Regina Spektor
Songs (2002)
1. Samson
2. Oedipus
3. Prisoners
4. Reading Time with Pickle
5. Consequence of Sounds
6. Daniel Cowman
7. Bon Idée
8. Aching to Pupate
9. Lounge
10. Lacrimosa
11. Lulliby
12. Ne Me Quitte Pas
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
Oedipus
(Regina Spektor)
I'm the king's thirty second son
Born to him in thirty second's time
Born to him the night still young
Born to him with two eyebrows on
And that's all I was wearing
When I woke up staring at the world
My mom had been a rather crazy queen
But not at all a sex machine
She liked to keep her body clean, clean
Thought the world to be quite obscene
But she retired to her chamber
And we remain quite strangers
And to see me made her awful sad
And to touch me made her awful sad
And to see me made her awful
And to touch me made her awful
I'm the king's thirty second son
And all it took was thirty second's time
But a spoiled little prince I was not
Had a chamber maid and a chamber pot
And there's thirty one others just like me
There's thirty one others I can be
Sometimes I'd stand by the royal wall
The sky'd be so big that it broke my soul
And i stood on my toes to catch a glimpse
Of my mother's eyes and my mother's skin
And she retired to her chamber
And we remain quite strangers
And to see me made her awful sad
And to touch me made her awful sad
And to see me made her awful
And to touch me made her awful
And one morning I woke up
And I thought Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus
Then one morning I woke up and I thought Rex, Rex, Rex
Then one morning I woke up
And I thought Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus
Thirty two's still a goddamn number
Thirty two's still counts
Gonna make it count
Gonna make it count
Gonna oh oh
Thirty two's still a goddamn number
Thirty two still counts
Gonna make it count
Gonna make it count
Gonna oh oh
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the
I'm the king's thirty second son
There's thirty one others just like me
There's thirty one others on the way
There's thirty one others after that
Sometimes I stand by the royal gate
People screaming love and hate
And they scream
And they scream
And they scream
And they scream
Long live the king,
Long live the queen
And to see me made her awful sad
And to touch me made her awful sad
And to see me made her awful
And to touch me made her awful
And one morning I woke up
And I thought Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus
Then one morning I woke up and I thought Rex, Rex, Rex
Then one morning I woke up
And I thought Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus, Oedipus
Thirty two's still a goddamn number
Thirty two's still counts
Gonna make it count
Gonna make it count
Gonna oh oh
Thirty two's still a goddamn number
Thirty two's still a goddamn number
Thirty two's still a goddamn number
Thirty two's still a goddamn number
Thirty two
Thirty two
Thirty two
Thirty two
Thirty two
Thirty two
Thirty two
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Long live the king
Prisoners
(Regina Spektor)
All of the prisoners serving life sentences
Wait for the earth to suddenly shake
For the walls to somehow suddenly come crumbling, tumbling and
For the bars to somehow magically break
Aw, There's nothing wrong with them
That a thousand bucks can't fix
That a thousand arms can't hold down
In the ground they're tattooing the stones with
Cusses like cavemen - your momma was here
But they want to run through the air with no barriers or obstacles
Gunmen or guard dogs or priests
And to rise from the mud and start over and over
With the people all dead.
If Hans Christian Andersen could've had his way with me
Then none of this shit would have ever gone down
In my cell I'm tattooing myself with
Mermaids and swallows and though I do swallow
My mama thinks I'm grown but I'm really just little
And someday I will remember
Someday I will remember
Someday I will remember
Reading Time with Pickle
(Regina Spektor)
Walking home from work
Stop at the supermarket, condemement aisle
A jar of pickles catches the eye
Make eye contact with a solitary pickle
Bought the jar took it home
Made it up the stairs
Made it through the doorway, waded through the floor
Tried to head in the general direction of the bathroom door
The truest room in the whole damn house
Singin' love is the answer to a question
That I have forgotten
But I know I've been asked
And the answer has got to be love love love
Now Feeding time with TV
Then sleeping time, not sleepy
So reading time with pickle
But were the bed side lamp had been
Is now a milignant soft soft green
Has it always been this way?
Is it possible all this magic went unnoticed?
Maybe things will start to change
And life will turn a better page
No more rain
Singin' love is the answer
To a question i know I've been asked
And the answer has got to be love love love
Tomorrow back to work again
Run to the supermarket, running hopeful through the aisles
Haven't been this happy in a long time
But not a single jar was smiling afterall
But pickle jars are just pickle jars
And pickles are just pickles
Ingredients ... water, salt, cucumber, garlic and pickling spices
But love is the answer to a question
That I've forgotten
But I know I've been asked
And the answere has got to be love
Consequence of Sounds
(Regina Spektor)
My rhyme ain't good just yet,
My brain and tongue just met,
And they ain't friends, so far,
My words don't travel far,
They tangle in my hair,
And tend to go nowhere,
They grow right back inside,
Right past my brain and eyes
Into my stomach juice
Where they don't serve much use,
No healthy calories,
Nutrition values.
