Bitter Tea
Album - 10 aprile 2006 - Debaser id 310650

In my little thatched hut
where blue-green grass grows by the brook
I lounge and I look
(I lounge and I look. I lounge and I look)
for my own true love to return--
to come rowing in his rowboat back.

I'll go to the flower stall
and get a violet to put in my jet black hair
and make him tell me which one is the more fair
And in the meantime I cry

And in the meantime I cry
But what does it matter?
Because when I seem him again,
it'll be tears of joy

I'm in no mood to comb my hair:
there's a chill in the air.
And it's catching.
Catching.

I was so drunk last night, I didn't even undress for bed
and I swear the pin in my hair got stuck in my head

Darling black-hearted boy,
all the color's gone out of my ribbon loom
as I've only got the worst to assume.
Take your sheet metal sheers;
cut a slit up the the side of my dark blue dress;
for a last time lie your love confess.

Get your gut,
some home made twine-
string up silk your tiger bow.
Don't paint your board
moonlight white-
go dangle your fishhook out in the gutter again.

You swore you swore you'd never leave
you swore you swore you'd never leave
you swore you swore you'd never leave and now you're gone and
now I'm-

See the smoke from your kiln-
pine boughs burn the bricks dead hard in their fog
as I stand cold with my back broke by the bog.
Find your cross cut saw-
come blunt and jagged dry and try
cut my tongue out to keep on your wall up high.

I tipped my toe
on the bamboo strip;
I took stone honey in exchange for my rags.
Don't dare paint your board
moonlight white-
go dangle your fishhook out in the gutter again.

You swore you swore you'd never leave
you swore you swore you'd never leave
you swore you swore you'd never leave and now you're gone and
now I'm-

Darling black hearted boy,
I went down to wash my robe in the river;
I thought of you and started to shake and to shiver.
Leaning there on the rocks.
I see myself slip down and float
'til the brackish warm current stops up my throat.

You swore you swore you'd never leave
You swore you swore you'd never leave
You swore you swore you'd never leave

I've got a special category business
down by the Multifunctional Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Rollerblade Rink--
down by the Home of Bitter Tea.
Bitter, bitter, bitter tea;
bitter bitter, bitter tea.

I've seen you slinking off of snake alley.
Why not come up through the hall of butterflies
and past Lane 170
into our Dragon Protector Layout
and try some bitter tea?
Bitter, bitter, bitter tea;
bitter bitter, bitter tea.

On the 13th day of the 5th lunar month
Outside a hot spring bath
the old banyan tree looked down on me

Aren't you curious?
Aren't you curious?
A little curious,
about what the osmanthus blossoms taste like?

I think you're curious-
yes, you're curious-
a little curious
about what the osmanthus blossoms taste like
with a cup of bitter tea.
Bitter, bitter, bitter tea;
bitter bitter, bitter tea.

On the 13th day of the 5th lunar month
Outside a hot spring bath
the old banyan tree looked down on me

I am a crazy crane;
I lost my true love in the rain
I am a crazy crane;
I lost my true love in the rain

Come away;
teach me, sweetheart.
Come on past,
brave young bachelors.
I'm alone;
teach me, sweetheart.

My mother in law was standing by the stove
hissing like a snake, hissing like a snake,
hissing like a snake.
She gave orders to spill my blood;
she gave orders
to spill my blood, I thought.

I thought, I thought, and I thought some more.

Come away;
teach me, sweetheart.
Come on past,
brave young bachelors.
I'm alone;
teach me, sweetheart.

My father in law was lying on his bed
growling like a dog, growling like a do,
growling like a dog.
My mother in law was standing by the stove
hissing like a snake, hissing like a snake,
hissing like a snake.
He gave orders to spill my blood;
He gave orders
to spill my blood, I thought.
I thought, I thought, and I thought some more.

Come away;
teach me, sweetheart.
Come on past,
brave young bachelors.
I'm alone;
teach me, sweetheart.

