Over The Rhine Album

[No lyrics]

Hej, Hej, Hej, Hej, Hej...
Hej, you wanna sit right here?
Here beside me?
Do you like that? I do.
Hej, you wanna say my name?
Say it slowly.
Do you like that? I do.

Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna dance here in the sand?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you know it won't be your last chance.

Hej, you wanna smile at me?
I'll adore you.
Do you like that? I do.
Hej, you wanna read my poetry by the sea boy?
Do you baby? I do. I do.

Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna dance here in the sand?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you know it won't be your last chance.

Hej, you wanna hear a secret?
C'mere i'll whisper.
Do you like that? I do.
Hej, you wanna hear it again?
Maybe one day we'll be sayin' I do.

Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna dance here in the sand?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you wanna hold my hand today?
Hej, Hej, Hej, you know it won't be your last dance.

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

is it because I cannot see you
that you feel so free to steal
my excess baggage full of darkness and despair
while I fumble with my locks
you're content to stand and knock
yet I know your knack for thievery is rare

do you know they call it arson
setting fires without permission
in my heart for sure and maybe elsewhere too
though your lack of inhibition
captures my imagination
I end up a wiser person thanks to you

it's coming to fruition
the sympathetic vibration
your train is at my station
within without

then there is your flare for murder
there's a dagger in the border
of your cloak and I suspect a captain's gun
as you put to death suspicions
kindly kill my fears as well
exorcise and slay the demons one by one

though I'm usually pacifistic
you are mercifully sadistic
and I didn't know that murder could be good
but the roses came crimson
springing from the prison
of the floorboards where there once were stains of blood

it's coming to fruition
the sympathetic vibration
your train is at my station
within without
it's calming my suspicion
with soothing intuition
your train is at my station
within without
within without
within without
within without

(radio DJ talking)

Last night I dreamt you cut off all your hair,
Discarded all your beauty in despair,
Declared yourself a concubine,
Filled the bathtub full of wine,
Bathed and drank the night away,
And said there'd never come a day
When politics would ever mean a thing.
Last night I dreamt you came and crowned me king.

Last night I dreamt you cut off all your hair
And laid it at the bottom of my stair
And waited by the garden gate
For one more rendezvous with fate,
Kept a pistol in your dress
(the iron loved your sweet caress
As trigger-finger twitched at your command.)
Last night I dreamt we fell upon the sand.

Last night I dreamt you cut off all your hair
And sold your stockings at the county fair
And how the clowns did dance and sway
(the sheep and goats all had their say)
And there I'm sitting at the side
Of the one who loved to ride
The ferris wheel in nothing but bare skin.
Last night I dreamt you knocked. I let you in.

Murder's just a word
For lack of something else to say.
Murder's just a game
For lack of something else to play.

Put your finger,
Put your fingers on it.
Something's got me,
Something's got my heart by the throat.

Blood is just a shade
On the palette of your blushing body.
Blood is not afraid
Of all of this internal bleeding.

Put your finger,
Put your fingers on it.
Something's got me,
Something's got my heart by the throat.

Love is just a flame
Burning us with indiscretion.
Love, is not to blame
If murder is a man's invention.
Love is not a man's invention.

Inhale, exhale, dovetail, set sail,
Nightingale, blackmail, go to jail, make bail,
Prevail, unveil every detail,
Read my braille, put your fingers on it.

Sometimes I like to stick my fingers
Where they don't belong.
Sometimes I like to fake a fever
And just stay home.

‘Cause we smile in here
We don't get too close to sadness.
‘Cause what's holding us
Is just about to break.
Ain't it funny how life can drag behind us
Just like so much dead weight.

Sometimes what feels like pretty good music
Is just the same old song.
Sometimes we deal with bygone bruises
And find it's been too long.

But we laugh in here
We don't get too close to sadness.
We know good enough
Is a thousand miles from grace.
Ain't it funny how life can drag behind us
Just like so much dead weight.

And my hometown train
Is pulling from the station.
And I know for once
I really will be late.
And i'll dream that we can leave the past behind us
Just like so much dead weight.

Sometimes I like to stick my fingers where they don't belong.

