【歌词】Castaways & Cutouts
Leslie Anne Levine
My name is Leslie Anne Levine
My mother birthed me down a dry ravine
My mother birthed me far too soon
Born at nine and dead at noon
Fifteen years gone now, I still wander this parapet
And shake my rattled bone
Fifteen years gone now, I still cling to the petticoat
Of the girl who died with me
On the roof above the streets
The only love I've known is a chimney sweep
Lost and lodged inside a flue
Back in 1842
Fifteen years gone now, I still wail from these catacombs
And curse my mother's name
Fifteen years gone now, still a wastrel mescalined
Has brought this fate on me
My name is Leslie Anne Levine
I've got no one left to mourn for me
My body lies inside its grave
In a ditch not far away
Fifteen years gone, I still wander this parapet
And shake my rattled bone
Fifteen years gone now, I still cling to the petticoat
Of the girl who died with me
Who died with me
Who died with me
Who died with me
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect
And here I dreamt I was a soldier
And I marched the streets of Birkenau
And I recall in spring, the perfume that the air would bring
To the indolent town
Where the barkers called the moon down
The carnival was ringing loudly now
And just to lay with you, there's nothing that I wouldn't do
Save lay my rifle down
And try one, and try two
Guess it always comes down to
Alright, it's okay
Guess it's better to turn this way
And I am nothing of a builder
But here I dreamt I was an architect
And I built this balustrade to keep you home, to keep you safe
From the outside world
But the angles and the corners
Even though my work is unparalleled
They never seemed to meet, the structure fell about our feet
And we were free to go
And try one, and try two
Guess it always comes down to
Alright, okay
Guess it's better to turn this way
And here in Spain I am a Spaniard
I will be buried with my marionettes
Countess and courtesan have fallen beneath my tender hand
When their husbands were not around
But you, my soiled teenage girlfriend
While you furrow like a lioness
And we are vagabonds, we travel without seat belts on
And live this close to death
And try one, and try two
Guess it always comes down to
Alright, it's okay
Guess it's better to turn this...
But I won, so you lose
Guess it always comes down to
Alright, it's okay
Guess it's better to turn this way
-----------------------------------------------------------------
July, July!
There is a road that meets the road that goes to my house
And how the green grows there
And we've got special boots to beat the path to my house
And it's careful and it's careful when I'm there
And I say your uncle was a crooked French Canadian
And he was gut shot running gin
And how his guts were all suspended in his fingers
And how he held them, how he held them, held them in
And the water rolls down the drain (water rolls down the drain)
The water rolls down the drain (water rolls down the drain)
Oh, what a lonely thing
In a lonely drain
July, July, July
It never seemed so strange
July, July, July
Never seemed so, it never seemed so strange
This is the story of the road that goes to my house
And what ghosts there do remain
And all the troughs that run the length and breadth of my house
And the chickens, how they rattle chicken chains
And we'll remember this when we are old and ancient
Though the specifics might be vague
And I'll say your camisole was a sprightly, light magenta
When in fact, it was a nappy bluish gray
And the water rolls down the drain (water rolls down the drain)
The blood rolls down the drain (blood rolls down the drain)
Oh, what a lonely thing
In a blood red drain
July, July, July
It never seemed so strange
July, July, July
Never seemed so, it never seemed so strange
It never seemed so strange
It never seemed so strange
It never seemed so strange
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A Cautionary Song
There's a place your mother goes
When everybody else is soundly sleeping
Through the lights of Beacon Street
And if you listen, you can hear her weeping
She's weeping
'Cause the gentlemen are calling
And the snow is softly falling on her petticoat
And she's standing in the harbor
And she's waiting for the sailors in the jolly boat
See how they approach
With dirty hands and trousers torn
They grapple till she's safe within their keeping
A gag is placed between her lips
To keep her sorry tongue from any speaking
Or screaming
And they row her out to packets
Where the sailors' sorry racket falls for maidenhead
And she's scarce above the gunwales
When her clothes fall to a bundle and she's laid in bed
On the upper deck
And so she goes from ship to ship
Her ankles clasped, her arms so rudely pinioned
'Till at last she's satisfied
The lot of the marina's teeming minions
In their opinions
And they tell her not to say a thing
To cousin, kindred, kith or kin or she'll end up dead
And they throw her thirty dollars
And return her to the harbor where she goes to bed
And this is how you're fed
So be kind to your mother
Though she may seem an awful bother
And the next time she tries to feed you collard greens
Remember what she does when you're asleep
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Odalisque
They've come to find you, Odalisque
As the light dies horribly
On a fire escape, you walk
All rare and resolved to drop
And when they find you, Odalisque
They will rend you terribly
Stitch from stitch, till all
Your linen limbs will fall
Lazy lady had a baby girl
And a sweet sound it made
Raised on pradies, peanut shells and dirt
In the railroad cul-de-sac
And what do we do with ten baby shoes?
