Patti Smith

[fox69]

"Cartwheels"

"Cartwheels"


Come my one, look at the world Bird beast butterfly
Girls sing notes of heaven Birds lift them up to the sky

Spring is departing Spring is departing

Her thoughts are darting like a rabbit Like a rabbit 'cross the moon
Shines of light over your hair As boys croon

Pretty in pink It makes me wonder
What could ever bring you down I see tears falling
From those eyes of brown

Hearing a voice, you turn your head You vanish into the mist
Of your thoughts And I
Want to grasp What brings you down
Open up those eyes of brown

The world is changing Your heart is growing

Hearing a voice you turn your head Girls turn by ones, by twos
Notes pour bad and tender Eradicate your blues

The good world The good world
Come my one, look around you Bird, beast, butterfly
Girls sing notes from heaven Birds lift them up to the sky

I see brown eyes That see girls turning
Girls turning Cartwheels

The good world The good whirl
The good world The good whirl

Come my one, look at your world Don't let it bring you down
Come on open for me Those eyes of brown

I see girls turning Cartwheels
Cartwheels Cartwheels...

 

[fox69]

"Cash"

"Cash"


Here we go around again Curve of life spiraling
Everything we've ever known As the seed of life gets blown
And the miracle of time When will that time just end
Remember, you decide Take that vow
Grab that ring It's not a whim
Not a whim When you be cashing in

Try to turn your life around And all the things you do resound
And then you can't loose control Say your time has come and then
Hard to pinpoint find the seam Where that one time ends
Where that time begins Remember, you decide
Take that vow Take a stand
Grab that ring It's not a whim
It's not a whim It's only time
That you're cashing in

In the white noise of desire We can't hear a single thing
Floating round the fragile bough Afflictions of the human soul
Its beauty immaterial

You decide Stand along
The fallen ones Take revenge
Defeated sons Rend that coat
From seam to seam It's only time
It's only time That you spend
You spend It's only time
You spend Its only time
You spend It's only life
That you're cashing in

 

[fox69]

"Changing Of The Guards"
(originally by Bob Dylan)

"Changing Of The Guards"
(originally by Bob Dylan)



Sixteen years
Sixteen banners united over the field
Where the good shepherd grieves
Desperate men, desperate women divided
Spreading their wings 'neath falling leaves.

Fortune calls
I stepped forth from the shadows to the marketplace
Merchants and thieves, hungry for power, my last deal gone down
She's smelling sweet like the meadows where she was born
On midsummer's eve near the tower.

The cold-blooded moon
The captain waits above the celebration
Sending his thoughts to a beloved maid
Whose ebony face is beyond communication
The captain is down but still believing that his love will be repaid.

They shaved her head
She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo
A messenger arrived with a black nightingale
I seen her on the stairs and I couldn't help but follow
Follow her down past the fountain where they lifted her veil.

I stumbled to my feet
I rode past destruction in the ditches
With the stitches still mending beneath a heart-shaped tattoo
Renegade priests and treacherous young witches
Were handing out the flowers that I'd given to you.

The palace of mirrors
Where dog soldiers are reflected
The endless road and the wailing of chimes
The empty rooms where her memory is protected
Where the angel's voices whisper to the souls of previous times.

She wakes him up
Forty-eight hours later the sun is breaking
Near broken chains, mountain laurel and rolling rocks
She's begging to know what measures he now will be taking
He's pulling her down and she's clutching on to his long golden locks.
Gentlemen, he said I don't need your organization, I've shined your shoes
I've moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning either brace yourself for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards.

Peace will come
With tranquility and splendor on the wheels of fire
But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall
And cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating
Between the King and the Queen of Swords.

 

[fox69]

"China Bird"

"China Bird"


One fine day these words I pray
Will breathe a truth
Within yourself upon a shelf
A life anew
So many roads
It's hard to know what to do
All your dreams
All it seems
Is as you choose
For destiny my china bird
Is calling for you

The world turns
The flame burns
Bright and true
Near and far
Where you are
Guiding you china bird
The open skies
Are yearning for you

If they say it's not that way
Hold your view
With my love fly above
A light anew
Oh spread your wings
The open sky
Is calling to you china bird
My heart is yearning for you

If you fly away
I'll be waiting come what may
All my love a fragile ray
For you for you

 

[fox69]

"Citizen Ship"

"Citizen Ship"


I was nothing. It didn't matter to me.
Ah, there were tags all over my sleeve.
There was water outside the windows
and children in the streets with rats with tags.

Ain't got a passport.
Ain't got my real name.
Ain't got a chance, sport, at fortune and fame.
And I walk these endless streets, won't you give me a lift.
A lift. A lift. On your citizen ship.

