Regina Spektor
Begin to hope (2006)
1. Fidelity
2. Better
3. Samson
4. On the Radio
5. Field Below
6. Hotel Song
7. Après Moi
8. 20 Years of Snow
9. That Time
10. Edit
11. Lady
12. Summer in the City
13. Another Town (bonus)
14. Uh-merica (bonus)
15. Baobabs (bonus)
16. Düsseldorf (bonus)
17. Music Box (bonus)
Fidelity
(Regina Spektor)
(Shake it up)
I never loved nobody fully
Always one foot on the ground
And by protecting my heart truly
I got lost in the sounds
I hear in my mind
All these voices
I hear in my mind all these words
I hear in my mind all this music
And it breaks my heart
And it breaks my heart
And it breaks my heart
It breaks my heart
And suppose I never ever met you
Suppose we never fell in love
Suppose I never ever let you kiss me so sweet and so soft
Suppose I never ever saw you
Suppose we never ever called
Suppose I kept on singing love songs just to break my own fall
Just to break my fall
Just to break my fall
Break my fall
Break my fall
All my friends say that of course its gonna get better
Gonna get better
Better better better better
Better better better
I never love nobody fully
Always one foot on the ground
And by protecting by heart truly
I got lost
In the sounds
I hear in my mind
All these voices
I hear in my mind all these words
I hear in my mind
All this music
And it breaks my heart
It breaks my heart
I hear in my mind all of these voices
I hear in my mind all of these words
I hear in my mind all of this music
Breaks my
Heart
Breaks my heart
Better
(Regina Spektor)
If I kiss you where it's sore
If I kiss you where it's sore
Will you feel better, better, better
Will you feel anything at all
Will you feel better, better, better
Will you feel anything at all
Born like sisters to this world
In a town where blood ties are only blood
If you never say your name out loud to anyone
They can never ever call you by it
If I kiss you where it's sore
If I kiss you where it's sore
Will you feel better, better, better
Will you feel anything at all
Will you feel better, better, better
Will you feel anything at all
You're getting sadder, getting sadder, getting sadder, getting sadder
And I don't understand, and I don't understand
But if I kiss you where it's sore
If I kiss you where it's sore
Will you feel better, better, better
Will you feel anything at all
Will you feel better, better, better
Will you feel anything at all
Anything at all
Will you feel anything at all
Anything at all
Will you feel anything at all
Anything at all...
Samson
(Regina Spektor)
You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth
I have to go, I have to go
Your hair was long when we first met
Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
He ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed
And history books forgot about us and the bible didn't mention us
And the bible didn't mention us, not even once
You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the stars came fallin' on our heads
But they're just old light, they're just old light
Your hair was long when we first met
Samson came to my bed
Told me that my hair was red
Told me I was beautiful and came into my bed
Oh I cut his hair myself one night
A pair of dull scissors in the yellow light
And he told me that I'd done alright
And kissed me 'til the mornin' light, the mornin' light
And he kissed me 'til the mornin' light
Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
Ate a slice of wonderbread and went right back to bed
Oh, we couldn't bring the columns down
Yeah we couldn't destroy a single one
And history books forgot about us
And the bible didn't mention us, not even once
You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first
On the Radio
(Regina Spektor)
This is how it works
It feels a little worse
Than when we drove our hearse
Right through that screaming crowd
While laughing up a storm
Until we were just bone
Until it got so warm
That none of us could sleep
And all the styrofoam
Began to melt away
We tried to find some worms
To aid in the decay
But none of them were home
Inside their catacomb
A million ancient bees
Began to sting our knees
While we were on our knees
Praying that disease
Would leave the ones we love
And never come again
On the radio
We heard November Rain
That solo's really long
But it's a pretty song
We listened to it twice
'Cause the DJ was asleep
This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath
No, this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
And try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again
And on the radio
You hear November Rain
That solo's awful long
But it's a good refrain
You listen to it twice
'Cause the DJ is asleep
On the radio
(oh oh oh)
On the radio
On the radio - uh oh
On the radio - uh oh
On the radio - uh oh
On the radio
Field Below
(Regina Spektor)
I wish I'd see a field below
i wish I'd hear a rooster crow
But there are none who live downtown
And so the day starts out so slow
Again the sun was never called
And darkness spreads over the snow
Like ancient bruises
I'm awake and feel the ache
But I wish I'd see a field below
I wish I'd see a field below
I wish I'd see your face below
I wish I'd hear you whispering low