A kit bag full of marbles and a broken billiard cue?
What do we do?
What do we do?
Fifteen stitches will mend those britches right
And then rip them down again
Sapling switches will rend those rags all right
What a sweet sound it makes
And what do we do with ten dirty Jews?
A thirty-ought full of rock salt and a warm afternoon?
What do we do?
What do we do?
Lay your belly under mine
You're naked under me, under me
Such a filthy, dimming shine
The way you kick and scream, kick and scream
And what do we do with ten baby shoes?
A kit bag full of marbles and a broken billiard cue?
What do we do?
What do we do?
Lazy lady had a baby girl
And a sweet sound it made
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Cocoon
This cocoon caught in Vesuvius' shadow
Only the ashes remain
And I waited there for you
Why couldn't you?
Here we lie, waiting for something to startle
To shake us from gravity's pull
And so sleeping hours are through
What can we do?
The sorry conclusion, the low dirty war
It happened before you came to
But this is solution and this is amends
The joke always tends to come true
And there on your windowsill
Over the unmoving platoon
Written in paperback
The view to the quarterback's room
Under waning moon, this quiet serves only to hide you
Provide you
Well, I knew, well, I knew
It'd come back to you
Take this palm, follow the lines here are written
Tracing the bends and the shapes
And feel your fingers falling slack
And all folding back
The tainted election, the hole in the sky
Command what is tried, what is true
Without solution, with feet on the ground
It won't make a sound till you're through
So loosen your shoulder blades
This is your hour to make due
'Cause there, on the timberline
Deep, cold November shines through
Soft and absolute, this quiet serves only to hide you
Provide in you
Well, I knew, well, I knew
It'd come back to you
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Grace Cathedral Hill
Grace Cathedral Hill
All wrapped in bones of setting sun
All dust and stone and moribund
I paid twenty-five cents to light a little white candle
For a New Year's Day
I sat and watched it burn away
Then turned and weaved through slow decay
We were both a little hungry so we went to get a hot dog
Down the Hyde Street pier
The light was slight and disappeared
The air, it stunk of fish and beer
We heard a Superman trumpet play the national anthem
And the world may be long for you
But it'll never belong to you
But on a motorbike
When all the city lights blind your eyes tonight
Are you feeling better now?
Are you feeling better now?
Are you feeling better now?
Some way to greet the year
Your eyes all bright and brimmed with tears
The pilgrims, pills and tourists here
All sing "Fifty-three bucks to buy a brand new halo"
I'm sweet on a green-eyed girl
All fiery Irish clip and curl
All brine and piss and vinegar
I paid twenty-five cents to light a little white candle
And the world may be long for you
But it'll never belong to you
But on a motorbike
When all the city lights blind your eyes tonight
Are you feeling better now?
Are you feeling better now?
