[1999-10-27, 05:37-05:50] deHTLMified Suzanne Vega: Nine Objects of Desire (c)1996 A&M Records 1. Birth-Day (Love Made Real) 2. Headshots 3. Caramel 4. Stockings 5. Casual Match 6. Thin Man 7. No Cheap Thrill 8. World Before Columbus 9. Lolita 10. Honeymoon Suite 11. Tombstone 12. My Favorite Plum 1. Birth-Day (Love Made Real) one thing I know this pain will go step through all that's left to feel I wait to meet my love made real don't move don't touch don't talk so much strip and find the place to kneel I wait to meet my love made real one thing I know this day will go don't touch don't talk crawl the wall she's the ticket to the future don't listen down the hall you can say your prayer to the head of this bed when it begins at your knees and goes right to your head birth-day strap me down from wrist to heel I wait to meet my love made real one thing I know this day will go shake all over like an old sick dog there's a needle here needle there tremble in the fog it's a tight squeeze vice grip ice and fire she's a hot little treasure and the wave goes higher birth-day birth-day 2. Headshots The sign said "Headshots" And that was all, A picture of a boy And a number you could call, Two eyes in the shade A mouth so sad and small, It's strange the way a shadow Can fall across the wall, And make the difference In what you see Ah... He's just a poster, but He's everywhere, A face under a street lamp Ripped and hanging in the air, Turn the corner And he's still there, Watching all the people Who are passing unaware, Is there a judgement In what he sees? Ah... On a day As cold And gray As today... The sign says "Headshots" It's all I see, A boy becomes a picture Of guilt and sympathy, And so I think of you In memory Of the days we were together, And I knew that you loved me That was the difference In what we see, But that's history... Ah... 3. Caramel It won't do to dream of caramel, to think of cinnamon and long for you. It won't do to stir a deep desire, to fan a hidden fire that can never burn true. I know your name, I know your skin, I know the way these things begin; But I don't know how I would live with myself, what I'd forgive of myself if you don't go. So goodbye, sweet appetite, no single bite could satisfy... I know your name, I know your skin, I know the way these things begin; But I don't know what I would give of myself, how I would live with myself if you don't go. It won't do to dream of caramel, to think of cinnamon and long for you. 4. Stockings I don't care for tights, she says and does not tell me why She hikes her skirt above her knee revealing one brown thigh I see, I say, and wonder at her slender little fingers How cleverly they pull upon the threads of recent slumbers Do you know where friendship ends and passion does begin? It's between the binding of her stockings and her skin. (oh yeah) She stayed up so late I thought she'd ask me to go dance But something in the way she laughed told me I had no chance The fiction in her family was that she was never nice I'd say she was very I just did not see the price Do you know where friendship ends and passion does begin? When the gin and tonic makes the room begin to spin. (oh yeah) There may be attraction here but it will never flower So I'm assigned to read her mind, now in this witching hour Here's no game for those who claim to be easily bruised But how can I complain when she's so easily amused? Do you know where friendship ends and passion does begin? (When she does not show you the way out on the way in) - It's between the binding of her stockings and her skin. (oh yeah) 5. Casual Match I only turned to see What hand had set this inner field alight Against the flame I see The outline of a man against a night Take back your sympathy I do not need to drink that bitter stuff I'd rather break the thread That bound us close, and say we called a bluff A casual match In a very dry field What could be The season's yield? My eyes have gone to coal It's nothing I would be concerned about Observe the moment When the heat of love becomes the chill of doubt A casual match In a very dry field Fire and ash Is the season's yield We look for a sign But it is not revealed Fire and ash is the Season's yield 6. Thin Man He is not my friend, but he is with me Like a shadow is with a foot that falls His hand is on my back when I step from the sidewalk Or when I'm walking down these darkened halls He's the Thin Man With a date for me To arrive at some point I don't know when it will be I can feel his eyes when I don't expect him In the back seat of a taxi down Vestry Street His arm is around my waist and he pulls me down to him He whispers things into my ear that sound so sweet He's the Thin Man With a date for me To arrive at some point I don't know when it will be He is not my friend, but he is with me And he promises a peace I never knew I cannot give in, no, I must refuse