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10,000 Maniacs lyrics
Album: The Earth Pressed Flat [1999]
| Ellen | |
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lyrics by mary ramsey
Eager to please was just the way that he was
Though his attempts there falling short,
Expectation
See he would tell of all his conquests,
Was he bragging?
But in the evening all alone
Ellen unplanned delays
Saving for someone who really cared about you
Invincible they say
Married to your name
She was the kind between a child and a lady,
Quick was her temper
Like a blaze from an ember
No one had measured to her standard,
So in the evening all alone all alone
How do I tell them to open their minds
And to take a chance
Maybe on finding life’s treasure stubborn they stay set
In their ways really not wanting to be lonely not alone.
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| Once a City | |
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lyrics by mary ramsey & john lombardo
This was once a city
Harmony a common theme
But these complications
Now make life a bit uneasy
Hallowed buildings scrape the sky
Voices ride the airwaves
Once a city years gone by
Will they still be standing in thecenturies ahead
Going underground little children hiding,
Bullets never meant for them
Must there be such bloodshed in our hearts, our homes, ourheads?
Will I be walking, walking so free?
This was a city once
This was once a city
Harmony a common theme but these complications
Once a city, once a dream.
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| Glow | |
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lyrics by mary ramsey
In the coolness of the morning
Sparing moments here in magical tide
I would meet you without question
To share a starry gaze a look through the sky
From the start
There was this kind of glow
The start when it’s right
You’ll know,
Fascinating love’s a secret
An ancient riddle with no reason or rhyme
Unpredictable the muses they play
Never knowing whether teasing or shy.
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| Cabaret | |
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lyrics by mary ramsey
Shards of glass cut through my gaze
Broken streamers hanging at my legs
Drunk and giddy full of fate
At the cabaret
Smokey stares from the bar
Do stray bottles tumble
I feel the misty spray
What a perfect, perfect day for the cabaret
From afar he sees
Venus rise overwhelmingly beautiful
He sighs the look of love was in her eyes
Puts his hand upon her leg
Looking closer his lust begins to fade
What a drag the queen did say.
Could this be a dream I’m in? ( fellini would be proud )
Gluttony enfolds the scene
Give them one last round ,
Shining faces dance away
Swinging skirts between the panted legs
Kaleidescoping
Then shassez in a blink the glasses fly
Suddenly joy becomes a fight
There they tossed and turned a sight.
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| Beyond the Blue | |
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[ unreleased song on euro and australian mtt cds ]
I was thinking today
If you would remember
You’d choose to remember
What you left me out there in the cold
Days fading away
I see you so near
I hear your voice calling
It calls me from these pages to you
Beyond the blue
So sudden too soon
Secrets we knew
And I was thinking today
If you would surrender
You’d choose to surrender
To feelings that you tried deserting
And if given the choice
I’d still wait for the moment
Still wait for the moment
When I could have a hero like you
Beyond the blue
So sudden too soon
Secrets we knew
Days are fading away
But I see you clear
I hear your voice calling
It calls me from these pages to you
Beyond the blue
So sudden too soon
Secrets we knew
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| Smallest Step | |
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Music by 10,000 maniacs - lyrics by mary ramsey & john lombardo
When the day ends
And church bells are ringing
When the valley is shroudedin snow,
When you’re feeling that hope somewhere vanished
And there’s no poetry left to console you,
With the smallest step you’ll find a way
Oh of fate borne and life is a jewel
But stone will tarnish as dust will descend
Take a minute and wipe free the lustre,
It’ll mirror a day without end
With the smallest step you’ll feel
It starts a journey your way.
Oh they tried to tell me
But I’ll learn for myself
And when they tried to tell me
You know the words disappeared on the wind
I was running away
And when the laughter echoes through you
In a pale beaming ray and you’ll know always
And ever within you anyway.
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| In the Quiet Morning | |
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Lyrics/music - mimi fariña
In the quiet morning
There was much despair
And in the hours that followed
No one could repair
That poor girl
Tossed by the tides of misfortune
Barely here to tell her tale
Rolled in on a sea of disaster
Rolled out on a mainline rail
She once walked tight by my side
I’m sure she walked by you
Her striding steps could not deny
Torment from a child who knew
That in the quiet morning
There would be despair
And in the hour that followed
No one could repair
That poor girl
She cried out her song so loud
It was heard the whole world round
[ a symphony of violence
The great southwest unbound ]
In the quiet morning
There was much despair
And in the hour that followed
No one could repair
That poor girl
Tossed by the tides of misfortune
Barely here to tell her tale
Rolled in on a sea of disaster
Rolled out on a mainline rail
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