Are you feeling better now?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Legionnaire's Lament
I'm a legionnaire, camel in disrepair
Hoping for a Frigidaire to come passing by
I am on reprieve, lacking my joie de vivre
Missing my gay Paris in this desert dry
And I wrote my girl, told her I would not return
I've terribly taken a turn for the worse now, I fear
It's been a year or more since they shipped me to this foreign shore
Fighting in a foreign war so far away from my home
If only some rain would fall on the houses and the boulevards
And the sidewalk bagatelles, it's like a dream
With the roar of cars and the lolling of the café bars
The sweetly sleeping sweeping of the Seine
Lord, I don't know if I'll ever be back again
Medicating in the sun, pinched doses of laudanum
Longing for the old fecundity of my homeland
Curses to this mirage, a bottle of ancient Shiraz
A smattering of distant applause is ringing in my poor ears
On the old left bank, my baby in a charabanc
Riding up the width and length of the Champs Elysees
If only some rain would fall on the houses and the boulevards
And the sidewalk bagatelles, it's like a dream
With the roar of cars and the lolling of the café bars
The sweetly sleeping sweeping of the Seine
Lord, I don't know if I'll ever be back again
If only some rain would fall on the houses and the boulevards
And the sidewalk bagatelles, it's like a dream
With the roar of cars and the lolling of the café bars
The sweetly sleeping sweeping of the Seine
Lord, I don't know if I'll ever be back again
Be back again
Be back again
Be back again
Oh
Oh
Oh
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Clementine
You slept in your overalls
After the wrecking ball
Bereft you of house and home
And left you with sweet fuck all
So we got in your car
With our kickabout hearts
And we hollered out
"Sweet Clementine"
Tell your mom to marry us
A candle to carry us
With cans on our bicycle fenders
So sweet and hilarious
And we'll build us a home
Built of packaging foam
That will be there
Till after we die
And I'll play the clarinet
Use clam shells for castanets
We play with our bags on our shoulders
My sweet lady lioness
And I watch as you sleep
So indelibly deep
And I hum to you
"Sweet Clementine"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
California One / Youth And Beauty Brigade
Take a long drive with me
On California One, on California One
Take a long drive with me
On California One, on California One
And the road a-winding goes
From Golden Gate to roaring cliff side
And the light is softly low
As our hearts become sweetly untied
Beneath the sun
Of California One
Take a long dram with me
Of California wine, of California wine
Take a long drown with me
Of California wine, of California wine
And the wine, it tastes so sweet
As we lay our eyes to wander
And the sky stretches deep
But will we rest our heads to slumber?
Beneath the vines
Of California wine
Beneath the sun
Of California One?
Annabelle lies
Sleeps with quiet eyes
On this sea-drift sun
What can you do?
And if I said
"Oh, it's in your head"
On this sea-drift sun
What can you do?
(I've heard of ghosts
Good ghosts who wander the battlefield at night
Guiding soldiers out of danger
You can see their omens everywhere
Omens warning of stray bullets and lurking enemies
If I were such a ghost
I would stay so close to you
You could feel my breath on your cheek)
We're calling all bed-wetters and ambulance chasers
Poor picker-pockets, bring 'em in
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
We're lining up the light-loafered and the bored bench warmers
Castaways and cutouts, fill it up
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Nothing will stand in our way
I figured I had paid my debt to society
By paying my overdue fines at the Multnomah County Library, at the library
And they said "Son, go join up
Go join the youth and beauty brigade"
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Nothing will stand in our way
*********************************************************
My name is Leslie Anne Levine
My mother birthed me down a dry ravine
My mother birthed me far too soon
Born at nine and dead at noon
Fifteen years gone now, I still wander this parapet
And shake my rattled bone
Fifteen years gone now, I still cling to the petticoat
Of the girl who died with me
On the roof above the streets
The only love I've known is a chimney sweep
Lost and lodged inside a flue
Back in 1842
Fifteen years gone now, I still wail from these catacombs
And curse my mother's name
Fifteen years gone now, still a wastrel mescalined
Has brought this fate on me
My name is Leslie Anne Levine
I've got no one left to mourn for me
My body lies inside its grave
In a ditch not far away
Fifteen years gone, I still wander this parapet
And shake my rattled bone
Fifteen years gone now, I still cling to the petticoat
Of the girl who died with me
Who died with me
Who died with me
Who died with me
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect
And here I dreamt I was a soldier
And I marched the streets of Birkenau
And I recall in spring, the perfume that the air would bring
To the indolent town
Where the barkers called the moon down
The carnival was ringing loudly now
And just to lay with you, there's nothing that I wouldn't do
Save lay my rifle down
And try one, and try two
Guess it always comes down to
Alright, it's okay
Guess it's better to turn this way
And I am nothing of a builder
But here I dreamt I was an architect
And I built this balustrade to keep you home, to keep you safe
From the outside world
But the angles and the corners
Even though my work is unparalleled
They never seemed to meet, the structure fell about our feet
And we were free to go
And try one, and try two
Guess it always comes down to
Alright, okay
Guess it's better to turn this way
And here in Spain I am a Spaniard
I will be buried with my marionettes
Countess and courtesan have fallen beneath my tender hand
When their husbands were not around
But you, my soiled teenage girlfriend
While you furrow like a lioness
And we are vagabonds, we travel without seat belts on
And live this close to death
And try one, and try two
Guess it always comes down to
Alright, it's okay
Guess it's better to turn this...
But I won, so you lose
Guess it always comes down to
Alright, it's okay
Guess it's better to turn this way
-----------------------------------------------------------------
July, July!
