Joanna Newsom
The Milk-Eyed Mender

01   Bridges and Balloons (03:42)

We sailed away on a winter's day
With fate as malleable as clay
But ships are fallible, I say
And the nautical, like all things, fades and I
Can recall our caravel:
A little wicker beetle shell
With four fine masts and lateen sails
Its bearings on Cair Paravel

Oh my love
Oh it was a funny little thing
To be the ones to've seen

The sight of bridges and balloons
Makes calm canaries irritable
And they caw and claw all afternoon
Catenaries and dirigibles
Brace and buoy the living-room
A loom of metal, warp woof wimble
And a thimblesworth of milky moon
Can touch hearts larger than a thimble

Oh my love
Oh it was a funny little thing
To be the ones to've seen

Oh my love
Oh it was a funny little thing
It was a funny funny little thing

02   Sprout and the Bean (04:32)

I slept all day
I woke with distaste
And I railed
And I raved
That the difference between
The sprout and the bean
It is a golden ring
It is a twisted string

And you can ask the counselor
And you can ask the king
And I'll say the same thing
And it's a funny thing

Should we go outside
Should we go outside
Should we break some bread
Are you interested

And as I said
I slept as though dead
Dreaming seamless dreams
Of lead

When you go away
I am big-boned and fey
In the dust of the day
In the dirt of the day

And Danger! Danger!
Drawing near them was a white coat
And Danger! Danger!
Drawing near them was a broad boat
And the water! Water!
Running clear beneath a white throat
And the hollow chatter of the talking of the Tadpoles

Who know the outside
Should we go outside
Should we break some bread
Are you interested

03   The Book of Right-on (04:29)

We should shine a light on, a light on
And the book of right-on's right-on, it was right-on

We should shine a light on, a light-on
And the book of right-on's right-on, it was right-on

I killed my dinner with karate
Kick 'em in the face, taste the body
Shallow work is the work that I do

Do you want to sit at my table
My fighting fame is fabled
And fortune finds me fit and able

And you do say - oh oh
That you do pray - oh oh
And you say that you're okay

And do you want to run with my pack?
Do you want to ride on my back?
Pray that what you lack does not distract

And even when you run through my mind
Something else is in front, oh, you're behind
And I don't have to remind you to stick with your kind

And you do say - oh oh
That you do pray - oh oh
And you say that you're okay

And even when you touch my face
You know your place
And even when you touch my face
You know your place

And we should shine a light on
A light on
And the book of right-on's right-on
It was right-on

And we should shine a light on, a light on
And the book of right-on's right-on, it was right-on

04   Sadie (06:02)

Sadie
White coat
You carry me home
And bury this bone
And take this pinecone

Bury this bone
To gnaw on it later, gnawing on the telephone
Until then, we pray and suspend
The notion that these lives do never end

And all day long we talk about mercy
Lead me to water, Lord, I sure am thirsty
Down in the ditch where I nearly served you
Up in the clouds where he almost heard you

And all that we built
And all that we breathed
And all that we spilt
Or pulled up like weeds
Is piled up in back
And it burns irrevocably

We spoke up in turns
'Til the silence crept over me

And bless you
And I deeply do
No longer resolute
Oh, and I call to you

But the water got so cold
And you do lose
What you don't hold

This is an old song
These are old blues
And this is not my tune
But it's mine to use
And the seabirds
Where the fear once grew
Will flock with a fury
And they will bury
What'd come for you

And down where I darn with the milk-eyed mender
You and I, and a love so tender
Stretched on a hoop where I stitch this adage
Bless our house and its heart so savage

And all that I want
And all that I need
And all that I've got
Is scattered like seed
And all that I knew
Is moving away from me

And all that I know
Is blowing like tumbleweed

And the mealy worms
In the brine will burn
In a salty pyre
Among the fauns and ferns

And the love we hold
And the love we spurn
Will never grow cold
Only taciturn

And I'll tell you tomorrow
Oh Sadie, go on home now
And bless those who've sickened below
And bless us who have chosen so

And all that I've got
And all that I need
I tie in a knot
And I lay at your feet
And I have not forgot
But a silence crept over me

So dig up your bone
Exhume your pinecone, Sadie

05   Inflammatory Writ (02:50)

Oh, where is your inflammatory writ
Your text that would incite a light, be lit
Our music deserving devotion unswerving
Cry "Do I deserve her?" with unflagging fervor
Well, no you do not, if you cannot get over it

But what's it mean when suddenly we're spent, tell me true
Ambition came and reared its head, and went far from you
Even mollusks have weddings, though solemn and leaden
But you dirge for the dead, take no jam on your bread
Just a supper of salt and a waltz through your empty bed

And all at once it came to me
And I wrote and hunched 'till four-thirty
But that vestal light
It burns out with the night
In spite of all the time that we spent on it
One bedraggled ghost of a sonnet
While outside, the wild boars root
Without bending a bough underfoot
Oh it breaks my heart
I don't know how they do it
So don't ask me

And as for my inflammatory writ
Well, I wrote it an I was not inflamed one bit
Advice from the master derailed that disaster
He said "Hand that pen over to me, poetaster!"
While across the great plains, keening lovely and awful
Ululate the last Great American Novels
An unlawful lot, left to stutter and freeze, floodlit
But at least they didn't run, to their undying credit

06   This Side of the Blue (05:21)

Svetlana sucks lemons across from me
And I am progressing abominably
And I do not know my own way to the sea
But the saltiest sea knows its own way to me

And the city that turns, turns protracted and slow
And I find myself toeing the embarcadero
And I find myself knowing the things that I knew
Which is all that you can know on this side of the blue

