Over The Rhine Album

Her hair
her face
her figure in your window
her hands unlace your innermost
as you retrace your steps of her familiar
her ghost appears with raven eyes

to dance
to spin
to spill into your memory
to glare
to grin
to chill you now
but through the din of silence all around you
she stirs within she still knows how

they laid her in the ground
she still comes around
a love that never dies takes you by surprise

hello
hello
now she's the voice inside you
hello again so soft and low
do you suppose your disbelief could blind you
she's still alive for all you know

heaven couldn't hold her
she'll be by your side when it's your turn
all she's seen without you
to you she'll confide when it's your turn.

I've been slipping down in the grass
counting the steps to your back door

i've been praying you'd see me pass
knowing somehow you've seen me before

i've been sighing more than I should
spilling my glass there's ice on the floor

but I've been busy gathering wood
hoping our fire will burn all the more

i've been stealing hundreds of bells
ringing my way along your shore

and I've been smiling all to myself
savouring signs of what's in store

i've been climbing branches and vines
gathering leaves for long festoons

and I've been rhyming myriad lines
full of your face and the gleam of the moon

Now if I could disclose secrets heaven only knows
if i'd lose all my ground and see your smile decompose
so I rest on the fact that I love you I suppose
and I hang like the colors on a blind man's clothes

how does it feel
how does it feel
how does it feel
to be on my mind

i'm the pale moon rising i'm the ghost in flight
that steals through the spaces of your inward night
i'm the moth that's resting on your window sill
with a lust for light and an iron will

pray tell talk to me can you feel me in the fingers
of the wind in your hair as if i'm standing there
very well like a child running to some mademoiselle
in his hand to his ear is pressed a great seashell

i'm the moon-eyed fish swimming up to you
you're the tall Titanic but you'll be subdued
there's someone mapping out a rendezvous
it seems to me.

you're in my shadow here in my room
love's such a strange word here in my room
i'm standing barefoot here in my room
sad as a gypsy here in my room

Now if I could disclose secrets heaven only knows
if i'd lose all my ground and see your smile decompose
so I rest on the fact that I love you I suppose
and I hang like the colors on a blind man's clothes
on a blind man's clothes

i'm the pale moon rising i'm the ghost in flight
that steals through the spaces of your inward night
i'm the moth that's resting on your window sill
with a lust for light and an iron will
and an iron will

pray tell talk to me can you feel me in the fingers
of the wind in your hair as if i'm standing there
very well like a child running to some mademoiselle
in his hand to his ear is pressed a great seashell
a great seashell

how does it feel
how does it feel

You say he feels it
his face reveals it
my sweet trepidation
an eagerness of my own
a shiver ships through my bones
can you see cobblestone roads
running through his stare.

he's so clandestine
he's such a vision
so tell me sister
he sits here in this small dive
there's something behind those eyes
did you perceive the wilderness
resting there... so did i

laughing he stalls me
crazy he calls me
he thinks me artless
for not stocking berry wines
from certain australian vines
have mercy sister
he's travelled ‘round the world

he's like a shadow
there by the window
but no man's an island
no man's an artesian well
he loves the cathedral bell
it sings about him
when he goes home at night... so do i

Here is my fortune
here is my fame
here is my future
it's in my pocket

and if my fortune
weren't only lint and small change
wishing in one hand
bird in another
see which one will take me farthest from here

here is my hopelessness
though i'm not helpless
i need a window
that i can climb through

just one small opening
a little lantern to light my way
discovering my hands
catch at the altar
i fall on my face as the words hit my ear

here is my fortune
here is my fame
here is my future
it's in my pocket

il est dans mon poche

In flanders fields far away
i lost my love one day

[No lyrics]

The night has a thousand eyes and ears
the rain tends to wash away my fears
it's not been long but it seems like years
and now you're here

brush away my tears
brush away my tears

the lullaby in your quiet eyes
instinctive as the night
and just as warm

brush away my tears
brush away

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

I painted my name on a bridge today
in black and white and red and grey
you know it's really not far away
from the banks of the river
where the president used to play

i put it high above the rocks below
it's sheltered from the wind and rain and snow
you know the bridge where we used to go
our childish trolls and freaks and giant demons

sunday i hope you might come by
on a big white boat with the sails up high
sunday i hope that you'll be true
to all it is i see in you

yet strange enough i'm still in love with you
and so it seems there's work to do
i've got my bow and arrow and barlow blade
come dawn i want to ride in your brigade

sunday i hope you might come by
on a big white horse in the big white sky
sunday I know we'll reconcile
down by the river we'll dream awhile
down by the river we'll sing awhile
down by the river we'll play awhile
down by the river we'll cry awhile
down by the river we'll dance awhile
down by the river just you and i

And i couldn't love you
any more
than i do right now

and The Furies that i feared were
Eumenides to lead me here
here i linger

and the cadences we hear
may grow different in coming years
still I'll tell you

that I couldn't love you
any more
than I do right now

and if you should ever leave
then I would love you for what you need
I could still tell you

that I couldn't love you
any more
than I do right now

This is as close as you and I ever get to the ocean
my third story bedroom window
overlooking this rain-drenched night
you breathe, and I recall the power of trains

let's let the night sleep in
let's pray that it engulfs us

you know
I can't even begin to see your eyes
but if I'm ever really drunk
it will be from drinking every drop of your soul
and running till I sweat your spirit