There is a road that meets the road that goes to my house
And how the green grows there
And we've got special boots to beat the path to my house
And it's careful and it's careful when I'm there
And I say your uncle was a crooked French Canadian
And he was gut shot running gin
And how his guts were all suspended in his fingers
And how he held them, how he held them, held them in
And the water rolls down the drain (water rolls down the drain)
The water rolls down the drain (water rolls down the drain)
Oh, what a lonely thing
In a lonely drain
July, July, July
It never seemed so strange
July, July, July
Never seemed so, it never seemed so strange
This is the story of the road that goes to my house
And what ghosts there do remain
And all the troughs that run the length and breadth of my house
And the chickens, how they rattle chicken chains
And we'll remember this when we are old and ancient
Though the specifics might be vague
And I'll say your camisole was a sprightly, light magenta
When in fact, it was a nappy bluish gray
And the water rolls down the drain (water rolls down the drain)
The blood rolls down the drain (blood rolls down the drain)
Oh, what a lonely thing
In a blood red drain
July, July, July
It never seemed so strange
July, July, July
Never seemed so, it never seemed so strange
It never seemed so strange
It never seemed so strange
It never seemed so strange
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A Cautionary Song
There's a place your mother goes
When everybody else is soundly sleeping
Through the lights of Beacon Street
And if you listen, you can hear her weeping
She's weeping
'Cause the gentlemen are calling
And the snow is softly falling on her petticoat
And she's standing in the harbor
And she's waiting for the sailors in the jolly boat
See how they approach
With dirty hands and trousers torn
They grapple till she's safe within their keeping
A gag is placed between her lips
To keep her sorry tongue from any speaking
Or screaming
And they row her out to packets
Where the sailors' sorry racket falls for maidenhead
And she's scarce above the gunwales
When her clothes fall to a bundle and she's laid in bed
On the upper deck
And so she goes from ship to ship
Her ankles clasped, her arms so rudely pinioned
'Till at last she's satisfied
The lot of the marina's teeming minions
In their opinions
And they tell her not to say a thing
To cousin, kindred, kith or kin or she'll end up dead
And they throw her thirty dollars
And return her to the harbor where she goes to bed
And this is how you're fed
So be kind to your mother
Though she may seem an awful bother
And the next time she tries to feed you collard greens
Remember what she does when you're asleep
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Odalisque
They've come to find you, Odalisque
As the light dies horribly
On a fire escape, you walk
All rare and resolved to drop
And when they find you, Odalisque
They will rend you terribly
Stitch from stitch, till all
Your linen limbs will fall
Lazy lady had a baby girl
And a sweet sound it made
Raised on pradies, peanut shells and dirt
In the railroad cul-de-sac
And what do we do with ten baby shoes?
A kit bag full of marbles and a broken billiard cue?
What do we do?
What do we do?
Fifteen stitches will mend those britches right
And then rip them down again
Sapling switches will rend those rags all right
What a sweet sound it makes
And what do we do with ten dirty Jews?
A thirty-ought full of rock salt and a warm afternoon?
What do we do?
What do we do?
Lay your belly under mine
You're naked under me, under me
Such a filthy, dimming shine
The way you kick and scream, kick and scream
And what do we do with ten baby shoes?
A kit bag full of marbles and a broken billiard cue?
What do we do?
What do we do?
Lazy lady had a baby girl
And a sweet sound it made
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Cocoon
This cocoon caught in Vesuvius' shadow
Only the ashes remain
And I waited there for you
Why couldn't you?
Here we lie, waiting for something to startle
To shake us from gravity's pull
And so sleeping hours are through
What can we do?
The sorry conclusion, the low dirty war
It happened before you came to
But this is solution and this is amends
The joke always tends to come true
And there on your windowsill
Over the unmoving platoon
Written in paperback
The view to the quarterback's room
Under waning moon, this quiet serves only to hide you
Provide you
Well, I knew, well, I knew
It'd come back to you
Take this palm, follow the lines here are written
Tracing the bends and the shapes
And feel your fingers falling slack
And all folding back
The tainted election, the hole in the sky
Command what is tried, what is true
Without solution, with feet on the ground
It won't make a sound till you're through
So loosen your shoulder blades
This is your hour to make due
'Cause there, on the timberline
Deep, cold November shines through
Soft and absolute, this quiet serves only to hide you
Provide in you
Well, I knew, well, I knew
It'd come back to you
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Grace Cathedral Hill
Grace Cathedral Hill
All wrapped in bones of setting sun
All dust and stone and moribund
I paid twenty-five cents to light a little white candle
For a New Year's Day
I sat and watched it burn away
Then turned and weaved through slow decay
We were both a little hungry so we went to get a hot dog
Down the Hyde Street pier
The light was slight and disappeared
The air, it stunk of fish and beer
We heard a Superman trumpet play the national anthem
And the world may be long for you
But it'll never belong to you
But on a motorbike
When all the city lights blind your eyes tonight
Are you feeling better now?
