[ lyrics: Natalie Merchant & J.C. Lombardo/music: J.C. Lombardo ]

like a weasel in the clover
you tilt toss pop turn over
sit down!
tremble and weave like a moth
by flame deceived
sit down!
spill with your words caught up
dance in your room
slide like you're buttered up
roll back the tomb
sit down!

bolt scuff jilt chase circle riddle
shake in haste
sit down!

[ lyrics: Natalie Merchant & Michael Walsh/music: J.C.Lombardo ]

she borders the pavement
flanks avenues
parades pass white glove attended by
my mother the war

she'll raise a shaft
lift a banner
toss a rose
my mother the war

she's made every effort
to salvage the few
bought fourteen liberty bonds
my mother the war

mother the war

[ music: Natalie Merchant/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

wide open falsehood
the clan destine truths
rival till the end
in a series of duels
pardon the drapery language I choose

Waltz in Vienna has taught me to use
every tall room a fiction
leather bound treasure books
up to the ceiling
gold spine upon spine

the guile and the treason
the faith and allegiance

[ music: John Lombardo/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

as frail hinges
pivot on a case's door
commemorative
souvenirs from places
containers change
with each occasion

a cellophane encased
display of paper
certificate
to credit years of service
a tool of central enterprises
the early hope
for permanence
the words
the rings
consistency
the social security

[ lyrics: Natalie Merchant & J.C. Lombardo/music: J.C. Lombardo ]

like a weasel in the clover
you tilt toss pop turn over
sit down!
tremble and weave like a moth
by flame deceived
sit down!
spill with your words caught up
dance in your room
slide like you're buttered up
roll back the tomb
sit down!

bolt scuff jilt chase circle riddle
shake in haste
sit down!

[ music: John Lombardo/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

one time
you made me cry
be proud that I
remember

my chin is sore
the bruise is gone
but the spot is tender

gave my hand a sister coy
to Cotton Alley where
you did enjoy
your wicked games
you curious boy

tied my laces up together
when I fell
you laughed
until your belly was sore

[ music: John Lombardo/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

why are some men born
with minds that earn degrees
the loving cups
gilded plaques
grace their study walls
hide the cracks
while their genius is turned
to works of tyranny then
off to market to market
go selling these

with words so fiery and persuasive
they steal cunningly
riches no one can exceed

[ music: Robert Buck & Dennis Drew/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

dance to the sun
a kiss to the earth
embrace a stone

come the small black book
come the brandy cask
one strange disease
the well worded paper
signed by the drunken
hands of thieves

and suddenly
they were told to leave

as the snake uncoiled on a road
the length was eighty miles

[ lyrics: Natalie Merchant/music: J.C.Lombardo & Robert Buck ]

there was light and atomic fission
swelling wind
rising ash
tide of black rain
cement seared shawdow traces
reminiscent of their last commands

instantly one thousand flames arising
ill scent the burning hides surrounding
a settlement debased entirely
enola gay had made a casual delivery

[ music: Robert Buck/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

here is the store house of Her Majesty
well guarded by sentry
but looks are free

call this the rayless and benighted age
witches by tallow candles shifted
shifted their shapes
here is the pestle and mortar
that ground the poison seed
a lute, a suit for jousting
and the poems of a balladeer

[ music: Natalie Merchant/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

the legs of Maddox kitchen tables
my whole life twisted on a lathe
in a foreman's torrent
my first English was
"faster boy if you want your pay"
barking commands
loud and simple
we could all obey

then I was forever pulling silvers
rubbed the sawdust always
deeper in my eye
varnish vapor that could linger

[ music: Dennis Drew/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

Jenny

Jenny you don't know the nights I hide
below a second story room
to whistle you down
the man who's let to divvy up
time is a miser
he's got a silver coin
only lets it shine for hours
while you sleep it away

there's one rare and odd style of living
part only known to the everybody Jenny

[ music: Robert Buck/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

come as we go far away
from the noise of the street
walk a path so narrow
to a place where we feel at ease

some think it is haunting
to be drawn to the cemetery ground
as we
there's a stillness here
thankful found

child's pose angelic
a stone lamb at her feet
part the matted overgrowth
to read the carven elegy

[ music: Traditional/lyric: arranged by 10,000 Maniacs ]

on one morning
in the month of May
when all the birds
were singing

I saw a lovely maiden stray
across the fields at break of day
she softly sung her roundelay

the tide flows in
the tide flows out
twice every day returning

her cheeks were red
her eyes were brown
her hair in ringlets hanging down

[ music: John Lombardo & Robert Buck/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

power
dizzy with it stumble
detail
a chance for us to quarrel
anger
my head is shaken violent

if i could calm or restrain you
for the sake of pity
save the pistol
save the cynics tongue
save the cool white stare
and treat me to an honest face sometime

amaze me now

trust is

[ music: John Lombardo/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]

Steep is the water tower
painted off blue to match the sky

can't ignore the train

night walks in the valley silent
you could swear the earth just moved

can't ignore the train

dust to be kicked up
in the crack faced
idle sinister town
screen door to the rail station
devil in her shoe