And I absorb back in
The words right through my skin
They sit there festering inside my bowels
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
Got a soundtrack in my mind,
All the time. Kids-
Screamin' from too much beat up
And they don't even rhyme,
They just stand there, on a street corner,
Skin tucked in
And meat side out and shot,
And I'd like to turn them down
But there ain't no knob.
Run into picket fences
Not into picket lines.
All this hippie-shit for the 60's
And another cliché for our time. But,
But a one of these days your heart
Will just stop ticking,
And they sorta just don't find you till your cubicle is reeking.
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
Ahh ah ah ah ahh ah ah ah
Did you know that the gravedigger's still
Gettin' stuck in the machine
Even tough it's a whole other daydream.
It's another town it's another world,
Where the kids are asleep, where the loans are paid
And the lawns are mowed.
Whad'ya think?
All the gravediggers were gone?
Just cause one song is done
There's always another one,
Waiting right around the bend,
Till this one ends,
Then it begins
Squeaky clean, then it starts all over again.
The weather report keeps on
Tossing and turning,
Predicting and warning,
And warning and warning of,
Possible leakage from news publications and,
Possible leakage from news TV stations.
That very same morning right next to her coffee
She noticed some bleeding and heard hollow coughing and
National Geographic was being too graphic,
When all she had wanted to know was the traffic
"The worlds got a nosebleed" it said
"And we're flooding but we keep on cutting
The trees and the forests!"
And we keep on paying those freaks on the TV,
Who claim they will save us but want to enslave us.
And sweating like demons they scream through our speakers
But we leave the sound on 'cause silence is harder.
And no one's the killer and no one's the martyr
The world that has made us can no longer contain us
And profits are silent then rotting away 'cause
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds.
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds.
Ah ah ah...
My rhyme ain't good just yet,
My brain and tongue just met,
And they ain't friends, so far,
My words don't travel far,
They tangle in my hair,
And tend to go nowhere,
They grow right back inside,
Right past my brain and eyes
Into my stomach juice
Where they don't serve much use,
No healthy calories,
Nutrition values.
And I absorb back in
The words right through my skin
They sit there festering inside my bowels
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
Daniel Cowman
(Regina Spektor)
On the day that Daniel Cowman stopped existing
The world should have ended right then and there
At precisely four-fifteen when he stopped existing
The world should have ended
How could it go on?
How could it go on?
How could it go on?
Oh and I don't exist
I don't exist [repeats]
So now that we've got that straight
Doesn't mean that I can fly
Doesn't mean I that I can go do whatever I want.
Now that we've got that clear
And you know that I'm not here
Doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I please.
The premature ejaculation of his death
sentence hit Daniel in the face like a big round spitball hwk-pfffff.
And everything got hazy in the courtroom and then he stood up
And then he sat back down another two times in the row.
And everything got real slow like a gunshot in the movies
And he remembered heroin boy walking in through the door
Bouncing off the walls and the floor
Taking off his belt taking off his pants
Filling up the bathtub
Getting ready to go in for a swim.
Singing I don't exist
I don't exist [repeats]
And now that we've got that straight,
Doesn't mean that I can fly
Doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I want.
Now that we've got that clear
And you know that I'm not here
Doesn't mean that I can go do whatever I please.
And you start remembering and remembering and remembering
And remembering...
The heroin boy, he walked through the door,
And he was screaming
And I was like 'why's you screaming like it's the end of the world?'
And he was like 'well it is.'
And I was sitting in the corner with my pants down
And I was sure that someone next door was blowing up balloons
And it was red and orange.
And there was that swell lady at the bar just trying to buy gin
And there was this other lady at the bar and she was trying to sell gin
It worked out good for the both of them.
And heroin boy started taking off his belt,
Started taking off his pants,
Started taking off his shoes
Started filling up the bathtub
Getting ready to go in for a swim
I says "No-o.
You're going to drown.
He says 'No,
I can't drown.
Simply because...
Shhhhhhh.
A man destined to hang
Can never drown,
A man destined to hang
Can never drown,
A man destined to hang
Can never ever drown.
A man destined to drown
Can never burn,
A man destined to drown
Can never burn,
A man destined to drown
Can never ever burn.
A man destined to fry
Can never ever ever
A man destined to fry
Can never ever ever
A man destined to fry
Can never ever ever die...
In any other way but frying,
Lucky that I'm dying
By hanging and not drowning.
So now that we've got that straight
Can't I just be left alone?
I want to take a fuckin' bath
Bon Idée
(Regina Spektor)
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love [x2]
Don't tell your secrets to anyone
Because ideas are vulnerable
As soon as you say your idea out loud
Then it can go and live on its own
And you will miss it oh so much
And you will wait for it's return
And you will wish it were your own
But ideas that left never come back home
Don't tell your mother that you are afraid
Don't tell your lover that your heart might break
Don't tell your gods you no longer believe
Because as soon as you say it out loud they will leave you
And you will miss them oh so bad
And you will wait for their return
And you will wish they were your own
But gods that have left you will never grace your home
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love [x2]
Don't tell your secrets to anyone
Because ideas are vulnerable
As soon as you say your ideas out loud
Then they can go and live on their own without you
And you will miss them oh so bad
And you will wait for their return
And you will wish they were your own
But ideas that left will never come back home
Aching to Pupate
(Regina Spektor)
Aching to pupate
Aching to pup-p-p-pate
[repeats 4x]
Pu-pupate, pu pate,
Pu-pate, pu-pupate, pu pa-ate...