But you don't live downtown no more
And everything must come and go
Again the sun was never called
And darkness spreads over the snow
Like ancient bruises
I'm awake and feel the ache
I'm awake and feel the ache
But I wish I'd see a field below
But I wish I'd see a field below
I'm awake and feel the ache
But I wish I'd see a field below
I'm awake and feel the ache
But I wish I'd see a field below
I wish I'd see a field below
I wish I'd see a field below
Hotel Song
(Regina Spektor)
Come in, come in
Come into my world I've got to show
Show show you
Come into my bed
I've got to know
Know know you
I have dreams of orca whales and owls
But I wake up in fear
You will never be my
You will never be my fool
Will never be my fool
Floaters in my eyes
Wake up in an hotel room
Cigarettes and lies
I am a child, it's too soon
I have dreams of orca whales and owls
But I wake up in fear
You will never be my
You will never be my fool
Will never be my fool
A little bag of cocaine
A little bag of cocaine
So who's the girl wearing my dress
I figured out her number
Inside a paper napkin
But I don't know her address I wade downstairs
The porter smiles to me a smile
I've bought
With a couple of gold coins
A sign that I've been caught
I have dreams of orca whales and owls
But I wake up in fear
You will never be my
You will never be my dear
Will never be my dear, dear friend
Dear dear friend, dear dear friend...
A little bag of cocaine
A little bag of cocaine
So who's the girl wearing my dress
I figured out her number
Inside a paper napkin
But I don't know her address
Come in, come in
Come into my world I've got to show
Show show you
Come into my bed
I've got to know
Know know you
I have dreams of orca whales and owls
But I wake up in fear
You will never be my
You will never be my dear
Will never be my dear, dear friend
Dear dear friend, dear dear friend...
Après Moi
(Regina Spektor)
I must go on standing
You can't break that which isn't yours
I, oh, must go on standing
I'm not my own, it's not my choice
[Chorus:]
Be afraid of the lame
They'll inherit your legs
Be afraid of the old
They'll inherit your souls
Be afraid of the cold
They'll inherit your blood
Après moi, le deluge
After me comes the flood
I must go on standing
You can't break that which isn't yours
I, oh, must go on standing
I'm not my own, it's not my choice
[Chorus x2]
[Russian*:]
февраль достать чернил и плакать
писать о феврале навзрыд
пока грохочущая слякоть
весною чёрною горит
[Repeat]
[Chorus]
I must go on standing
You can't break that which isn't yours
I, oh, must go on standing
I'm not my own, it's not my choice
[Repeat]
[* Words from a poem by Boris Pasternak. English translation:
February. Get ink, shed tears.
Write of it, sob your heart out, sing,
While torrential slush that roars
Burns in the blackness of the spring.
Phonetic:
Fevral'. Dostat' chernil i plakat'!
Pisat' o fevrale navzryd,
Poka grohochuschaya slyakot'
Vesnoyu chernoyu gorit.]
20 Years of Snow
(Regina Spektor)
He's a wounded animal
He lives in a matchbox
He's a wounded animal
And he's been coming around here
He's a dying breed
He's a dying breed
His daughter is twenty years of snow falling
She's twenty years of strangers looking into each other's eyes
She's twenty years of clean
She never truly hated anyone or anything
She's a dying breed
She's a dying breed
She says I'd prefer the moss
I'd prefer the mouth
A baby of the swamps
A baby of the south
I'm twenty years of clean
And I never truly hated anyone or anything
Twenty years of clean
Twenty years of clean
But I got to get me out of here
This place is full of dirty old men
And the navigators with their mappy maps
And moldy heads and pissing on sugarcubes
But I got to get me out of here
This place is full of dirty old men
And the navigators with their mappy maps
And moldy heads and pissing on sugarcubes
While you stare at your boots
And the words float out like holograms
And the words float out like holograms
And the words float out like holograms
They say, feel the waltz, feel the waltz
Come on, baby, baby, now feel the waltz
Feel the waltz, feel the waltz
Come on, baby, baby, now feel the waltz
That Time
(Regina Spektor)
Hey remember the time when I found a human tooth down on Delancey
Hey remember that time we decided to kiss anywhere except the mouth
Hey remember that time when my favorite colors were pink and green
Hey remember that month when I only ate boxes of tangerines
So cheap and juicy, tangerines
Hey remember that time when I would only read Shakespeare
Hey remember that other time when I would only read the backs of cereal boxes
Hey remember that time I tried to save a pigeon with a broken wing
A street cat got him by morning and I had to bury pieces of his body in my building's playground
I thought I was going to be sick, I thought I was going to be sick
Hey remember that time when I would only smoke Parliaments
Hey remember that time when I would only smoke Marlboros
Hey remember that time when I would only smoke Camels
Hey remember that time when I was broke
I didn't care I just bummed from my friends
Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum...