They were rioting in Chicago, movement in L.A.
Sixty-eight it broke up the yardbirds.
We were broke as well.
Took it underground, M.C. borderline, up against the wall.
The wall. The wall.
Show your papers, boy.

Citizen ship we got mem'ries.
Stateless, they got shame.
Cast adrift from the citizen ship,
lifeline denied, exiled this castaway.

Blind alley in New York City, in a foreign embrace.
If you're hungry you're not too particular about what you'll taste.
Men in uniform gave me vinegar, spoon of misery.
But what the hell, I fell, I fell.
It doesn't matter to me.

Citizen ship we got mem'ries
Citizen ship, we got pain.
Cast adrift from the citizen ship,
lifeline denied, exiled this castaway.

I was caught like a moth with its wings outta sync.
Cut the chord. Overboard. Just a refugee.
Lady liberty, lend a hand to me, I've been cast adrift.
Adrift. Adrift. Adrift. Adrift. Adrift. Adrift.

On the citizen ship we got mem'ries
Citizen ship, we got pain.
Lose your grip on the citizen ship,
you're cast, you're cast away.
On the citizen ship you got mem'ry.
Citizen ship you got pain.
Citizen ship you got identity.
A name. A name. A name...

What's your name, son?
What's your name? ...
What's your name?

Nothing. I got nothing.
Jersey.
Give me your tired, your poor
Give me your huddled masses
your wartorn
Give me your wartorn and your
Lift up your unto me.
Ah, mythology.

 

[fox69]

"Come Back Little Sheba"

"Come Back Little Sheba"


Come back little Sheba
I hear them calling
Open your ears
Awake from thy sleep
High above
The stars are falling
Open your arms
And you shall receive

The lights of the city
So bold and flashing
All of its riches
Imparted to thee
Robes of saffron
Robes of standing
A road of crimson
Spread at your feet

Your robes of standing
Your robes of saffron
Your road of crimson
All pleasing to me
But close your lights
Close your gates
I must arise
My flock awaits

Farewell little Sheba
I hear them a'calling
Here is your staff
Tend to thy sheep
Good wishes be with you
If that be your calling
Farewell little Sheba
Arise and take leave

 

[fox69]

"Constantine's Dream"

"Constantine's Dream"


I dreamed a dream of St. Francis who kneeled and prayed
For the birds and the beasts and all human kind
All through the night I felt drawn in by him
And I heard him call like a distant hymn

I retreated from the silence of my room
Stepping down the ancient stones washed with dawn
And entered the basilica that bore his name
Seeing his effigy I bowed my head

And my racing heart, I gave to him
I kneeled and prayed and sleep
That I could not find in the night
I found through him

I saw before me the world of his world
The bright fields, the birds in abundance
All of nature of which he sang singing of him
All the beauty that surrounded him as he walked

His nature that was nature itself and I heard him
I heard him speak and the birds sang sweetly
And the wolves licked his feet
But I could not give myself to him

I felt another call from the basilica itself
The call of art, the call of man
And the beauty of the material drew me away

And I awoke and beheld upon the wall
The dream of Constantine
The handiwork of Piero della Francesca
Who had stood where I stood

And with his brush stroke
The legend of the true cross
And he envisioned Constantine
Advancing to greet the enemy

And as he was passing the river
An unaccustomed fear gripped his bowels
An anticipation so overwhelming
That it manifested in waves

All through the night the dream drew toward him
As an advancing crusade
He slept in his tent on the battlefield
While his men stood guard

And an angel awoke him
Constantine within his dream awoke
And his men saw a light pass over the face
Of the king, the troubled king

And the angel came and showed to him
The sign of the true cross in heaven
And upon it was written
"In this sign shall thou conquer"

In the distance, the tents of his army were lit by moonlight
But another kind of radiance lit the face of Constantine
And in the morning light the artist seeing his work was done
Saw it was good in this sign shall thou conquer

He let his brush drop and passed into a sleep of his own
And he dreamed of Constantine
Carrying him into battle in his right hand
An immaculate undefiled and simple white cross

Piero della Francesca, as his brush stroked the wall
Filled with the torpor and fell into a dream of his own
From the geometry of his heart, he mapped it out
He saw the king rise, fitted with armor set upon a white horse

An immaculate cross in his right hand
He advanced toward the enemy and the symmetry
The perfection of his mathematics
Caused the scattering of the enemy agitated, broken

They fled and Piero dela Francesca, waking, cried out
All is art, all is future, oh Lord, let me die on the back of adventure
With a brush and an eye full of light
As he advanced in age the light was shorn from him