I should peddle butterflies
There's a shortage in the city,
I'll stand on the street corner
All myserious and giddy,
When the passers by pass by
I will open up my trenchcoat,
They will see the butterflies
Dangling like fake rolexes...
Every morning I wake up
With a purpose and a smirk
I'll put on my fake moustache
I'll drink heineken eat cornflakes...
Then I'll call my mum and dad
Tell them that I'm doing fine,
Or I'll write a tipsy letter
To a real good friend of mine,
Or I'll jump upon the bed
Waltzing madly with the broomstick
But before I leave the house
I will paint my lips with lipstick...
But peddling is a dirty sport
There's competition in the city,
Everyone is on a street corner
All mysterious and giddy.
Some are selling bags and shoes,
Some are selling books and gold,
I've been standing here for days
Not one butterfly's been sold...
And how I'm
Aching to pupate
Aching to pup-p-p-pate
[repeats 4x]
Pu-pu-pate, pupate,
Pupate, pu-pu-pate, pu pa-ate.
Lounge
(Regina Spektor)
I don't care that flowers grow for you,
And me, and me
You don't know what love is till you see,
Her standing there
A web of skin and nails and hair
A web of skin and nails and hair
And bones and bones,
And thorns
Rushing in, out her hair
You think you are alive, but you are dead
You keep, on driving in your car asleep
I'm driving in your car
I dont know why flowers grow in winter time
The sky turns gray the sun don't shine
And people rush to be on time
For warmth they wrap them selves in woolen cloaks
And hats and scarves
Like larva in their incubators
And drive and drive
[noises]
And drive and drive and drive
Until they get away
Lacrimosa
(Regina Spektor)
We keep on burying our dead
We keep on planting their bones in the ground
But they won't grow, the sun doesn't help
The rain doesn't help
If my garden would have a fence
Then the rabbits couldn't just come in
And sit on the grass and eat all the flowers
And shit
Hi, I'm Icarus
I'm falling down
Man for judgement must prepare me
Spare oh god and mercy
Spare
Man I have a terrible feeling
That somethings gone awful wrong with the world
Is it something we made
Is it something we ate
Is it something we drank
Hi I'm Icarus
I'm falling
From the dust of earth
Returning back for judgement
We must prepare
Spare oh god and mercy
Spare me
Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa
They keep on burying our dead
They keep on planting their bones in the ground
But they won't grow
The sun doesn't help
And all we've got isn't a giant crop of names
And dates
Hi I'm Icarus, I'm falling down
On this day of tears and mourning
From the dust of earth returning
Man for judgement must
Spare me, spare oh god and mercy
Spare me
Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa
Lulliby
(Regina Spektor)
I know that you cannot be here
I know that you are not mine now
Looking out the window
At another window
I see toenails changing color
Like the leaves of fall
If you often smile
But often don't smile
Which do you do more often
Smile.. or not?
I dreamt a hydrant was covered in snow
A white light glowing below
I know that you cannnot be here
I know that you are not mine now
Looking out the window
At another window
I see toenails changing color
Like the leaves of fall
Ne Me Quitte Pas
(Regina Spektor)
Down in Paris they lose their ballas and their lipdamales in the night
And stumbling through the street they say, Sir do you have a light?
And if you do then you're my friend
And if you don't then you're my foe
And if you are a deity of any sort then please don't go
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas ah ah ah
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas
Down in Lexington they walk in new shoes stuck to aging feet
And close their eyes and open
And recognize the aging street
And think about the things were right
When they were young and veins were tight
And if you are the ghost of Christmas past
Then won't you stay the night
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas ah ah ah
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas ooh ooh ooh
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas ah ah ah
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas
Down in Bronxy Bronx the kids go sledding
Down snow covered slopes and frozen noses, frozen toes
And the frozen city starts to glow
And yes they know it will pass
And yes they know New York will thaw
But if you're a friend of any sort
Then play along and catch a cold
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas ah ah ah
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas ooh ooh ooh
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas ah ah ah
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas
I love Paris in the rain, I love Paris in the rain
I love I love I Love in the rain
I love Paris in the rain, I love Paris in the rain
And I Love I love I love in the rain
I love I love I love in the rain
Down in Paris they walk fast
That is unless they're walking slow
And in cafe's they look away
That is unless they look right in
And in the corners I'm getting lost
That is unless I'm getting found
And if you are the ghost of New York City
Then won't you stick around
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas ah ah ah
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas ooh ooh ooh
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas ah ah ah
Ne Me Quitte Pas mon cher
Ne Me Quitte Pas
I love Paris in the rain, I love Paris in the rain
I love I love I love in the rain
I love Paris in the rain, I love Paris in the rain
I love I love I love in the rain
And I love I love I love in the rain...