Fade Away

Church bells ringing, calling the damned
In all the towns where I was born
Green screens measure my days in little gold bands
It's April, but there's a frost every morning
Over all the miles where I'll never go
And I thought I heard my children crying
But it was just a sighing
On the wind
And I thought I heard the old ones calling 
Me home again
And I lie here on this bed of nails and I fade away

 Last night they came and took 
   my friend away
To that cold dark room on 
   down the hall
But me they just leave stay and stay
It's April but I wither like the 
   leaves in fall
With none of the splendor of 
   their dying
And I thought I heard some 
   whispering
Just like a lover in the night
And I thought I heard a guitar playing
And a harmonica blowing
And a black train rolling 
On out of sight
And I cross this bridge of sighs and I fade away

Memories pass like the hours, 
  as welcome they are as ghosts
As useful as all my mother's prayers
Like sentries chained to their posts
It's April, but the rain just doesn't care
And they're holding spring hostage
And I dreamed I was an orphan
All alone
And by myself
And I dreamed I was a
    childless mother
Sleepwalking in the street
The bastard of wealth
And I ride from this valley of fear
    and I fade away

The pipes they cough and
    they murmur, my blood 
    bubbles and broods
Sugar drips into my veins
The traveller's trapped in dark latitudes
It's April, but the trees are as bare
   as my skin
And the birds treat one another 
   like strangers
And I thought I saw an angel
Dancing over me
With a scimitar and a stone
And I pictured a ruined cottage
A cat scrabbling in the embers
A young girl crying, far from home
And I leave this vale of sorrow and I fade away

Friends come and go, like they have
    all my life
My husband sits helplessly by
He needed a mistress and 
   never a wife
It's April, but the cold tears
   like a razor
Through all the mortals tramping
   these streets
And I thought I heard the 
   young men mustering
Still marching
Off to war
And I thought I saw wheatfields
    burning
Floodtides rolling
A shooting star
And I ford this river of tears and I fade away

People change faces, and morning
   comes like a curse
Hissed from some serpent's throat
I reach out and ring for the nurse
It's April, but the sun is ashamed
And there's snow on the dirty gray hills
And I thought I heard my
    children crying
But it was just the lying
Of the wind
And I dreamed I could count the stars
But then I woke up
Here again
And I hang from this wooden cross and I fade away

Frame

He wished the world would understand
   that nothing is nothing
Then his model brought him dinner
Every day I roll the dice
But I'm not looking for a winner


And everybody needs someone 
   to tell them something
Something they already know
Tell me, what would you say to van Gogh?
What would you say to Vincent van Gogh?


Every day I find what I seek
Though it's never what I'm looking for
Emphasize the essential, ignore 
   the obvioua
Step through the coal miner's door


And everybody needs someone to tell them something
Something they already know
Tell me, what would you say to van Gogh?
What would you say to Vincent van Gogh?

Every day I make something I never 
    made before
And it is like becoming 
    young again
If flapping lips could save 
   sinking ships
This one would still be afloat 


And everybody needs some to
   tell them something
Something they already know
Tell me, what would you say 
   to van Gogh?
What would you say to 
   Vincent van Gogh?


I never heard a good sermon on resignation
And one will never be written
The big fish swallows the little fish
What would you tell the minnow as it's bitten?

And everybody needs someone to
   tell them something
Something they already know
Tell me, what would you say
    to van Gogh?
What would you say to 
   Vincent van Gogh?


And a walk to the bars can be a train
   to the stars
In the bars at night one can ruin oneself,
   go mad, or commit a crime
A painter becomes a peasant,
   a peasant a butterfly
Watch the dust of eternity settle 
   over time




And everybody needs someone to tell them something
Something they already know
Tell me, what would you say to van Gogh?
What would you say to Vincent van Gogh?

I would rather know a human soul 
   than a cathedral
A hillside than a steeple
I had the sun in my head and a storm
   in my heart
Jesus is in the wheatfields and
    in the people


And everybody needs someone 
   to tell them something
Something they already know
Tell me, what would you say 
   to van Gogh?
What would you say to 
   Vincent van Gogh?

Never knew I had so many friends
Until they scattered
Never knew I had so many pieces
Until I shattered 


And everybody needs someone
   to tell them something
Something they already know
Tell me, what would you say
    to van Gogh?
What would you say to 
   Vincent van Gogh?

I'm sure if one is brave
Recovery comes from within
I was hoping for a treasure
But I feared a djinn


And everbody needs someone
   to tell them something
Something they already know
Tell me, what would you say 
   to van Gogh?
What would you say to 
   Vincent van Gogh?  

I want to see colors that complement 
   each other
That cause each other to 
   shine brilliantly
That complement each other 
   like a man and a woman
The enjoyment of any beautiful thing
   is a moment of infinity 


And everybody needs someone
   to tell them something
Something they already know
Tell me, what would you say 
   to van Gogh?
What would you say to 
   Vincent van Gogh?

If you could see colors that way
Imagine your despair at the end of day
If you could see colors that day
Imagine your despair at end of day


And everybody needs someone 
   to tell them something
Something they already know
Tell me, what would you say
    to van Gogh?
What would you say to
   Vincent van Gogh?










 So what would you do with Vincent van Gogh
When he hadn't a penny to his name?
What would you say to Vincent van Gogh
When he asked about his riches and his fame?
What would you do for Vincent van Gogh
Besides hand his pictures in a frame?

And what would you say to Vincent van Gogh?

This sadness will last forever

(It will be all right)

This sadness will last forever

(It will be all right)

The yellow and the black

You can't come back

The yellow and the black

You can't come back

What would you say to van Gogh?   

What would you say to van Gogh?

What would you say to van Gogh?

"What can I say?"

The angels are self-portraits

The angels are self portraits

This sadness will last forever 

(It will be all right)

This sadness will last forever

(It will be all right)\ 

   Repeat to your heart's content

A Pair of Shoes

The immediate cause
Is always the lesser reason
The slighter insult, which
Might be the better borne or
    shrugged off
If only justice operated in
    greater things
And made more common what others
   can the more easily afford

Everywhere dignity costs more than it
     used to
Cobbling has always been
     immigrant work
They come in the middle of the night
    to set up shop
Each year they speak a new language
And then when the landlord raises the rent
They disappear with your boots

Who can afford to have their shoes fixed anyway?
Isn't it really just an affectation,
An ostentatious display of that ancestral virtue
Which brought their current fortune?
What would you wear while you left them?
If I were rich I would give them more than you have
If I were God I could make a better heaven
Anyone could
Ain't that a shame, as old Fats Domino used to say
                  Anybody remember him?
How many shoes you think you wear out walkin' to New Orleans?
The quoted cost is never the price of purchase
Of anything, and how could you know
What it set me back?