Chelsea Girl 1968

   

The Fairest of the Seasons

Now that it's time
Now that the hour hand has landed at the end
Now that it's real
Now that the dreams have given all they had to lend
I want to know do I stay or do I go
And maybe try another time
And do I really have a hand in my forgetting ?

Now that I've tried
Now that I've finally found that this is not the way,
Now that I turn
Now that I feel it's time to spend the night away
I want to know do I stay or do I go
And maybe finally split the rhyme
And do I really understand the undernetting ?

Yes and the morning has me
Looking in your eyes
And seeing mine warning me
To read the signs carefully.

Now that it's light
Now that the candle's falling smaller in my mind
Now that it's here
Now that I'm almost not so very far behind
I want to know do I stay or do I go
And maybe follow another sign
And do I really have a song that I can ride on ?

Now that I can
Now that it's easy, ever easy all around.
Now that I'm here
Now that I'm falling to the sunlights and a song
I want to know do I stay or do I go
And do I have to do just one
And can I choose again if I should lose the reason ?

Yes, and the morning
Has me looking in your eyes
And seeing mine warning me
To read the signs more carefully.

Now that I smile,
Now that I'm laughing even deeper inside.
Now that I see,
Now that I finally found the one thing I denied
It's now I know do I stay or do I go
And it is finally I decide
That I'll be leaving
In the fairest of the seasons.

These Days

I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had the chance to.

I've stopped my rambling,
I don't do too much gambling
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think about
How all the changes came about my ways
And I wonder if I'll see another highway.

I had a lover,
I don't think I'll risk another
These days, these days.
And if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
It's just that I've been losing so long.
La la la la la, la la.

I've stopped my dreaming,
I won't do too much scheming
These days, these days.
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten.
Please don't confront me with my failures,
I had not forgotten them.

Little Sister

Don't call me home, little sister
Before the night is done
My love and I are fleeing
Running into the sun.

Turn to fly, go away
Little bird, please don't stay
Fare thee well.

Take up all your jewels and gold,
Bury them away in the earth.
Let your memory reduce them to dust
But don't forget the knife that was thrust.

Turn to fly, go away
Little bird, please don't stay
Fare thee well.

Frozen kiss by the fountain
Running into the sea
Where shadows choose their horrors
Designed for music.

Turn to fly, go away,
Little bird, please don't stay,
Fare thee well.

Winter Song

The snow on your eyelids that curtsy with age
Is freezing the stares on tyranny's wings.
The bitter is hard and the warmth of your skin
Is diseased with familiar caresses.

Withdrawing from splendor and royal decay
Among all the triumphs and jaded awards
The angry and blazing circus of sun
Blasphemes as the crown prince arises.

You cannot beget all the sins that you owe
To the people of paradise magic
Pretend to answer passion and form
With foreign rationalizations.

Primroses are the jewels that lurk
Among masks of pleasure that flicker with doubt
Embraces of fame that's simultaneously fear
To advance and demand to be recognized.

The river shall flow through hollow green faces
Of caricature's resentment etched out of the tongues.
Both reluctant princess asleep before birth
The classical sensitive failures.

The worshipping wicked cling to the dark of your heart
Lying there and wait with your angels
Moan and ravish from dawn to dusk
The avaricious young lovers.

 It Was a Pleasure Then

It was a pleasure then
Could you just be here again
To know what there was to see
When all the Sunday people
Were so quiet in the dark
Afraid to be better the next day

La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la.

It was a pleasure then
When we could sit and stare again
Until the stars fell through
The cloudy trees onto the grass
Stars to smile with us
Until they too had tears in their eyes
You tell us this one tale
Of how much we must not agree.

It was a pleasure then
To see the dying days again
In horror of the nights
Never never never
Never be too bright
We've got no secret
Heart to hide somewhere at last
As long as we could see
The sky confess this crime
0f bitter tasting hatefulness
Above our shattered minds.

It was a pleasure
It was a pleasure

La la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la la la la.

Chelsea Girls

Here's Room 506
It's enough to make you sick
Bridget's all wrapped up in foil
You wonder if she can uncoil.

Here they come now
See them run now
Here they come now
Chelsea Girls

Here's Room 115
Filled with S & M queens
Magic marker row
You wonder just high they go.

