Over The Rhine Album

confused
ever since i spied you in the rooms of my mind
now i can't deny you

bleeding and bruised
like a vagabond in rags i've walked the streets to you door
to find just what's in store

i see you
you and many others in your clean well-lighted place
where i would find disgrace

but i do
know i'd find contentment just to be your furniture
i need nothing more

in the thick of the night take me out of the cold
let me sing inside
like a radio
in the thick of the night before we grow too old
let me sing inside
like a radio

shivering and cold this night's conducive to a
flight into my soul but i stand here
though my heart grows bold
once on the inside i can quietly persist
and hold my tears

and so still i wait
though i grow much weaker
i will not faint
i'll stay true

believe me when i say
i'd climb to heaven
crawl beneath the lowest hell
to stay near you

She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don't matter if it's gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows
She comes and goes

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Don't question why she needs to be so free
She'll tell you it's the only way to be
She just can't be chained
To a life where nothing's gained
And nothing's lost
At such a cost

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

There's no time to lose, I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams
And you may lose your mind
Ain't life unkind

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you
When you change with every new day
Still I'm gonna miss you

There was a blind girl with braids and a black dress
Lived next to me i could tell you the address
I saw her climb out her window one midnight
In to the oak tree scared sacred with moonlight
See Mary dance with the light on her shoulders
She has a secret, like a lover discovers her
Guardian angel with limbs white as lambs wool
Expensive perfume on her feet

Blind Mary taught me how eyes can make pictures
I showed her mine and then she showed me all hers
You have to close them she whispered a warning
Be sure to open them before it's morning

See how we dance with the light on our shoulders
We have a secret like lovers discovering
Guardian angels with limbs white as lambs wool
Expensive perfume on our feet

Mary fell ill on a night in December
And how they tried then to cool down her fever
But she lay so still like a child in a manger
While I closed my eyes tight and prayed for a savior

Let Mary dance with the light on her shoulders
Tell her a secret and let her discover her
Guardian angel with limbs white as lambs wool
Expensive perfume on his feet

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
Life, all your life, all your life
You were only waiting
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life, all your life
You were only waiting
You were only waiting for this moment
For this moment to be free

Oh Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Fly into the black dark night
Fly into the black dark night
Fly

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

same old question
without words
so familiar
seldom heard
if i answer
i confess
i am only
just a guess
and with my eyes
it's hard to see
with my ears
it's hard to believe that
if I ever lose my will to live
it was me that I could not forgive

there's no savior hanging on this cross
it isn't suffering we fear but loss
this is closer than i ever came
just a burning moth without a flame

isaac's knife can
cut away
all the poisoned
yesterdays
and the anger
ease it down
into the ocean
let it drown
as far as east is
from the west
i let you go
i know it's best
and my answer to the years of strife
is the way I choose to live my life

there's no savior hanging on this cross
it isn't suffering you fear but loss
when there's no one else around to blame
you're a burning moth without a flame

maybe i should take your face tonight
let you see yourself in a different light
if i were to take your place tonight
wouldn't Jesus be surprised

there's no savior hanging on this cross
it isn't suffering we fear but loss
this is closer than I ever came
just a burning moth without a flame

it's an offer that you can't refuse
it's a trophy that you'll want to lose
but you'll do anything
you're a burning moth without a flame

Help me. Spread my table.
I've been tryin' but I'm just not able.
There's so much left inside,
so very much I've been tryin' to hide.
Life gets pretty heavy and I wish it was light,
but after all I love the night.
and there's that word again.
I still hear it every now and again.

I breathe you ‘cause you help me forget
everything I don't know about love yet.
I need you ‘cause you help me forget,
yeah, you help me forget.
I drink you ‘cause you help me to see
it's mostly myself that's killin' me.
I think I have to, to help me forget
everything I don't know about love yet.

Someone said these were the best days,
best days of our life.
I suppose there could be worse ways,
worse ways to learn to cry.
And if these should be the last days,
the last days for you and I,
I suppose this is the best way,
best way to say goodbye.