His eyes, blinded, he layed upon his bed
On an october morning, 1492 whispering
Oh Lord, let me die on the back of adventure
Oh Lord, let me die on the back of adventure, oh

And a world away, the world away
On three great ships, adventure itself as if to answer
Pulling into the new world
And as far as his eyes could see, no longer blind

All of nature, unspoiled, beautiful, beautiful
Such a manner it would have lifted
The heart of St. Francis into the realm of universal love
Columbus set foot on the new world

He witnessed beauty unspoiled
All of the delights given by God as if in Eden itself
As if Eden had opened up her heart to him
And opened her dress and all of her fruit, gave to him

And Columbus so overwhelmed
Fell into a sleep of his own
All the world in his sleep, all of the beauty
All of the beauty entwined with the future

The 21st century advancing like the angel
Advancing like the angel
That had come to Constantine
Constantine and history

Oh, this is your cross to bear
Oh Lord, oh Lord, let me deliver
Hallowed adventure
To all mankind in the future

Oh art, cried the painter
Oh art, oh art, cried the angel
Art, the great material gift of man
Art that hath denied the hungered pleas of St. Francis

Oh thou, artist, all shall crumble in the dust
Oh thou, navigator, the terrible end of man
This is your gift to mankind
This is your cross to bear

Then Columbus saw all of nature aflame
The apocalyptic night
And the dream of the troubled king
Dissolved into light

 

[fox69]

"Dancing Barefoot"

"Dancing Barefoot"


She is benediction
She is addicted to thee
She is the root connection
She is connecting with he

Here I go and I don't know why
I fell so ceaselessly
Could it be he's taking over me...

I'm dancing barefoot
Heading for a spin
Some strange music draws me in
Makes me come on like some heroine

She is sublimation
She is the essence of thee
She is concentrating on
He, who is chosen by she

Here I go and I don't know why
I spin so ceaselessly,
Could it be he's taking over me...

[chorus]

She is re-creation
She, intoxicated by thee
She has the slow sensation that
He is levitating with she ...

Here I go and I don't know why,
I spin so ceaselessly,
'til I lose my sense of gravity...

[chorus]

(oh god I fell for you ...)

The plot of our life sweats in the dark like a face
The mystery of childbirth, of childhood itself
Grave visitations
What is it that calls to us?
Why must we pray screaming?
Why must not death be redefined?
We shut our eyes we stretch out our arms
And whirl on a pane of glass
An afixiation a fix on anything the line of life the limb of a tree
The hands of he and the promise that she is blessed among women.

(oh god I fell for you ...)

 

[fox69]

"Dead City"

"Dead City"


This dead city longs to be
This dead city longs to be free
Seven screaming horses
Melt down in the sun
Building scenes on empty dreams
And smoking them one by one

This dead city longs to be
This dead city longs to be living
Is it any wonder there's squalor in the sun
With their broken schemes and their lotteries
They never get nowhere

Is it any wonder they're spitting at the sun
God's parasites in abandoned sites
and they never have much fun

If I was a blind man
Would you see for me
Or would you confuse
The nature of my blues
And refuse a hand to me

Is it any wonder crying in the sun
Is it any wonder I'm crying in the sun
Well I built my dreams on your empty scenes
Now I'm burning them one by one

This damn city this dead city
Immortal city
Motor city
Suc-cess city
Longs to be
Longs to be
Free
Free
Free

 

[fox69]

"Dead To The World"

"Dead To The World"


Dead to the world my body was sleeping
on my mind was nothing at all
come a mist an aire so appealing
I'm here a whispering you summouned I called

I formed me a presence whose aspect was changing
oh he would shift he would not shift at all
we sat for a while he was very engaging
and when he was gone I was gone on a smile

With a strange way of walking
and a strange way of breathing
more lives than a cat
that let me astray
all in all he captured my heart
dead to the world and just
slipped away

I heard me a music that drew me to dancing
lo I turned under his spell
I opened my coat but he never came closer
I bolted the door and whispered oh well

With a strange way of walking
and a strange way of breathing
more lives than a cat
that let me astray
all in all he captured my heart
dead to the world and just
slipped away

I laid in the rushes the air was upon me
wondering well I just couldn't discern
will he come back come back to me
oh I whispered will you ever return

I was feeling sensations in no dictionary
he was less than a breath of shimmer and smoke
the life in his fingers unwound my existence
dead to the world alive I awoke

With a strange way of walking
and a strange way of breathing
less than a breath of shimmer and smoke
the life in his fingers unwound my existence
dead to the world alive I awoke
alive I awoke
alive alive I awoke
alive I awoke
alive I awoke
alive
I awoke
I awoke
alive I awoke
alive alive-o
alive alive-o