Back Here on Earth
Album - 1968 - Debaser id 200380

©1968 by Gordon Lightfoot

Upon the bitter green she walked the hills above the town
Echo to her footsteps as soft as Eider down
Waiting for her master to kiss away her tears
Waiting through the years

Bitter Green they called her
Walking in the sun
Loving everyone that she met
Bitter Green they called her
Waiting in the sun
Waiting for someone to take her home

Some say he was a sailor who died away at sea
Some say he was a prisoner who never was set free
Lost upon the ocean he died there in the mist
Dreaming of her kiss

Bitter Green they called her
Walking in the sun
Loving everyone that she met
Bitter Green they called her
Waiting in the sun
Waiting for someone to take her home

But now the bitter green is gone, the hills have turned to rust
There comes a weary stranger, his tears fall in the dust
Kneeling by the churchyard in the autumn mist
Dreaming of a kiss

Bitter Green they called her
Walking in the sun
Loving everyone that she met
Bitter Green they called her
Waiting in the sun
Waiting for someone to take her home

Bitter Green they called her
Walking in the sun
Loving everyone that she met
Bitter Green they called her
Waiting in the sun
Waiting for someone to take her home

It's alright for some, but not alright for me
When the one that I'm lovin' slips around
You think it's fine to do - things I cannot see
And you're doin' it to me
Baby can't you see that I know how it is

Chorus:
I can see it in your eyes
And feel it in the way you kiss my lips
I can hear it in your voice
Whenever we are talking like this
I can see what you believe in
When his name is mentioned and I die
I can watch the way you walk
The way you talk, the way you close your eyes

It's alright for some but not alright for me
When the one that I'm lovin' can't be found
The city where we live might be quite large
But the circle is small
Why not tell us all and then all of us will know

(Chorus)

It's alright to leave, but not alright to lie
When you come home and you can't say where you've been
You think it's fine to do things I cannot see
And you're doin' it to me
Baby can't you see that I know how it is

(Chorus repeat and fade)

The perfume that she wore was from some little store
On the down side of town
But it lingered on long after she'd gone
I remember it well
And our fingers entwined like ribbons of light
And we came through a doorway somewhere in the night
Her long flowing hair came softly undone
And it lay all around
And she brushed it down as I stood by her side
In the warmth of her love

And she showed me her treasures of paper and tin
And then we played a game only she could win
And she told me a riddle I'll never forget
Then left with the answer I've never found yet

How long, said she, can a moment like this
Belong to someone
What's wrong, what is right, when to live or to die
We must almost be born
So if you should ask me what secrets I hide
I'm only your lover, don't make me decide

The perfume that she wore was from some little store
On the down side of town
But it lingered on long after she'd gone
I remember it well

And she showed me her treasures of paper and tin
And then we played a game only she could win
And our fingers entwined like ribbons of light
And we came through a doorway somewhere in the night