Laurie Anderson
Life on a String

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Slipping through the years of silence
Under polar Ice-Caps miles down
You leave your echoes in the water
One white whale in all these oceans
One white whale.

Jewels and sand and rising water
Visions I've seen and cries I've heard
I can't put these things into words
Might as well put some beans
In a hollow gourd and shake it, shake it

I've floated on an icecap with a white polar bear
I've floated up and down the golden stairs
I've seen whales and caught in sails all twiskeetwee
But me? I don't say much

Jewels and sand and rising water
Visions I've seen and cries I've heard
I can't put these things into words
Might as well put some beans
In a hollow gourd

There are lots of people who talk just to hear the sound
The sound, the sound of their own voices
But take an empty shell and put it up to your ear
You can hear the ocean rumbling around in there

Ooo the greasy wheel it goes round
The humming of the breeze it makes a whishing
and whirring sound
The sudden silence when the burning sun goes down

Jewels and sand and rising water
Visions I've seen and cries I've heard
I can't put these things into words
Might as well put some beans
In a hollow gourd and shake it, shake it

These must be the bones of a fallen angel
These must be the bones of a fallen angel

Out on the ocean, out of the water
We look for signs of him
He looks like a giant snow hill, a fountain
Then he disappears. He's a speck on the horizon

We see him only in parts
The flash of a tail, his beating heart.
He's in pieces and parts.

It's easier for a camel to slide through the eye of a needle
Than to find a whale who hides at the bottom of the ocean
It's easier to sail around the world in a coffee cup
Than to see a whale when he comes rising up

We see him only in parts
A fountain, fins, a speck on the horizon
Giant teeth, an open mouth
Look out, look out, look out, look out

So hit an elephant with a dart
and he just reaches around and pulls it out with his trunk
But hit a whale in the hear and the whole ocean turns red,
It turns red.

We see him only in parts
The flash of a tail, his beating heart
He's in pieces and parts

So get hit in your head
And there may be a few things you can't recall at all
But you get hit in your heart
And you're in pieces and parts
Pieces and parts.

I walk outside to the parking lot.
Bright coins of water on the sidewalk.
Big white building where your body lies
Stands in the middle of the fields. Icy air.
And after all the shocks the way the heart unlocks
And ooo we slip away. We slip away.

I'm thinking about the way that lost things always come back
Looking like something else
A fishing pole, a shoe, an old shirt, a lucky day
Ooo then they slip away into the remains of the day
Ooo they slip away. They slip away.

I'm thinking how you taught me how to win
And how to loose
And how to fight the crippling blues that I was born with
Bad dreams and nightmares
Ooo they slip away. Ooo they slip away into the remains of the day.

I know that sometime I'll stop looking for you.
Stop seeing your face every day
Bad dreams and nightmares and big bad wolves
Ooo they slip away into the remains of the day
Ooo they slip away into the remains of the day
They slip away

You told me you had no idea how to die but I saw
The way the light left your eyes
And after all the shocks the way the heart unlocks
And ooo then you slipped away. You slipped away.

Jump up - get out - get on my way

Every slobbery frog and every mangy dog
That crosses my path reminds me

You're my precious jewel and you're my precious one
My compensation.

I used to live in a big house
All I ever thought about was getting out
When I met you there was something about you

Every slobbery frog and every mangy dog
That crosses my path reminds me
I love your brain. I love your brain.
I love your brain.

