[2002-04-26] Transcribed from CD-folder. Suzanne Vega: Songs in Red and Gray (c)2001 A&M Records 1. [4:16] Penitent 2. [3:33] Widow's Walk 3. [3:46] (I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May 4. [4:00] It Makes Me Wonder 5. [3:03] Soap and Water 6. [4:18] Songs in Red and Gray 7. [3:35] Last Year's Troubles 8. [4:14] Priscilla 9. [2:45] If I Were a Weapon 10. [4:18] Harbor Song 11. [2:57] Machine Ballerina 12. [2:07] Solitaire 13. [2:29] St. Clare 1. Penitent Once I stood alone so proud, held myself above the crowd and now I am low on the ground. From here I look around to see what avenues belong to me, I can't tell what I've found. Now what would you have me do? I ask you - Please? I wait to hear. The mother; and the matador; the mystic; each were here before, like me, to stare you down. You appear without a face, disappear; but leave your trace, I feel your unseen frown. Now what would you have me do? I ask you, please? I wait to hear: Your voice, the word you say. I wait: to see your sign. Would I obey? I look for you in heathered moor; the desert, and the ocean floor, how low does one heart go. Looking for your fingerprints I find them in coincidence, and make my faith to grow. Forgive me all my blindnesses, my weakness and unkindnesses as yet unbending still. Struggling so hard to see, my fist against eternity and will you break my will? Now what would you have me do? I ask you, please? I wait to hear: Your voice, the word you say. I wait: to see your sign. Would I obey? Now what would you have me do? I ask you, please? I wait to hear: Your voice, the word you say. I wait: to see your sign. Could I obey? 2. Widow's Walk Consider me a widow, boys And I will tell you why It's not the man, but it's the marriage That was drowned So I walk the walk And wait with a watchful eye out to the sky Looking for a kind of vessel I have never found Though I saw it splinter I keep looking out to sea Like a dog with little sense I keep returning To the very area where I did see the thing go down As if there's something at the site I should be learning That line is the horizon We watch the wind and set the sail But save ourselves when all omens Point to fail If I tell the truth Then I will have to tell you this Though I grieve (and I believe I feel it truly) But I knew that ship was empty By the time it hit the rocks 'Cause we could not hold on When fate became unruly So consider me a widow, boys And I have told you why Does the weather say A better day is nearing? I'll set my house in order now And wait upon the Will But it's clear that I need Better skill in steering That line is the horizon We watch the wind and set the sail But save ourselves when all omens Point to fail That line is the horizon We watch the wind and set the sail But save ourselves when all omens Point to fail Point to fail 3. (I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May I'll never be your Maggie May, the one you loved and left behind the face you see in light of day and then you cast away, that isn't me in that bed you'll find. I'd rather take myself away, be like those ladies in Japan. I rather paint myself a face conjure up some grace or be the eyes behind a fan. And so you go; no girl could say no to you.. Oh, there's the way I may appear but that will change from day to night. Would you ever see within? Underneath the skin? Could I believe you had that sight? And so you go; no girl could say no to you.. I'll never be your Maggie May, the one you loved and then forgot. I'll love you first and let you go 'cause it must be so and you'll fogive or you will not. And so a woman leaves a man. And so a world turns on its end, so I'll see your face in dreams Nothing's what it seems; still you appear some kind of friend. And so you go; no girl could say no to you.. 4. It Makes Me Wonder Virgin Mary on a chain has hit me in the mouth again as we explore the carnal score of sacred and profane. Sulky boy won't drink his milk so mothers breast beneath the silk remain untouched it's way too much reject all of that ilk. I have to say; it makes me wonder if you are holding me to the same blue flame that you are under 'cause I feel you scolding me. makes me wonder makes me wonder Your virgin Mary's in the way hallucinate her face by day obscure the view in front of you it's me here made of clay you're playing near that line so thin, austerity? or just give in to endless appetite. embrace that white oblivion? I have to say; it makes me wonder if you are holding me to the same blue flame that you are under when you are holding me when you are holding me and why so high the expectation? whou could live up to this? and there is no time now for explanation cool as an angel's kiss And I have to say; it makes me wonder if you were holding me if you were holding me to that cold blue flame that you are under when you were holding me when you were holding me it makes me wonder have to say it makes me wonder have to say it makes me wonder have to say 5. Soap and Water Soap and water; Take the day from my hand, scrub the salt from my stinging skin, slip me loose of this wedding band. Soap and water; Hang my heart on the line, scour it down in a wind of sand, bleach it clean to a vinegar shine. Daddy's a dark riddle, mama's a headful of bees, you are my little kite; carried away in the wayward breeze. Soap and water; wash the year from my life, straighten all that we trampled and tore, heal the cut we call husband and wife. Daddy's a dark riddle, mama's a handful of thorns, you are my little kite; caught up again in the household storms. Daddy's a dark riddle, mama's a headful of bees, you are my little kite; carried away in the wayward breeze. 