him But could I really be the one to resist that kiss so true He's the Thin Man With a date for me To arrive at some point I don't know when it will be 7. No Cheap Thrill Ante up. And don't be shy. Who is that man who is catching my eye? What's underneath all of the deadpan face? Sitting so pretty with a criminal grace? Lamebrain Pete wants to Spit in the Sea. He's got a cool hand but it isn't for me. Butcher Boy thinks he'll be splitting the pot. But I've seen what he's got and it isn't a lot. (When deuces are wild you can follow the queen. I'd go too except I know where she's been.) I'll see you, I'll call you, I'll raise you But it's no cheap thrill It will cost you, cost you, cost you Anything you have to pay. I limit the straddles, and you shuffle and deal. When will the dealer reveal how he feels? Is the lucky beginner just a five-card stud? Is this winning streak going to be nipped in the bud? I'll see you, I'll call you, I'll raise you But it's no cheap thrill It will cost you, cost you, cost you Anything you have to pay. I'll match you, I'll bet you, I'll play you, But it's no cheap thrill It will cost you, cost you, cost you Anything you have to pay. 8. World Before Columbus If your love were taken from me Every color would be black and white It would be as flat as the world before Columbus That's the day that I lose half my sight If your life were taken from me All the trees would freeze in this cold ground It would be as cruel as the world before Columbus Sail to the edge and I'd be there looking down Those men who lust for land And for riches strange and new Who love those trinkets of desire Oh they never will have you And they'll never know the gold Or the copper in your hair How could they weigh the worth Of you so rare If your love were taken from me Every light that's bright would soon go dim It would be as dark as the world before Columbus Down the waterfall and I'd swim over the brim Those men who lust for land And for riches strange and new Who love those trinkets of desire Oh they will never have you And they'll never know the gold Or the copper in your hair How could they weigh the worth Of you so rare 9. Lolita Lolita Almost grown Lolita Go on home Hey girl Don't be a dog all your life Don't beg for Some little crumb of affection Don't try To be somebody's wife So young You need a word of protection Lolita Almost grown Lolita Go on home Hey girl I've been where you are standing Leaning in the doorway In your mother's black dress So hungry For the one understanding Looking for a token of Blood or tenderness Lolita Almost grown Lolita Go on home Lolita... 10. Honeymoon Suite the ceiling had a painting on it in our room in France so we were living underneath some angels in a dance my husband was not feeling well and so we went to bed he woke up complaining of an aching in his head he said a hundred people had come through our room that night that one by one the old and young asked if he was all right one by one the old and young lined up to touch his hand he spent the night explaining they had come to the wrong man the concierge was less than helpful when we asked her the next day with coffee and a magazine we went to the desk to pay "what happened in that room?" he asked "a death or something strange?" she smiled at him politely and returned to him his change well, what I'd like to know and this will be a mystery, is with all the people in that room why none appeared to me? when we sleep so close together that our hair becomes entwined I must have missed that moment in the gateway to his mind 11. Tombstone I like a tombstone cause it weathers well and if it stands or if it crumbles only time will tell if you carve my name in marble you must cut it deep there'll be no dancing on the gravestone you must let me sleep and time is burning burning burning it burns away I don't need to see the gates of famous men but I do try to see the kingdom every now and then if you ask me where it is it's on a humble map and I know that to enter in the doorway show your handicap and time is burning burning burning it burns away 12. My Favorite Plum My favorite plum hangs so far from me See how it sleeps and hear how it calls to me See how the flesh presses the skin, It must be bursting with secrets within, I've seen the rest, yes and that is the one for me See how it shines it will be so sweet I've been so dry it would make my heart complete See how it lays languid and slow Never noticing me here below I've seen the best, yes and that is the one for me Maybe a girl will take it Maybe a boy will steal it Maybe a shake of the bough will wake it and make it fall My favorite plum lies in wait for me I'll be right here longing endlessly You'll say that I'm foolish to trust But it will be mine and I know that it must cause I've had the rest, yes and that is the one for me I've seen the best, yes and that is the one for me [[eof]]