I say, Actually, I can't stand all the new machines
It's supposed to be all brand new but it just looks the same
He says: Oh, it looks like you're bored. So try this he says to me:

Why don't you get yourself an old beret
And why don't you find an old café?
And sit at a time and write something new
That's never been heard before

Or write your own manifesto. That would do
Just make sure you use a pencil
So you can always get it... you know... right

Look at all the things I've bought
I can't believe what they cost
Just a lot of plastic and numbers on my credit card
I'm feeling kind of lost
The world that used to seem so small
I could wrap my arms around it
Now it seems so big. And he said: Oh
>From your pictures I guessed that you were tall
But actually... I gotta go now

It's a small world full of light
It's a small world full of light
But I wouldn't want to have to paint it

I wanted our life to be so sweet
To live on harmony
But there are so many things
You just don't want to hear anymore from me
You know I can't keep doing this, I can't keep,
I can't keep doin' this

Where did it go, the heat?
I can't keep doin' this

I wanted to tell you so many things
But I lost my voice somewhere along the way
I think to myself where did it go?
Maybe it lives somewhere
Outside the city and it's waiting for me there
All I have to do is say the word
And it will come back to me, it will come back to me
But I can't even recall
How to ask something as big as that

You say: What are you thinking now?
I say: Nothing
You say: There, you're doing it again
How did you get to be my conscience?
You know I can't keep, I can't keep
I can't keep doing this

Where did it go, the heat?

Silence can be a beautiful thing
But only when it can by broken by a kind word
With a soft word
With a word
Our love unspoken
Our love lies broken

In the deli purple light
A woman in a party dress pays for some milk
Yellow cab stops for a light
Two men in black hats are running
A messenger on a bike

Pile drivers pounding. They've set up some lights.
They're digging a hole. It's filling up with black water.

Rainy days. Rainy nights.
Steam rises, covers the city.

Pieces of old newspaper float like paper boats
They slide along the rushing water in the gutter.

Rainy days. Rainy nights.
Rain falls down and covers the city

It falls from fabulous heights.
Covers the streets with its sparkling skin.

And over on Jane street they're shooting that movie again
They just can't seem to get it right

Behind a warehouse in a burned out building
A man is sleeping in a cardboard box on a pile of salt

Rainy days. Rainy nights.
Rain falls down and covers the city

It falls from fabulous heights.
Covers the streets with its sparkling skin.

A man on a park bench
He sits in the pouring rain.

Me, I keep my distance
I'm always leaving. That's just my way
Cool water
Now you're just another speck on the horizon
Just another speck on the sea
Cool water, cool me

Statue of Liberty stands in the harbor
Holding her torch
Hello, goodbye to all the men and women
Who pass through her port
Into the open ocean
Now you're just another speck on the horizon
Just another speck on the sea
Cool water, cool me
Freedom is a scary thing
Not many people really want it.

Oh it's another blue day in a nowhere place
We're singin' hey, hey, nonny, hay

I'm a little teapot short and stout
Tip me over and pour me out

You know when the Egyptians built their steam trains
They didn't have any fuel to burn - no wood, no trees anywhere.
But they did have a lot of old mummy rags lying around
So the gathered up all the rags and burned them in their trains
Yeah, they burned their ancestors for fuel.

Ooo, I'm a crocodile floating down the river
I'm a tree catching my own oranges as they fall from my head

I'm a little teapot short and stout
Tip me over and pour me out

And hello to all the people who sent me on the way
A pat on the back for you. Have fun, it's your moment now
It's your turn to walk along the runway road
And me? I sent my better self on ahead.
Your attention, please

It's like at the end of the play and all the actors come out
And they line up and they look at you...
And horrible things have happened to them during the play
And they stand there while you clap and now what?
What happens next?
And the fire dies and there were furious winds where he went

We're singin' hey, hey, nonny, hey
We're singin' hey, hey, nonny, hey
It's another blue day in a nowhere place
We're singin' hey, hey, nonny, hey

I'm a little teapot short and stout
Tip me over and pour me out

Oh beauty in all it's forms
Funny how hatred can also be a beautiful thing
When it's as sharp as a knife
As hard as a diamond
Perfect.

I saw it once on a grand avenue
That stretched into the distance
And you and I were walking there
Lost in the moment

Life on a string
Life on a string

Some people know exactly where they're going
The pilgrims to Mecca
The climbers to the mountaintop
But me, I'm just looking
For just a single moment
So I can slip through time

Life on a string
Life on a string.