6. Songs in Red and Gray The reproach on your daughter's most beautiful face Made me wonder just how she could know Of that something that happened Beteen you and me So much more than a long time ago Her mother, I can see, lives within her still Cause she looked at me with her eyes Though I had only just met her right then I feel that she peeled back my guilty disguise Did I break the thread, or did you break the thread? Well, at this point, we could ask; who cares? As for the promises broken and frayed Well, it's nineteen years late for repairs The gray pewter vase held the deep red rose One piece of coral shone white By the brass candlestick, near your red velvet coat Is everything I can recall of one night Will you please tell me why I remember these things After all of this time, I don't know I must have left all those feeling inside 'Cause that year I had no courage to show Was I the name you could never pronounce? Did I even figure at all? All of this happened before she was born Did I shadow her young pencil marks on the wall? Still I am sure I was only but one Of a number who darkened that door Of your home, and your hearth, and your family and wife Who'd been darkened so often before And the red leaf looks to the hard gray stone To each other; they know what they mean Somewhere their future is still yet to come In ways that are, yet as of now, unforeseen 7. Last Year's Troubles Last year's troubles Last year's troubles Last year's troubles are so old fashioned The robber on the highway, the pirate on the seas Maybe it's the cloting that's so entertaining The earrings and swashbuckling blouses that please. Here we have heroes of times that have passed now But nobody these days has that kind of chin Over there, the petticoats of ladies of virtue You can hardly tell them from the petticoats of sin Last year's troubles Last year's troubles Look at all the waifs of Dickensian England Why is it, their suffering is more picturesque? Must be cause their rags are so very Victorian The ones here at home just don't, give it their best Last years troubles; they shine up so prettily They gleam with a luster they don't have today Here it's just dirty and violent and troubling, etc. Last year's troubles Last year's troubles But trouble is still trouble, and evil's still evil Sometimes we wonder; is there more now, or less? If we had a tool or could tally the handfuls Measure for measure, it's the same would be my guess Last year's troubles Last year's troubles Last year's troubles Last year's troubles 8. Priscilla She'd come to my house and dance in the hall with the music up loud, against the light on the wall. And I danced beside her, feeling no shame, we were in costume and this was a game. She'd put on her skirt, layers of chiffon, the top of the ubrella had come off; so I put that on. We'd dance together, an awkward ballet. She's 20 years older that I was, but still we did play. She was 20 years older than me and many times my size. It's her little feet I remember, the look in her eyes. Once when I saw her she made me a doll of ribbon and paper and ink and lace, I recall. I danced beside her, feeling no shame, 'cause we were in costume, this was a game. I think of her now that I'm older. I still love to dance. Something will shine through the body if you give it a chance. 9. If I Were a Weapon Ooh If I were a weapon You said I'd be a gun Lethal at close range, I guess With silencer and stun I feel more like a needle Always pulling on the thread Always making the same point again And wondering if you heard what I just said If you were a weapon A hammer's what you'd be Blunt and heavy at the end And coming down on me I've concealed a weapon Like a pocket knife attack All folded up inside, until you see the shine And then you'll want it back Ooh I've concealed a weapon Like a pocket knife attack All folded up inside, until you see the shine And then you'll want it back Ooh If I were a weapon You said I'd be a gun Lethal at close range, I guess With silencer and stun If I am that weapon I pointing now at you So just put down the hostage and we'll Talk it down until we see this through Ooh Talk it down until we see this through Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh 10. Harbor Song I dreamed you were a rich man and that I had no place to go. I came to you to see if you would take me in, through golden curtains you told me you'd let me know. Well, you drink for ten, and you smoke for twenty, and your fickle heart will never be true but still I feel the wind in from the harbor. That's when I know the longing for you. That's when I know the old longing for you. I saw you, in my mind's eye, you were laid out, your final day. I stood in line to see that handsome face once more. It had been so dear to me, I kissed you as you lay. You were so dear to me, I kissed you as you lay. Now whenever I do travel, if to England, Portugal, or Spain, as I do walk by the shipyards and the harbors, I smell the salt, and the bay rum of your ghost again I know the salt and the bay rum, you beside me again. 11. Machine Ballerina Am I an afternoon's pastime? A thing on a string to be thrown an retrieved? Like a phone call recieved on somebody's birthday, to tease and delight, and then goodnight, and the just say goodbye? Am I toy on a tray? A soft piece of clay? Queen or clown for the day? machine ballerina, soldier of tin, Standing so loyal while you sit so royal Then I'm put away? For your approval, perusal, and your possible refusal, I'm amusing, I'm a puppet for your play. Am I your Mad Magazine? Skin trampoline? Pin-up pinball machine? Your fantasy girl of puzzling parts? But non fits or starts. We match wits but not hearts, I'm heard but never seen? For your approval, perusal, and your possible refusal, I'm amusing, I'm a puppet for your play. 12. Solitaire Black on red, and red on black. It's a tic of a tired mind. Come and sit down, won't you try your luck. See if you unwind. Never use your threes and twos. Follow superstition otherwise you are going to lose. Compulsion makes you listen. Take what's wrong, and make it go right. You can weave it like a prayer. Wonder if you'll spend the night playing solitaire. Just do it again, when you find you're all done, like an idiot savant. Shuffle up your luck. You see, you almost won, now. Wrestle down what you want. Jack on the Queen, and the ten on the Jack, it's a happy repetition; you and your fate in a kind of check-mate. You're your only competition. Take what's wrong, and make it go right. You can weave it like a prayer. Are you going to spend the night? Playing solitaire? Take what's wrong, and make it go right. You can weave it like a prayer. Are you going to spend the night? Playing solitaire? 13. St. Clare Call on that saint and the candle that burns. Keeping her safe until her return. Plaster and paint, holding the fire. A poor woman's saint, holding all man's desire. Bold little bird; fly away home. Could I but ride herd, on the wind and the foam. All of the souls, that curl by the fire, they never know all man's desire. Watercress clings to the banks of the stream, in the first grip of spring, when snow melts to green. Barefoot and cold and holding a lyre, by the side of the road, holding all man's desire. Call on the saint when the white candle burns, Keeping her safe until her return. [[eof]]