
Never relax or go too far,
Oh, I let the moon go shining on,
I let that little rowboat cruise around till dawn,
I stayed perpendicular,
I could not just let a man walk over me,
Perhaps my dignity went rather far,
Such an interesting lot of things might have happened,
I simply indicated (in a whisper) "Sorry"
One day comes a man,
But what kind of a man?
Do you know what he does?
What he does, He walked into my room,
And he hung up his hat,
And I just didn't know where I was,
He was a lean man,
He was a mean man,
Owned no cravat, smoked no cigar,
And God knows he never made me feel a lady,
There just wasn't time for "Sorry"
Chin up high? My chin was down my shoes!
And I relaxed, but far too far,
Oh, the way the moon kept shining on,
The night was night for rowing and this girl was gone,
Not so perpendicular,
So you let a man just walk right over you,
Who said dignified is what you are?
Such a wonderful lot of terrible things did happen,
And now it's you can tell me (almost inaudible) "Sorry"
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Lament
Listen children, your father is dead,
Form his old coat, I'll make you little jackets,
I'll make you little trousers from his old pants,
There'll be, in his pockets, things he used to put there,
Keys and pennies, covered in tobacco,
Dan shall have the pennies to save in his bank,
Anne shall have the keys to make a pretty noise of it,
Life must go on, and the dead be forgotten,
Life must go on, though good men die,
Anne, eat your breakfast,
Dan, take your medicine,
Life must go on, I forget just why |
The Grand Tour
Step right up, come on in,
If you'd like to take the grand tour,
Of the lonely house that once was home sweet home,
I have nothing here to sell you Just some things that I will tell you,
Some things I know will chill you to the bone,
Over there, sits the chair,
Where she'd bring the paper to me sit down on my knee and whisper,
Oh, I love you,
But now she's gone forever,
And this old house will never,
Be the same without the love that we once knew,
Straight ahead, that's the bed, where we'd lay and love together,
And lord knows we had a good thing going here,
See her picture on the table, don't it look like she'd be able,
Just to touch me and say good morning dear,
There's her ring, all her things, and her clothes are in the closet,
Like she left them when she tore my world apart,
As you leave you see the nursery, oh she left me without mercy,
Taking nothing but our baby and my heart,
Step right up, come on in
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Danny Boy
Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling
From glen to glen, and down the mountain side
The summer's gone, and all the roses falling
It's you, it's you must go and I must bide.
But come ye back when summer's in the meadow
And all the valley's hushed and white with snow
It's I'll be here in sunlight or in shadow
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.
But come ye back and all the flowers are dying
If I am dead, as dead I well may be
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.
And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And all my grave will warmer sweeter be
Though you will bend and tell me that you love
And I shall sleep in peace until you come to me. |
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Take It With Me
Phone’s off the hook, no one knows where we are
It’s a long time since I drank champagne
The ocean is blue, as blue as your eyes
I’m gonna take it with me when I go Old long since gone, now way back when
We lived on Coney Island
There ain’t no good thing ever dies
I’m gonna take it with me when I go Far, far away a train whistle blows
Wherever you’re goin’, wherever you’ve been
Waving good bye at the end of the day
You’re up and you’re over, and you’re far away
Always for you, forever yours
It felt just like the old days
I've worn the faces off all the cards
I’m gonna take it with me when I go
The children are playing at the end of the day
Strangers are singing on our lawn
It’s got to be more than flesh and bone
All that you’ve loved is all you own
In a land there’s a town, and in that town there’s a house
And in that house there’s a woman
And in that woman there’s a heart I love
I’m gonna take it with me when I go
I’m gonna take it with me when I go
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