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Saint Stephen
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Saint Stephen with a rose
In and out of the garden he goes
Country garland in the wind and the rain
Wherever he goes the people all complain
Stephen prospered in his time
Well he may and he may decline
Did it matter? Does it now?
Stephen would answer if he only knew how
Wishing well with a golden bell
Bucket hanging clear to Hell
Hell halfway 'twixt now and then
Stephen fill it up and lower down
and lower down again
Ladyfinger dipped in moonlight
Writing "What for?" across the morning sky
Sunlight splatters dawn with answers
Darkness shrugs and bids the day good-bye
Speeding arrow, sharp and narrow
What a lot of fleeting matters you have spurned
Several seasons with their treasons
Wrap the babe in scarlet covers, call it your own
Did he doubt or did he try?
Answers aplenty in the bye and bye
Talk about your plenty, talk about your ills
One man gathers what another man spills |
Saint Stephen will remain
All he's lost he shall regain
Seashore washed in the suds and the foam
Been here so long he's got to calling it home
Fortune comes acrawling, Calliope woman
Spinning that curious sense of your own
Can you answer? Yes I can
But what would be the answer to the answer man?
High green chilly winds and windy vines in loops around
the
twisted shafts of lavender, they're crawling to the
sun
Underfoot the ground is patched with climbing arms
of ivy
wrapped around the manzanita, stark and shiny in the
breeze
Wonder who will water all the children of the garden
when they
sigh about the barren lack of rain and droop so hungry
'neath the sky. . . .
William Tell has stretched his bow till it won't stretch
no
furthermore and/or it may require a change that hasn't
come before
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Dupree's
Diamond Blues
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When I was just a little young boy,
Papa said, "Son, you'll never get far,
I'll tell you the reason if you want to know,
'cause child of mine, there isn't really very far to
go"
Well, baby, baby wants a gold diamond ring
Wants it more than most any old thing
Well, when I get those jelly-roll blues
Why, I'd go and get anything in this world for you
Down to the jewelry store packing a gun,
says, "Wrap it up. I think I'll take this one."
"A thousand dollars, please," the jewelry man said
Dupree, he said, "I'll pay this one off to you in lead"
Well, you know, son, you just can't figure,
first thing you know you're gonna pull that trigger
and it's no wonder your reason goes bad--
jelly roll will drive you stone-mad
Judge said, "Son, this gonna cost you some time"
Dupree said, "Judge, you know that crossed my mind"
Judge said, "Fact, it's gonna cost you your life"
Dupree said, "Judge, you know that seems to me to be
about right" |
Well, baby, baby's gonna lose her sweet man
Dupree come out with a losing hand
Baby's gonna weep it up for a while
then go on out
and find another sweet man's gonna treat her with style
Judge said, "Son, I know your baby well
but that's a secret I can't never tell"
Dupree said, "Judge, well, it's well understood,
and you got to admit that that sweet, sweet jelly's so
good"
Well, you know, son, you just can't figure,
first thing you know you're gonna pull that trigger
and it's no wonder your reason goes bad--
jelly roll will drive you stone-mad.
Same old story and I know it's been told,
some like jelly-jelly--some like gold
Many a man's done a terrible thing
just to get baby that shiny diamond ring
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| Rosemary |
Boots were of leather
A breath of cologne
Her mirror was a window
She sat quite alone
All around her
the garden grew
scarlet and purple
and crimson and blue |
She came and she went
and at last went away
The garden was sealed
when the flowers decayed
On the wall of the garden
a legend did say:
No one may come here
since no one may stay
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| Doin'
That Rag |
Sitting in Mangrove Valley chasing light beams
Everything wanders from baby to Z
Baby, baby, pretty, young on Tuesday
Old like a rum-drinking demon at tea*
Baby, baby, tell me what's the matter
Why, why tell me, what's your why now?
Tell me why will you never come home?
Tell me what's your reason if you've got a good one
Everywhere I go
The people all know
Everyone's doin' that rag
Take my line, go fishin' for a Tuesday
Maybe take my supper, eat it down by the sea
Gave my baby twenty, forty good reasons
Couldn't find any better ones in the morning at three
The rain gonna come but the rain gonna go, you know
Stepping off sharply from the rank and file
Awful cold and dark like a dungeon
Maybe get a little bit darker 'fore the day
Hipsters, tripsters
real cool chicks, sir,
everyone's doin' that rag |
You needn't gild the lily, offer jewels
to the sunset
No one is watching or standing in your shoes
Wash your lonely feet in the river in the morning
Everything promised is delivered to you
Don't neglect to pick up what your share is
All the winter birds are winging home now
Hey, Love, go and look around you
Nothing out there you haven't seen before now
But you can wade in the water
and never get wet
if you keep on doin' that rag
One-eyed jacks and the deuces are wild
And the aces are crawling up and down your sleeve
Come back here, Baby Louise,
and tell me the name
of the game that you play
Is it all fall down?