Here they come now
See them run now
Here they come now
Chelsea Girls

Here's Pope dear Ondine
Rona's treated him so mean
She wants another scene
She wants to be a human being.

Here they come now
See them run now
Here they come now
Chelsea Girls

Pepper she's having fun
She thinks she's some man's son
Her perfect love's don't last
Her future died in someone's past.

Here they come now
See them run now
Here they come now
Chelsea Girls

Dear Ingrid's found her lick
She's turned another trick
Her treats and times revolve
She's got problems to be solved

Here they come now
See them run now
Here they come now
Chelsea Girls

Poor Mary, she's uptight
She can't turn out her light
She rolled Susan in a ball
And now she can't see her at all

Here they come now
See them run now
Here they come now
Chelsea Girls

Dropout, she's in a fix,
Amphetamine has made her sick
White powder in the air
She's got no bones and can't be scared

Here they come now
See them run now
Here they come now
Chelsea Girls

Here comes Johnny Bore,
He collapsed on the floor
They shot him up with milk
And when he died sold him for silk

Here they come now
See them run now
Here they come now
Chelsea Girls

Here they come now
See them run now
Here they come now
Chelsea Girls

I'll Keep it with Mine

You will search, babe, at any cost,
But how long, babe, can you search for what's not lost ?
Everybody will help you,
Some people are very kind.
But if I can save you any time,
Come on, give it to me,
I'll keep it with mine.

I can't help it if you might think I am odd
If I say I'm not loving you for what you are
But for what you're not.
Everybody will help you,
Discover what you set out to find
But if I can save you any time,
Come on, give it to me,
I'll keep it with mine.

The train leaves at half past ten
But it'll be back tomorrow same time again.
The conductor, he's weary,
Still stuck on the line.
But if I can save you any time,
Come on, give it to me,
I'll keep it with mine.

Somewhere There's a Feather

Love and learn
Take your turn
Somewhere there's a feather
Falling slowly from the sky
You need not know the reason why.

Stand apart
Hear your heart
Someday there will be
Another lover till the end
You need not hold your breath till then.
Don't ask me to explain to you
There's nothing to remain but what we see.

Fall and climb
Take your time
Somehow you must live up
To the precedents you've set
You need not hope for answers yet.
Don't ask me how I know it now
The future does not show itself to me.

So love and learn
Take your turn
Somewhere there's a feather
Falling slowly from the sky
You need not know the reason why.

Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams

Wrap your troubles in dreams
Send them all away
Put them in a bottle and
Across the seas they'll stay

Speak not of misfortunes
Speak not of your woes
Just steal yourself a holiday
Crouching by the door

Ride and sway to music's pain
Searing with the sides
Caress it with a lover's touch
For it shall be your bride

Wrap your troubles in dreams
Send them all away
Put them in a bottle
And across the seas they'll stay

Slash the golden whip, it slaps
Across the lover's sides
The earth trembles without remorse
Preparing for to die

Salty ocean waves and sprays
Come crashing to the shore
Bullies kick and kill young loves
Down on barroom floors

Wrap your troubles in dreams
Send them all away
Put them in a bottle
And across the seas they'll stay

Violence echoes through the land
In heart of every man
The knife stabs existent wounds
Pulse runs through matted hair

The gleaming knife cuts early
Through the midnight air
Cutting entrails in its path
Blood runs without care

Excrement filters through the brain
Hatred bends the spine
Filth covers the body pores
To be cleansed by dying time

Wrap your troubles in dreams
Send them all away
Put them in a bottle
And across the seas they'll stay

Eulogy to Lenny Bruce

I've lost a friend
And I don't know why
But never again
Will we get together to die.
And why after every last shot
Was there always another ?
Why after all you hadn't got
Did you leave your life to your mother ?

And Honey Harlow
The singer burlesque queen
How did she know
You needed morphine ?
Why didn't you listen
To the warning words of your friends
While they told you so ?
I know you couldn't listen
To people talk about
What they didn't know.

I've lost a friend
And I don't know why
But never again
Will we get together to die.
And why after every last shot
Was there always another ?
Why after all you hadn't got
Did you leave your life to your mother ?