I breathe you ‘cause you help me forget
everything I don't know about love yet.
I need you ‘cause you help me forget,
yeah, you help me forget.
I drink you ‘cause you help me to see
it's mostly myself that's killin' me.
I think I have to, to help me forget
everything I don't know about love yet.

It snows in here. It snows forever,
but there's no Christmas underneath this weather.
When it blows here and gets real cold,
I wanna trip myself and fall upon your fabulous sword
and move here by the stained-glass window.
Forget about the inside ghetto.
Down here on the hardwood floor,
the lines on the ceiling start to swim once more
like a cheap Renoir, a fake Van Gogh,
a pop Monet, a blue Degas.
I breathe you. I need you. Ah.

Maybe you can tell my why i'm prone to wander
i'm like a gypsy to the bone
every time i hear the rain amid the thunder
i want to run outside and shed my clothes
but i want to stay with you
long enough to love you right
and i want to say to you
i love the patience in your eyes

here i am standing in a circle of quiet
where a truce is tactily observed
standing in a circle of quiet
waiting for the world to turn
waiting for the world to turn
waiting for the world to turn

and a hundred days and night could find me scattered
all around the world without a name
but you're more than just a feather in my hat
more than just a fetter on my frame
when I look up in the sky at night
i want to go out and chase the stars
but like the catcher in the rye
i want to stay where you are

there is no shadow of turning with thee
there is no shadow of turning

It's enough for now
Besides i feel so awkward
Anyway
And there is no doubt
I could sleep for hours
Anyway
(i'll never leave you now)

Any recourse now
Well it's much too late
Anyway
And our hate
Like toys
Should be put away
Anyway
(i'll never leave you now)

No wonder this confusion
You've suffered all my delusions

We can right the end
We can close this chapter
Anyway
We can start again
No matter what comes after
Anyway
(i'll never leave you now)

my love is a fever
my love is a fable
my love is jazz licks
improvised by toddlers
bold Ulysses by nursery rhyme
and firelight

my love is a metamorphosis
reason cold logic
intuitively speaking
my love is syncopated
spoon-fed ignorant
well-read

my love is singular
my love is commonplace
as a gravedigger's own birthplace
my love is a medicine
feeds the sick heals the poor
turns up the volume on the blind

my word it's a trip
like a migraine
on a moving train
it parachutes aeroplanes
watch it fly

eyes soar hands clap
ears ring it's a sand trap
hair raising amazing
grey city transformations
as lips sink stomachs ache
monkeys shine fire flies
foxes trot hobs knob
porches swing brains storm
hearts attack and air supplies
heads light tails spin
steeples chase you along your chin
rock slides

out of the woods now
a virgin in buckskin
moccasins tall thin
she plays your mandolin
so maudlin you begin to spin
out of the woods now

I will remember
Every dream about you
I will remember
I could not doubt you
All my first impressions
Of my new possession
I will remember
I will remember

Every shadow
Every shiver
Every breath of borrowed air
Somehow
I feel now
Every whisper
Taken prisoner
Every brush of cloud
And furrowed brow
I feel
This last day darling
Here with me (darling)
All the rest is history

I will remember
Every sliver of you
I will remember
Every door we slip through
Every curving hour
Every dying ember
I will remember
There is no other

Every color of our sorrow
Every fallen angel's graceful bow
I feel now
Every broken word unspoken
Every crooked line of this sad town
I feel
This last day darling
Here with me (darling)
All the rest is history

Every kiss and curse
Every burning thirst
Every fix and flush of fire
I feel right now
Every sound we make
Is a new prayer prayed
Disappearing disappearing
I hold on now
Every shade of white
In the thieving night
That we steal to grow inspired
I know right now
This last day darling
Here with me (darling)
All the rest is history

But i will remember
Every dream about you
I will remember
I could not doubt you
I will remember
No other lover
There is no other