Hey remember that time when you od'ed
Hey remember that other time when you od'ed for the second time
Well in the waiting room while waiting for news of you I hallucinated I could read your mind
And I was on a lot of shit too but what I saw, man, I tell you it was freaky, freaky
Edit
(Regina Spektor)
White lines on your mind
Keep it steady
You were never ready for the lies
White lines on your mind
Keep it steady
You were never ready for the lies
You don't have no doctor Robert
You don't have no uncle Albert
You don't even have good credit
You can write but you can't edit
You don't have no doctor Robert
You don't have no uncle Albert
You don't even have good credit
You can write but you can't edit
Edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit...
White lines on your mind
Keep it steady
You were never ready for the lies
You don't have no doctor Robert
You don't have no uncle Albert
You don't even have good credit
You can write but you can't edit
Edit, edit, edit, edit, edit, edit...
Lady
(Regina Spektor)
Lady sing the blues so well
As if she mean it
As if it's hell down here
In the smoke-filled world
Where the jokes are cold
They don't laugh at jokes
They laugh at tragedies
Corner street societies
But they believe her
They never leave her
While she sings she make them feel things
She says, i can sing this song so blue
That you will cry in spite of you
Little wet tears on your baby's shoulder
Little wet tears on your baby's shoulder
And I have walked these streets so long
There ain't nothing right, there ain't nothing wrong
But the little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
The little wet tears on your baby's shoulder
Lady lights a cigarette, puffs away, no regret
Takes a look around, no regrets, no regrets
Stretches out like branches of a poplar tree
She says, i'm free
Sings so soft as if she'll break, says
I can sing this song so blue
That you will cry in spite of you
Little wet tears on your baby's shoulder
Little wet tears on your baby's shoulder
I have walked these streets so long
There ain't nothing right, nothing wrong
But the little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
The little wet tears on your baby's shoulder
But on this stage
I've learned to fly
Learned to sing
And learned to cry
Little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
Little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
But now it's time
To say goodbye
Some might laugh
But I will surely cry
Little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
Little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
Lady lights a cigarette
Puffs away, and winter comes
And she forgets
Summer in the City
(Regina Spektor)
Summer in the city means cleavage cleavage cleavage
And I start to miss you, baby, sometimes
I've been staying up and drinking in a late night establishment
Telling strangers personal things
Summer in the city, I'm so lonely lonely lonely
So I went to a protest just to rub up against strangers
And I did feel like coming but I also felt like crying
It doesn't seem so worth it right now
And the castrated ones stand in the corner smoking
They want to feel the bulges in their pants start to rise
At the site of a beautiful woman they feel nothing but
Anger, her skin makes them sick in the night nauseaous, nauseaous, nauseaous
Summer in the city, I'm so lonely lonely lonely
I've been hallucinating you, babe, at the backs of other women
And I tap on their shoulder and they turn around smiling
But there's no recognition in their eyes
Oh summer in the city means cleavage cleavage cleavage
And don't get me wrong, dear, in general I'm doing quite fine
It's just when it's summer in the city, and you're so long gone from the city
I start to miss you, baby, sometimes
When it's summer in the city
And you're so long gone from the city
I start to miss you, baby, sometimes
I start to miss you, baby, sometimes
I start to miss you, baby, sometimes
Another Town
(Regina Spektor)
In another town
Don't let me forget
In another town
Mouth full of regrets
In another town
Please place final bets
In another town
But I know I know I know
In another town
My fingers so cold
In another town
My soul feels so old
In another town
I've sold all my gold
In another town
But I know I know I know
I love you...