Are you feeling better now?
Are you feeling better now?
Some way to greet the year
Your eyes all bright and brimmed with tears
The pilgrims, pills and tourists here
All sing "Fifty-three bucks to buy a brand new halo"
I'm sweet on a green-eyed girl
All fiery Irish clip and curl
All brine and piss and vinegar
I paid twenty-five cents to light a little white candle
And the world may be long for you
But it'll never belong to you
But on a motorbike
When all the city lights blind your eyes tonight
Are you feeling better now?
Are you feeling better now?
Are you feeling better now?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Legionnaire's Lament
I'm a legionnaire, camel in disrepair
Hoping for a Frigidaire to come passing by
I am on reprieve, lacking my joie de vivre
Missing my gay Paris in this desert dry
And I wrote my girl, told her I would not return
I've terribly taken a turn for the worse now, I fear
It's been a year or more since they shipped me to this foreign shore
Fighting in a foreign war so far away from my home
If only some rain would fall on the houses and the boulevards
And the sidewalk bagatelles, it's like a dream
With the roar of cars and the lolling of the café bars
The sweetly sleeping sweeping of the Seine
Lord, I don't know if I'll ever be back again
Medicating in the sun, pinched doses of laudanum
Longing for the old fecundity of my homeland
Curses to this mirage, a bottle of ancient Shiraz
A smattering of distant applause is ringing in my poor ears
On the old left bank, my baby in a charabanc
Riding up the width and length of the Champs Elysees
If only some rain would fall on the houses and the boulevards
And the sidewalk bagatelles, it's like a dream
With the roar of cars and the lolling of the café bars
The sweetly sleeping sweeping of the Seine
Lord, I don't know if I'll ever be back again
If only some rain would fall on the houses and the boulevards
And the sidewalk bagatelles, it's like a dream
With the roar of cars and the lolling of the café bars
The sweetly sleeping sweeping of the Seine
Lord, I don't know if I'll ever be back again
Be back again
Be back again
Be back again
Oh
Oh
Oh
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Clementine
You slept in your overalls
After the wrecking ball
Bereft you of house and home
And left you with sweet fuck all
So we got in your car
With our kickabout hearts
And we hollered out
"Sweet Clementine"
Tell your mom to marry us
A candle to carry us
With cans on our bicycle fenders
So sweet and hilarious
And we'll build us a home
Built of packaging foam
That will be there
Till after we die
And I'll play the clarinet
Use clam shells for castanets
We play with our bags on our shoulders
My sweet lady lioness
And I watch as you sleep
So indelibly deep
And I hum to you
"Sweet Clementine"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
California One / Youth And Beauty Brigade
Take a long drive with me
On California One, on California One
Take a long drive with me
On California One, on California One
And the road a-winding goes
From Golden Gate to roaring cliff side
And the light is softly low
As our hearts become sweetly untied
Beneath the sun
Of California One
Take a long dram with me
Of California wine, of California wine
Take a long drown with me
Of California wine, of California wine
And the wine, it tastes so sweet
As we lay our eyes to wander
And the sky stretches deep
But will we rest our heads to slumber?
Beneath the vines
Of California wine
Beneath the sun
Of California One?
Annabelle lies
Sleeps with quiet eyes
On this sea-drift sun
What can you do?
And if I said
"Oh, it's in your head"
On this sea-drift sun
What can you do?
(I've heard of ghosts
Good ghosts who wander the battlefield at night
Guiding soldiers out of danger
You can see their omens everywhere
Omens warning of stray bullets and lurking enemies
If I were such a ghost
I would stay so close to you
You could feel my breath on your cheek)
We're calling all bed-wetters and ambulance chasers
Poor picker-pockets, bring 'em in
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
We're lining up the light-loafered and the bored bench warmers
Castaways and cutouts, fill it up
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Nothing will stand in our way
I figured I had paid my debt to society
By paying my overdue fines at the Multnomah County Library, at the library
And they said "Son, go join up
Go join the youth and beauty brigade"
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Come join the youth and beauty brigade
Nothing will stand in our way
*********************************************************