And Jaime has eyes black and shiny as boots
And they march at you, two-by-two, re-loo re-loo
When she looks at you, you know she's nowhere near through
It's the hardest heart beating this side of the blue

And the signifieds butt heads with the signifiers
And we all fall down slack-jawed to marvel at words
While across the sky sheet the impossible birds
In a steady, illiterate movement homewards

And Gabriel stands beneath forest and moon
See them rattle and boo, see them shake, see them loom
See him fashion a cap from a page of Camus
See him navigate deftly this side of the blue

And the rest of our lives will the moments accrue
When the shape of their goneness will flare up anew
And we do what we have to do, re-loo re-loo
Which is all you can do on this side of the blue
Oh it's all that you can do on this side of the blue

07   "En Gallop" (05:07)

08   Cassiopeia (03:20)

Feel the matress tense beneath me
Like the muscle of nonsleepy
Feathers flexing will defeat me
And it vexes me completely

And the hexes heat covertly
Like a slow low-flying turkey
Like a Texan drying jerky
But his meaty mitts can't hurt me

With my steely will compounded
In a mighty mound that's hounded
By the snap my steel string sounded
Just before your snores unwound it

And in store are dreams so daring
That the night can't stop from staring
I'll swim sweetly as a herring
Through the ether, not despairing

Go to sleep, you stunning sky
Gently creep cunning by
A quiet hum is amplified
By your thumb
That you suck dry

Hundred raging waters snare the lonely sigh
Hold your breath and clasp at Cassiopeia

Hundred raging waters snare the lonely sigh
Hold your breath and clasp at Cassiopeia
Cassiopeia, Cassiopeia
Oh oh, Cassiopeia

09   Peach, Plum, Pear (03:33)

We speak in the store
I'm a sensitive bore
You seem markedly more
And I'm oozing suprise

But it's late in the day
And you're well on your way
What was golden went gray
And I'm suddenly shy

And the gathering floozies
Abhor to be choosy
And all sneezing darkly
In the dimming divide

And I have read the right book
To interpret your look
You were knocking me down
With the palm of your eye

This is unlike the story
It was written to be
I was riding its back
When it used to ride me

And we were galloping manic
To the mouth of the source
We were swallowing panic
In the face of its force

And I am blue
I am blue and unwell
Made me bolt like a horse

Now it's done
Watch it go
You've changed so
Water ruin from the snow

Am I so dear
Do I run rare
You've changed so
Peach, plum, pear
Peach, plum

10   Swansea (05:05)

If you wanna come on down
Down with your bones so white
And watch while the freight trains pound
Into the wild wild night

How I would love to gnaw
Gnaw on your bones so white
And watch as the freight trains paw
Paw at the wild wild night

All these ghost towns
Wreathed in old loam
Assateague knee-
Deep in seafoam
Ho, swansea!
Buttonwillow!
Lagunitas!
Ho, calico!

And all these beastly bungalows
Stare distend like endless toads
Endlessly hop down the road
Borne by wind we southward blow

And yonder, wild and blue
The wild blue yonder looms
'Til we are wracked with rheum
By roads, by songs entombed

And all we wanna do
Is chew and chew and chew

Dear one
Drive on

When all we wanna do
Is chew and chew and chew

And if you wanna come on down
Down with your bones so white
And watch the freight trains pound
Into the wild wild night

How I would love to gnaw
To gnaw on your bones so-o white
And watch while the freight trains paw
Paw at the wild wild night

Paw at the wild wild night
Paw at the wild wild night

11   Three Little Babes (03:42)

There was a knight and a lady bright
And three little babes had she
She sent them away to a far country
To learn their grammary

They hadn't been gone but a very short time
About three months and a day
When the lark spread over this whole wide world
And taken those babes away

It was on a cold, cold Christmas night
When everything was still
And she saw her three little babes come runnin'
Come runnin' down the hill

She set them a table of bread and wine
That they might drink and eat
She spread them a bed of a winding sheet
That they might sleep so sweet

'Take it off, take it off!', cried the eldest one
'Take it off, take it off!', cried she
'For I shan't stay here in this wicked world
When there's a better one for me'

'Cold clods, cold clods inside my bed
Cold clods, down at my feet
The tears my dear mother shed for me
Would wet my winding sheet'

'The tears my dear mother shed for me
Would wet my winding sheet
Would wet my winding sheet'

12   Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie (04:21)

That means no
Where I come from
I am cold, out waiting for the day to come

I chew my lips
And I scratch my nose
Feels so good to be a rose

Oh don't
Don't you lift me up
Like I'm that shy no-no-no-no-no, just give it up

See, there are bats all dissolving in a row
Into the wishy-washy dark that can't let go

I cannot let go
So I thank the lord
And I thank his sword
Though it be mincing up the morning, slightly bored

Oh oh oh, morning
Without warning
Like a hole
Oh, and I watch you go

There are some mornings when the sky looks like a road
There are some dragons who were built to have and hold
And some machines are dropped from great heights lovingly
And some great bellies ache with many bumblebees
And they sting so terribly

I do as I please
Now I'm on my knees
Your skin is something that I stir into my tea
And I am watching you
And you are starry, starry, starry

(and you will never
Ever know how
Very sorry you will be
... I am)

And I'm tumbling down
And I check a frown
That's why I love this town
Well just look around
To see me serenade it hourly
Celebrated sourly
Dedicated dourly

Waltzing with the open sea
Clam, crab, cockle, cowrie
Will you just look at me!

Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh