[1999-10-27, 10:55-11:03] deHTLMified Suzanne Vega: Suzanne Vega [395072-2/CD 5072] (c)1985 A&M Records, Inc. 1. Cracking 2. Freeze Tag 3. Marlene on the Wall 4. Small Blue Thing 5. Straight Lines 6. Undertow 7. Some Journey 8. The Queen and the Soldier 9. Knight Moves 10. Neighborhood Girls 1. Cracking It's a one time thing It just happens A lot Walk with me And we will see What we have got Ah... My footsteps are ticking Like water dripping from a tree Walking a harline And stepping very carefully Ah... My heart is broken It is worn out at the knees Hearing muffled Seeing blind Soon it will hit the Deep Freeze And something is cracking I don't know where Ice on the sidewalk Brittle braches In the air The sun Is blinding Dizzy golden, dancing green Through the park in the afternoon Wondering where the hell I have been Ah... 2. Freeze Tag We go to the playground In the wintertime The sun is fading fast Upon the slides into the past Upon the swings of indecision In the wintertime In the dimming diamonds Scattering in the park In the tickling And the trembling Of freeze tag In the dark We play that we're actors On a movie screen I will be Dietrich And you can be Dean You stand With your hand In your pocket And lean against the wall You will be Bogart And I will be Bacall And we can only say yes now To the sky, to the street, to the night Slow fade now to black Play me one more game Of chivalry You and me Do you see where I've been hiding In this hide-and-seek? We go to the playground In the wintertime The sun is fading fast Upon the slides into the past Upon the swings of indecision In the wintertime Wintertime Wintertime We can only say yes now To the sky, to the street, to the night We can only say yes now To the sky, to the street, to the night 3. Marlene On The Wall Even if I am in love with you All this to say, what's it to you? Observe the blood, the rose tattoo Of the fingerprints on me from you Other evidence has shown That you and I are still alone We skirt around the danger zone And don't talk about it later Marlene watches from the wall Her mocking smile says it all As the records the rise and fall Of every soldier passing But the only soldier now is me I'm fighting things I cannot see I think it's called my destiny That I am changing Marlene on the wall I walk to your house in the afternoon By the butcher shot with the sawdust strewn "Don't give away the goods too soon" Is what she might have told me Marlene watches from the wall Her mocking smile says it all As the records the rise and fall Of every man who's been here But the only one here now is me I'm fighting things I cannot see I think it's called my destiny That I am changing Marlene on the wall 4. Small Blue Thing Today I am A small blue thing Like a marble Or an eye With my knees against my mouth I am perfectly round I am watching you I am cold against your skin You are perfectly reflected I am lost inside your pocket I am lost against Your fingers I am falling down the stairs I am skipping on the sidewalk I am thrown against the sky I am raining down in pieces I am scattering like light Scattering like light Scattering like light Today I am A small blue thing Made of china Made of glass I am cool and smooth and curious I never blink I am turning in your hand Turning in your hand Small blue thing 5. Straight Lines There's a sound Across the alley Of cold metal Touching skin And you can see If you look in her window That she has gone and cut Her hair again In straight lines Straight lines Those soft golden lights in the morning Are now on her wooden floor The wind has swept them through the apartment She don't need them Any more Any more Any more... She's cut down On her lovers Though she still dreams Of them at night She's growing straight lines Where once were flowers She is streamlined She is taking the shade down From the light To see the straight lines Straight lines She wants to cut through the circles That she has lived in before She wants to finally kill the delusions She won't need them Any more Any more Any more... But there's a sound Across the alley Of cold metal Too close to the bone And you can see If you look in her window The face of a woman Finally alone Behind straight lines Straight lines 6. Undertow I believe right now if I could I would swallow you whole I would leave only bones and teeth We could see what was underneath And you would be free then Once I thought only tears could make us free Salt wearing down to the bone Like sand against the stone Against the shoreline I am friend to the undertow I take you in, I don't let go And now I have you I wanted to learn all the secrets From the edge of a knife From the point of a needle From a diamond From a bullet in flight I would be free then I am friend to the undertow I take you in, I don't let go And now I have you I am friend to the undertow I take you in, I don't let go And now I have you I wanted to see how it would feel To be that sleek And instead I find this hunger's Made me weak I believe right now if I could I would swallow you whole I would leave only bones and teeth We could see what was underneath And you would be free then I am friend to the undertow I take you in, I don't let go And now I have you I am friend to the undertow I take you in, I don't let go And now I have you 7. Some Journey If I had met you on some journey Where would we be now If we had met some eastbound train Through some black sleeping town Would you have worn your silken robes All made of royal blue? Would I have dressed in smoke and fire For you to see through? If we had met in a darkened room Where people do not stay But shadows touch and pass right through And never see the day Would you have taken me upstairs And turned the lamplight low? Would I have shown my secret self And disappeared like the snow? Oh, I could have played your little girl Or I could have played your wife I could have played your mistress Running danger down through you life I could have played your lady fair All dressed in lace like the foam from the sea I could have been your woman of the road As long as you did not come back home to me But as it is, we live in the city And everything stays in place Instead we meet on the open sidewalk And it's well I know your face We talk and talk, we tell the truth There are no shadows here But when I look into your eyes I wonder what might have been here Because if I had met you on some journey Where would we be now? 8. The Queen and the Soldier The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door He said, "I am not fighting for you any more" The queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before And slowly she let him inside. He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hill And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill But I am leaving tomorrow and you can do what you will Only first I am asking you why." Down in the long narrow hall he was led Into her rooms with her tapestries red And she never once took the crown from her head She asked him there to sit down. He said, "I see you now, and you are so very young But I've seen more battles lost than I have battles won And I've got this intuition, says it's all for your fun And now will you tell me why?" The young queen, she fixed him with an arrogant eye She said, "You won't understand, and you may as well not try" But her face was a child's, and he thought she would cry But she closed herself up like a fan. And she said, "I've swallowed a secret burning thread It cuts me inside, and often I've bled" He laid his hand then on top of her head And he bowed her down to the ground. "Tell me how hungry are you? How weak you must feel As you are living here alone, and you are never revealed But I won't march again on your battlefield" And he took her to the window to see. And the sun, it was gold, though the sky was gray And she wanted more than she ever could say But she knew how it frightened her, and she turned away And would not look at his face again. And he said, "I want to live as an honest man To get all I deserve and to give all I can And to love a young woman who I don't understand Your highness, your ways are very strange." But the crown, it had fallen, and she thought she would break And she stood there, ashamed of the way her heart ached She took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait She would only be a moment inside. Out in the distance her order was heard And the soldier was killed, still waiting for her word And while the queen went on strangeling in the solitude she preferred The battle continued on 9. Knight Moves Watch while the queen In one false move Turns herself into a pawn Sleepy and shaken And watching while the blurry night Turns into a very clear dawn Do you love any? Do you love none? Do you love many? Can you love one? Do you love me? Do you love any? Do you love none? Do you love twenty? Can you love one? Do you love me? One false move And a secret prophecy Well, if you hold it against her First hold it up and see That it's one side stone One side fire Standing alone among all men's desire They want to know Do you love any? Do you love none? Do you love many? Can you love one? Do you love me? Do you love any? Do you love none? Do you love twenty? Can you love one? Do you love me? And if you wonder What I am doing As I am heading For the sink I am spitting out all the bitterness Along with half of my last drink I am thinking Of your woman Who is crying in the hall It's like drinking gasoline To quench a thirst Until there's nothing there left at all Do you love any? Do you love none? Do you love many? Can you love one? Do you love me? Do you love any? Do you love none? Do you love twenty? Can you love one? Do you love me? "Walk on the blind side"? Was the answer to the joke It's said there isn't a political bone In her body She would rather be a riddle But she keeps challenging the future With a profound lack of history Do you love any? Do you love none? Do you love many? Can you love one? Do you love me? Do you love any? Do you love none? Do you love twenty? Can you love one? Do you love me? And watch while the queen In one false move Turns herself into a pawn Sleepy and shaken And watching while the blurry night Turns into a very clear dawn Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? 10. Neighborhood Girls "We had our Neighborhood girl, she Used to hang out, in front of McKinsey's Bar, and we were Interested in her, and her Clientele... We just wonder where she's gone..." "Oh she's gone?" "Yes, she's gone, gone, gone." "I think you know your Neighborhood girl, she Lives on my street, now, with Eyes of ice I've seen her in the morning, when she is Walking in the sun And I always thought that she Looked kind of nice She spoke to me once At a party, I think And I thought at the time That she had had too much to drink, because she Said to me, `There's a backbone gone And I've got to get it back Before going on...' And your neighborhood girl Seems to have resigned She was looking out at people From the back of her mind And before she went off She spoke to me again She came up and said `You have the eyes of a friend And there's a razor's edge That I have lost somewhere And I would like it back So if you've seen it anywhere... I've been out for a while But I'll be back in a bit I am just walking through the smoke Finding out if this is it Because I've got this feeling That things are going grey And I'd like to hear a straight line To help me find my way...' I looked at her And I did not know what to say. She had long black hair." "Must be a different Neighborhood girl, cause Ours had blonde hair, in front of McKinsey's Bar And we were interested in her And her Clientele... We just wonder where she's gone..." "Oh she's gone?" "Yes, she's gone, gone, gone." [[eof]]