My sister in law was sitting on her stoop
crawing like a crow, crawing like a crow,
crawing like a crow.
She gave orders to spill my blood;
she gave orders
to spill my blood, I thought.

I thought, I thought, and I thought some more.

Come away;
teach me, sweetheart.
Come on past,
brave young bachelors.
I'm alone;
teach me, sweetheart.

My brother in law was leaning on the love-seat
tapping with his tail, tapping with his tail,
purring like a cat.
He gave orders to spill my blood;
He gave orders
to spill my blood, I thought

I'mâ ¦waiting to know you by the way
Send up the balloons, its right to assume yea
I'm waiting to know you by the way
Set up to the pier, wait till you get here yea

And when I'm about to give up hope
Denote with my telescope
I'm standing gone the Navy yard
To see could that one for me be

Baby I know,
Where did you go?

I'mâ ¦waiting to know you by the way
Flash like a cape, misses your way yea
I'm waiting to know you by the way
The drecche of the lake, all that you shake yea

And when I'm about to give up hope
Denote with my telescope
I'm standing gone the Navy yard
To see could that one for me be

Baby I know,
Where did you go?

I'mâ ¦waiting to know you by the way
Send up the balloons, its right to assume yea
I'm waiting to know you by the way
Flash like a cape, misses your way yea

And when I'm about to give up hope
Denote with my telescope
I'm standing gone the Navy yard
To see could that one for me be

Baby I know,
Where did you go?

Baby I know,
Where did you go?

I was in Tahoe, on the California side,
waiting in the lobby at 665 1/2 Frontage Road
when two extra-blond short sleeve button-down
white-shirt blue-tie mystery Mormons
came in and put this music on:
came in and took me by the arm,
and as they had me marching through the parking lot-
and as they were marching through the parking lot-
they blew into their shirt-pocket microphones
like this:
And then they drove me to an Albertson's outside of Boise
and took me into a back room.
and they said they wanted to balance my checkbook;
and they said they wanted to organize my receipts
and itemize my expenses
and that I had the key
to a safety deposit box,
with treasury bonds and the key
to another safety deposit box
where I'd stashed away
the only pewter pocket watch
that ever belonged to
Joseph Smith's Great-Great Uncle's
Brother-in-Law.
And I said, "You've got the wrong Eleanor Friedberger."
And then they sang at me like this

I was so bored with my old life;
I was so bored with decent odds.

My new roommate left her debit card:
some sort of test for me. It's too hard.
Try to run an errand. Nervous sweat.
I rush back home and if I win I'll give her half (I bet.)
Online casinos in the Caymans;
Legal disclaimer writ for layman's.

I moved back into New Canaan;
babysit my sister's kids; it's rainin'.
They fuss a bit while I put them to bed,
and grumpy, sitting on the couch, I get it in my head:
take Metro North. A silver candlestick.
to Aquaduct on LIRR Pick.

I was so bored with my new life.
I felt like I new all the odds.

I bet 'gainst myself I wouldn't wager
my boyfriend's mother's mansion (nothing major).
I stole the deed one night when she was drunk.
I drove onto the revervation with it in my trunk.
Sensors beep the threshold when I crossed it;
thirty thousand marker soon I lost it.

Baltimore inner harbor (sports) zone:
being courted. He's talking on his cell phone.
"let me tell you why I think I love her:
She knows you always take the bye week dome home team to cover."
Go up to Pimlico and I choose.
It's no fun if it's fine when you lose.

I was so tired with all the angles;
I was so bored with losin' easy

So I gambled on going further a-field.
so I flew to Sydney and then to Bali and then to Jakarta
and called on my step-father's ex-business partner
Major Timmy Sastrosatomo
and he set me up as a silver smith/batik dabber
in a house once owned by the Princes of Mataran.
And he told me all his trobles.

