The Magnetic Fields Album

I will not sing your ugly song
I won't put on your ugly play
I cannot join your ugly priesthood
And if I die I won't come home

Railroad Boy of mine...

I bought you crows and candelabra
And I went moth-eating with you
I held you down when you had seizures
And read to you at bedtime

We went to see a beaver dam
We went to see a coral ref
But life is more than going to see things
And that's too bad

Railroad boy of mine
Railroad boy of mine...

Well, you've got a really long name
It won't fit on any forms
You gave me all your mirrors
And they made me deformed

You're sending smoke signals
I know your secret code
We travel in the plaid van
And we give our puppet show
And we picnic in the winter
On maple syrup and snow

Well, you made a Molotov cocktail
And you threw it on the ground
And it sent us flying
And now we're flying about

You're sending smoke signals
I know your secret code
We travel in the plaid van
And we give our puppet show
And we picnic in the winter
On maple syrup and snow

Maybe tomorrow I'll see love in your eyes
And mine will dry
Maybe tomorrow we can learn how to fly on these
Nasty little wings

And I wanna take you out
But you always refuse 'cause
You only play the games
That you know you can lose
You love to fail, that's all you love

We don't know why you've been gone
Somebody said you're on the run
You're living where wild horses run
Well, hey, whatever turns you on

I'll be your confidante
Come and go as you please
I'll honor and protect my
Wagner in dungarees

All day, snow covered us
Night-time, it was always night
The people on the street
Were made of meat
Black girl, trucks ran us down
Blue boy...

The people on the sidewalk were traced in chalk
Whale embryos filled your enormous room
Screech-owl kachinas built your spiritual room
We were kings, kings!

where the workers stand in querulous rows awaiting dislocation
I will be there too
when you're cashing in your food stamps
when you're sleeping in a cattle train
I'll be with you
pushing up against the ticket counter window
face against the glass
bleeding from the waist
and kissing to be chaste
it is said that those who will not rest
have been cursed to tramp
like soldiers through the marshes
or that blessed are the ones who leave the stage
like babies falling fast asleep

so I twice am cursed and twice am stuck
affixed to this corner of the earth
that old river keeps on rolling
but the old man doesn't see it
he just stands there with his eyes closed
asking: "where'd you go? Where'd you go?"
Lyrics
so whererever you may sleep tonight
be it bed or bedrock, home, or open field:
when your breathing slows and your eyes are closed
and you begin to yield
then whatever you have taken as your pillow
may it serve as mine as well

underneath the weeping willow I will wait for you forever
my eyes forever closed
asking: "where'd you go? where'd you go?"

You're in your own little world:
An expensive birdcage;
Like a plastic baby in a Faberge egg
I saw you today at the Cafe Blase
And thought of the nights when we had fire fights

Nameless seaside ghost town
That's where I go when I see the moon
Living in an abandoned firehouse with you
You're in your own little head
In a field of sunflowers
And there's blood in your mouth
And there's rats all over town

Take me out to the beach
And I'll tell you my secret name
Take me under the sea
And we'll derail the trains
Let's run away into the caves
I still love you
I still love you baby
Lyrics
You're in your own little box
With ribbons in your hair
And there's dust in your mouth
And worms in the air
Hideous city of unknown words
That's where I live when I go to sleep
In an abandoned firehouse with you.

Take me out to the beach
And I'll tell you my secret name
Take me under the sea
And we'll derail the trains
Let's run away into the caves
I still love you
I still love you baby

tar-heel boy sings a song
about a girl who ain't comin' home
by-'n'-by

she worked too long in the mill
she gone to those rollin' hills
in the sky

we're barely off mama's milk
and we're locked in here weavin' silk
we can't buy

while you been off in oregon
I been drinkin' here all alone
all night long
all day long

they shot a nine-year-old boy
for a hundred dollars

she can make you feel like filth
she can make you feel like a star
she will scratch til her hand is bloody
but she'll love you more for the scar

she remembers the recent past
she's something the cat dragged in
she's a trollop in paisley
so take her down to the woods
where the wolfboy lives, so the villagers say
and the three of you evaporate into the night
til you both fall in love with him

with a face like an african mask
and the strength of ten men
when she's wrong, she's in charge of the world at large
and her novels are all very long
she belongs on the astral plane
she's probably a hologram
put her back in the padded cell

so you'll dress head to foot in lame and
you'll dance in december snow
when the sky turns to wine, you'll embrace
and forget everything that you know
she can tell you the will of the gods
butter won't melt in her mouth, but you will
don't bother to ask her name

If I were Napoleon, you could be my Josephine.
We could go to drive-in films in my red convertible.
If I were Napoleon, I might be in magazines.
I'd write some science fiction--science fiction about you.
You could be my Josephine: just you and your chaperone.
Let you be my Josephine, Josephine.
If I were Napoleon, you could be my lady love.
Look into my soft blue eyes.
Run your fingers through my hair.
If I were Napoleon, you could be my turtle-dove,
Living out in Corsica in our summer cottages.
And you could be my Josephine and we could be Siamese twins
Let you be my Josephine, Josephine

I have a mandolin.
I play it all night long.
It makes me want to kill myself.
I also have a dobro
made in some mountain range -
sounds like a mountain range in love
but when I turn up the tone
on my electric guitar

I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me.
I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me.

I went out to the forest and caught
a 100,000 fireflies.
As they ricochet round the room
they remind me of your starry eyes.
Someone else's might
not have made me so sad
but this is the worst night I ever had,

'cause I'm afraid of the dark without you close to me.
LyricsI'm afraid of the dark without you close to me. Always was.

You won't be happy with me,
but give me one more chance -
you won't be happy anyway.
Why do we still live here
in this repulsive town?
All our friends are in New York.
Why do we keep shrieking,
when we mean soft things?
We should be whispering all the time ...

When I poured my heart out,
Blood flowed
I planted you, watered you with tears
And watched you grow
Away from me
So much for my green thumb
I've overstayed my welcome

Plant white roses and plan to cry
If I can't spend my life with you
Plant white roses, I wanna die
If I can't spend my life with you

When you're gone I stumble
And fall
I'm told you don't wanna stay around
Those trains call
You're all I need
But you need more than country songs
You need to be getting along

LyricsPlant white roses, I wanna die
If I can't spend my life with you
Plant white roses and plan to cry
If I can't spend my life with you

You'll have to stay,
You'll have to stay and watch them grow
You'll have to stay,
You'll have to stay and watch them grow
You'll have to stay,
You'll have to stay and watch them grow

Plant white roses and plan to cry
If I can't spend my life with you
Plant white roses, I wanna die
If I can't spend my life with you
My life with you
My life with you ..