Is it all go under?
Is it all fall down, down, down
Is it all go under?
Everywhere I go
the people all know
everybody's doin' that rag
* Peter Grant heard this line as:
"Old like a nun drinking demon bad tea."
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| Mountains
of the Moon |
Cold mountain water
the jade merchant's daughter
Mountains of the moon, Electra
Bow and bend to me
Hi-ho the Carrion Crow
Folderolderiddle
Hi-ho the Carrion Crow
Bow and bend to me
Hey, Tom Banjo
Hey, a laurel
More than laurel
You may sew
More than laurel
You may sew
Hey, the laurel
Hey, the city
In the rain
Hey, hey
Hey, the white wheat
Wavin' in the wind
** Here is a feast of solitude
A fiddler grim and tall
Plays to dancing kings and wives
Assembled in the hall
Of lost, long, lonely times
Fairy Sybil flying
All along the all along the
Mountains of the Moon
Hey, Tom Banjo
It's time to matter
The Earth will see you
on through this time
The Earth will see you on
through this time |
Down by the water
The Marsh King's Daughter
Did you know?
Clothed in tatters
Always will be
Tom, where did you go?
Mountains of the Moon, Electra
Mountains of the Moon
All along the
All along the
Mountains of the moon
Hi-ho the Carrion Crow
Folderolderiddle
Hi-ho the Carrion Crow
Bow and bend to me
** The lines to this verse as originally recorded are:
Twenty degrees of solitude
Twenty degrees in all
All the dancing kings and wives
assembled in the hall
Lost is a long and lonely time
Fairy Sybil flying
All along the
All along the
Mountains of the Moon
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| China
Cat Sunflower |
Look for a while at the China Cat Sunflower
proud-walking jingle in the midnight sun
Copper-dome bodhi drip a silver kimono
like a crazy-quilt stargown
through a dream night wind.
Krazy Kat peeking through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire
like a diamond-eyed Jack
A leaf of all colors plays
a golden string fiddle
to a double-E waterfall over my back |
Comic book colors on a violin river
crying Leonardo words
from out a silk trombone
I rang a silent bell
beneath a shower of pearls
in the eagle wing palace
of the Queen Chinee
"Nobody ever asked me the meaning of this song. People
seem to know exactly what I'm talking about. It's good that a few things
in this world
are clear to all of us." - Robert Hunter
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| What's
Become of the Baby? |
Waves of violet go crashing and laughing
Rainbow-winged singing birds fly 'round the sun
Sunbells rain down in a liquid profusion
Mermaids on horses draw up the dawn
What's become of the baby
This cold December morning?
Songbirds
frozen in their flight
drifting to the earth
remnants of forgotten dreaming
Calling . . .
answer comes there none
Go to sleep, you child
Dream of never-ending always
Panes of crystal
Eyes sparkle like waterfalls
Lighting the polished ice caverns of Khan
But where in the looking-glass fields of illusion
wandered the child who was perfect as dawn?
What's become of the baby
this cold December morning? |
Racing
rhythms of the sun
all the world revolves
captured in the eye of Odin
Allah
Pray, where are you now?
All Mohammed's men
blinded by the sparkling water
Scheherazade gathering stories to tell
from primal gold fantasy petals that fall
But where is the child
who played with the sun chimes
and chased the cloud sheep
to the regions of rhyme?
Stranded
cries the south wind
Lost in the regions of lead
Shackled by chains of illusion
Delusions of living and dead
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| Cosmic
Charlie |
Cosmic Charley, how do you do?
Truckin' in style along the avenue
Dumdeedumdee doodley doo
Go on home, your mama's calling you
Calico Kahlia, come tell me the news
Calamity's waiting for a way to get to her
Rosy red and electric blue
I bought you a paddle for your paper canoe
Say you'll come back when you can
Whenever your airplane happens to land
Maybe I'll be back here, too
It all depends on what's with you
Hung up waiting for a windy day
Kite on ice since the first of February
Mamma Bee saying that the wind might blow
But standing here I say I just don't know |
New ones comin as the old ones go
Everything's movin here but much too slowly
Little bit quicker and we might have time
to say "How do you do?" before we're left behind
Calliope wail like a seaside zoo
The very last lately inquired about you
It's really very one or two
The first you wanted, the last I knew
I just wonder if you shouldn't feel
less concerned about the deep unreal
The very first word is: How do you do?
The last: Go home, your mama's calling you
Go on home
Your mama's calling you
Calling you. . . .
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