We bribed a CFO at Semen Cibinong
to get them to buy a 40% stake
and we got a 5 million dollar order from Nieman Marcus
which we filled about 10%
but I did sell them my children's book
which I said was a South Sumatran
folk tale- which went like this:

I played cards for seven days straight,
was up $47 dollars late
evening as the sun went down I saw
the ace of diamonds up his sleeve - black velvet on his paw.
I fold, say goodbye politely.
They bark, you don't get off that lightly.

I dreamed of a casino way up in the hills of Borneo
where I lost with the giant flying squirrels and orange orangutans and great morman butterflies all day long.
'Til the bulldozers turned us into Whole Fruit Fruit Bar sticks and china markers

Forget the dogs and forget the sheep-
it's only you who affects me.
On the fun fair track road, a helter skelter fall,
on my ice skater's bruised knees.

Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep
tell me what time is it now.
Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep
tell me baby what time is it now.

Blood love silver locket and police sweater blood vow;
nativity jingle, carole and cry;
chain smoking ashes all over himself.
Laugh and hug your white wine wife.

Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep
tell me what time is it now.
Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep
tell me baby what time is it now.

Parking lot reading, cover my eyes;
you're a sick moaner, now hold your sides.
On Christmas Eve and dizzy escalator malls,
retraced steps for not lost gloves.

Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep
tell me what time is it now.
Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep
tell me baby what time is it now.

Well aye, went to sleep sitting up,
see the diary and cry out:
that's not right! You're here and i'm there!
That's not right! You're there and I'm here!

Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep
tell me what time is it now.
Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep
tell me baby what time is it now

As I try to fill all of my empty days,
I stumble round on through my memory's maze;
of all my past, only the sadness stays.

I went moping down by the bridge;
I rode a bike in the snow to the mini-mart;
I thought of the ways that I've broke my own heart.

It's not for me to fill the blue sea with tears,
but when I think back on all the wasted years
all the good cheer and all the charm disappears.

I wore the exact same clothes for five days;
the bailbondsman gave me a smile;
I was thinking of only my sins all the while.

As I try to fill all of my empty days,
I stumble round on through my memory's maze;
of all my past, only the sadness stays

Whistle rhapsody

The isolated lady
An isolated old lady
A dignified dame who keeps her own counsel
In love with the out-of-the-way
Identifying with the unfamiliar
Contemptuously turns her back on the wicked world
With its vulgar delusions and correspondingly
Scorns its regard

Our lady alone
With her scarf over her head
And her pricey purse over her shoulder strap
Wonders up at the heavens
And for yesterday yearns
The days of old

Often, she surrounds herself with
Like-minded bluestockings
And together they regret the dear beloved
Simple folk struggle with their own confused
Concerns, still

But she puts her pity on pause
And withdrawn from the delicate
And uncorrupted by the crude
She resigns even her/ own
Designs-
Then all at once
Brings in a breath
Purses her purple
Her honey-black lips
And lets loose a high
And round and resonant
And glad and grave
And westward, whistle

Nevers

There's a town i know called nevers
No nevers
Never wasn't was what it weren't

When it wasn't once. Knew nevers
Knew nevers
Nothing never i'll ever learnt

There's a village i visit, that's vaguely
Sorta vaguely
Vaguely yes i seem to recall

Though it's unclear clearly- vaguely
Very vaguely
Can't say it's been there once and for all

I put back on my overshoes
And got in my renault
The trips reset so i'm unsure
How far it is to go
But then it hits me (slap)
I've left it off my map

There's a city i saw signed something
Must be something
Something never quite so defined

So much so how somewhere something
(though some sing)
So to speak's the uncertain kind

In an index looked up where-it-was
Exactly where it was
Just in fact to make sure i can't

Set a course straight through to where it ain't
And where it ain't
Ain't gotten to except at a slant

I put on my new black boots
And pack up my citroen
And out of town it huffs and puffs
I set off there alone
And then it hits me (slap)
I've left it off my map

There's a place i passed called once upon a time
Tiny once upon a time
Never wasn't weren't what it was

Set the clock back twice or once upon a time
In once upon a time
Never knew when it wasn't there because