In another town
They've given me the key
In another town
I'm drinking for free
In another town
A girl just like me
In another town
But I know I know I know
In another town
The light fills my room
In another town
They're painting my moon
In another town
I won't see it soon
But I know I know I know
I love you...
Uh-merica
(Regina Spektor)
Mrs. E. Roosevelt never heard me shoot my gun
Mrs. E. Roosevelt didn't even know I owned one
Somewhere between the cobblestone floor and the slated wooden ceiling
Cuddling my semi-automatic, what a very fuzzy feeling
Oh... there's nothing like emptying a cartridge at the sun
Uh-merica, Uh-merica
Uh-merica, Uh- merica
Oh... there's nothing like emptying a cartridge at the sun
Oh we're born alone and then we're covered by m-m-m-mother's kisses
The mind has already forgotten what the body still misses
Somewhere between the sticky floor and the cracks in the ceiling
Cuddling my semi automatic, what a very fuzzy feeling
Oh... there's nothing like emptying a cartridge at the sun
Uh-merica, Uh-merica
Uh-merica, Uh- merica
Oh... there's nothing like emptying a cartridge at the sun
One more time
Uh-merica, Uh-merica
Uh-merica, Uh- merica
Oh... there's nothing like emptying a cartridge at the sun
emptying a cartridge at the sun
emptying a cartridge at the sun
Baobabs
(Regina Spektor)
You have tamed me
Now you must take me
How am I supposed to be
I don't have my thorns now
I feel them sprouting
They'll grow right through
If I don't watch it
And they'll grow right through
Even if I watch it
And a sunset couldn't save me now
These baobabs and baobabs and baobabs some more
But you can't outweight fate
And you have tamed me
Now you must take me...
And I wouldn't raise my child inside the city anyway
They grow up too savvy and they grow up too fast
And they know about buying shit and they know about sex
And they know about investment banking and also about brokerage firms
And they know about the numbers and they know about the words
And they know about the bottom lines and also about stones
And they know about careers and about the real deals
And they all grow up and become people's people with people skills
But you have tamed me
Now you must take me
How am I supposed to be
I don't have my thorns now
You have tamed me
Now you must take me
How am I supposed to be
I don't have my thorns
Düsseldorf
(Regina Spektor)
In Düsseldorf I met a clown
his nose, it was red
In Gelterkinden I forgot to frown
then remembered again
In Paris I saw a big fish
swimming slow in the Siene
it made me hopeful that someday our
water would be breathable again...
In Frankfurt I heard eins zwei drei
counting cookies and no one was shot
In Berlin stopped by the Polizei
for drunk driving and everyone smiled
In Prague I knew I'd been a witch
burnt alive, a pyre of Soviet kitsch
it made me miss my Moscow muttdom
it made me miss my New York nothing...
In Montpelier I stayed in a Château
a boy climbed into my bed and he knew no boundaries
In Amsterdam I got quite crazy
it might have been all the tulips and canals
or it might have been all that hash, and in
Barcelon, buenos dias, chocolato, le Picasso
And in Brussels, clean-cut hostel
And in London, me and the French existentialists...
In Corsica I floated away, all the way to Marseilles
I should have held an after party for all the thoughts I didn't say
In Düsseldorf I met a dwarf
with bad breath and a really good tan
In Gelterkinden I remembered how to laugh
and I never ever forgot it again
Music Box
(Regina Spektor)
Life inside the music box ain't easy
The mallets hit the gears are always turning
And everyone inside the mechanism
Is yearning
To get out
And sing another melody completely
So different from the one they're always singing
I close my eyes and think that i have found me
But then I feel mortality surround me
I want to sing another melody
So different from the one I always sing
...but when I do the dishes...
I run the water very very very hot
And then I fill the sink to the top with bubbles of soap
And then I set all the bottle caps I own afloat
And its the greatest voyage in the history of plastic
And then I slip my hands in and start to make waves
And then I dip my tongue in and take a taste
It tastes like soap but it doesn't really taste like soap
and then I lower in my whole mouth and take a gulp
...and start to... feel mortality surround me
I close my eyes and think that I have found me
But life inside the music box ain't easy
The mallets hit the gears are always turning
And everyone inside the mechanism
Is yearning to get out...