Don't be bothered by the fears
I'll try to bottle them
Like my mother's perfume
She wore it only on Sunday
Kept it safe in her room
In a chest with a key
We found it anyway

Don't be bothered by the fears
They'll only join us like the sky
That blushes red tonight
And makes the wind die down
Calms the troubled sea
More out of duty than pleasure
But out of pleasure nonetheless

Your fire burns me like a favorite song
A song I should have know all along
I feel you move like smoke in my eyes
And that is why, why

Don't be bothered by the fears
That sing from my eyes like carrillon
Ringing only on Sunday
On the roof down our street
Finally over the river
Ring for you ring for me
Finally forever
It's just I never
It's just I never thought
I never thought that I could be this free

Your fire burns me like a favorite song
A song I should have know all along
I feel you move like smoke in my eyes
And that is why, why

Your fire burns me like a favorite song
A song I should have know all along
I feel you move like smoke in my eyes
And that is why, why, why, why, why
Why, why, why

Don't be bothered
Don't be bothered

Why, why, why, why, why, why
Why, why
Why, why, why, why, why
Why, why

Slow down. Hold still.
It's not as if it's a matter of will.
Someone's circling. Someone's moving
a little lower than the angels.
And it's got nothing to do with me.
The wind blows through the trees,
but if I look for it, it won't come.
I tense up. My mind goes numb.
There's nothing harder than learning how to receive.

Calm down. Be still.
We've got plenty of time to kill.
No hand writing on the wall:
just the voice that's in us all.
And you're whispering to me,
time to get up off my hands and knees,
'cause if I beg for it, it won't come.
I find nothing but table crumbs.
My hands are empty. God I've been naive.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside, feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

Slow down. Hold still.
It's not as if it's a matter of will.
Someone's circling. Someone's moving
a little lower than the angels.
This voice calling me to you:
it's just barely coming through.
Still, I clearly hear my name.
I've been fingering the flame
like tomorrow's martyr.
It gets harder to believe.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside, feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

So from now till kingdom come,
taste the words on the tip of my tongue.
'Cause we can't run truth out of town,
only force it underground.
The roots grow deeper
in ways we can't conceive.

All I need is everything.
Inside, outside feel new skin.
All I need is everything.
Feel the slip and the grip of grace again.

All I need is all I need.

Oh Lucy, it's not as bad as you think.
Oh Lucy, love's a fact that can make a girl drink.
And you say that it's over.
You say it's the end of Lucy, Lucy, Lucy.

Oh Lucy, there's a cold look in your eye.
Oh Lucy, I believe this is the way most dreamers die.
And Lucy's starting over.
Lucy's at the edge of Lucy, Lucy, Lucy...

God have mercy,
The house stands empty with the garden.
God have mercy,
Your young girl's heart will learn to harden.

Lucy, you can't pray a lie,
No matter how hard you try.
Lucy, you can't pray a lie.
You're a bloody-minded girl and that's alright.
You're gonna be just fine.

Oh Lucy, it's not as bad as you think.

I wanna be real,
Something you can sink your teeth into.
I want you to feel,
All it is that I feel for you.
I'm firelight for your seeing hands.
Rich perfume for your tastebuds.

Your eyes are always
Dark and deep,
But we have promises to keep
And miles to go before we sleep.

Are you drunk,
With the wine of God?
Did your ship wreck
As the tempest tossed you?

You can write your name on the water,
It'll drift on out to sea.
You can treat me like a daughter,
You can write your name on me.

We touched a funeral, drank a parade.
We stole a wedding, melted and prayed.
It always hovers just around the bend.
We're never quite there, but then again.
Once a stranger now more than a friend-
It all makes me pretty tired.
I suppose that you're still wired.

Your heart's on mine
Beating double time,
But we have promises to keep
|and miles to go before we sleep.

And miles to go...

[No lyrics]

if i'm drowning within your open sea
save me, save me
if i'm lost within your strange anatomy
talk to me, talk to me
if i'm on fire and i'm melting in the heat
touch me, touch me
if i'm tangled in your raw philosophy
then you better walk with me
walk with me

i'm just walking across your heart
in spite of the weather
(won't you walk with me?)

if i'm dancing through your passages and fall
catch me, catch me
if i'm screaming in your sky and tell you all
hear me, hear me
if i'm feigning coherence and calmness
laugh with me, laugh with me
if i tremble at your close proximity
then you better believe me
believe me

i can see you now
i can hear you now
i can feel you now
i can taste you now
in spite of the weather
yeah