Carnival (Natalie Merchant)

I've walked these streets
In a carnival
Of sights to see
All the cheap thrill seekers
The vendors and the dealers
They crowded around me

Have I been blind
Have I been lost
Inside myself and
My own mind
Hypnotized
Mesmerized
By what my eyes have seen?

I've walked these streets
In a spectacle of wealth and poverty
In the diamonds markets
The scarlet welcome carpet
That they just rolled out for me

I've walked these streets
In the mad house asylum
They can be
Where a wild eyed misfit prophet
On a traffic island stopped
And he raved of saving me

Have I been blind
Have I been lost
Inside myself and
My own mind
Hypnotized
Mesmerized
By what my eyes have seen?

Have I been wrong
Have I been wise
To shut my eyes
And play along
Hypnotized
Mesmerized
By what my eyes have found
By what my eyes have seen

What they have seen?

Have I been blind
Have I been lost
Have I been wrong
Have I been wise
Have I been strong
Hypnotized
Mesmerized
By what my eyes have found
In that great street carnival
In that carnival?

I may know the word

I may know the word
But not say it
I may love the fruit
But not taste it
I may know the way
To comfort and to soothe
A worried face
But fold my hands
Indifferent

If I'm on my knees
I'm begging now
If I'm on my knees
Groping in the dark
I'd be praying for deliverance
From the night into the day

But it's all grey here
It's all grey to me

I may know the word
But not say it
This may be the time
But I might waste it
This may be the hour
Something moves me
Something proves me wrong
Before night comes
With indifference

If I'm on my knees
I'm begging now
If I'm on my knees
Groping in the dark
I'd be praying for deliverance
From the night into the day

But it's all grey here
But it's all grey to me

I recognize the walls inside
I recognize them all
I've paced between them
Chasing demons down
Untill they fall
In fitful sleep
Enough to keep their strength
Enough to crawl
Into my head
With tangled threads
They riddle me to solve

again and again and again

San Andreas Fault

You'll be the brightest star
The world has ever seen
Sun-baked slender heroin
Of film and magazine

Go west
Paradise is there
You'll have all that can eat
Milk and money over there

You'll be the brightest light
The world has ever seen
The dizzy height of a jet-set life
You could never dream

Your pale blue eyes
Strawberry hair
Lips so sweet
Skin so fair

You future brights
Beyond compare
It's rags to riches
Over there

San Andreas Fault
Moved its fingers
Through the ground
Earth divided
Plates collided
Such an awful sound

San Andreas Fault
Moved its fingers
Through the ground
Terra cotta shattered
And the walls came
Tumbling down

O promised land
O wicked ground
Build a dream
Tear it down

O promised land
What a wicked ground
Build a dream
Watch it all fall down

Where I go

Climbing over
the old stone wall
I am bound for the riverside

Well I go to the river
to soothe my mind
ponder over
the crazy days of my life
just sit and watch the river flow

Find a place
on the riverbank
where the green rushes grow
see the wind
in the willow tree
in branches hanging low

Well I go to the river
to soothe my mind
to ponder over
the crazy days in my life
watch the river flow
ease my mind and soul
where I go

Well I go to the river
from time to time
wander over
these crazy days in my mind
watch the river flow
where the willow branches grow
by the cool rolling waters
moving gracefully and slow

child it's lovely
let the river take it all away
the mad pace, the hurry
the troubles, the worries
just let the river take them all away
flow away

Seven years

For seven years
I bowed down
To touch the ground
So wholly your devotee

You were
All I could see

I've got my sight now
I see everything you hid
So don't you try right now
All the wrong you did
I might forget you
But not forgive
But for seven years
You were loved
I laid golden orchid crowns
Around your feet

For seven years
I bowed down
To touch the ground
So wholly your devotee

For seven years
You were so revered
I made offerings of
Anything and everything I had

You were
All I could see

The Letter

If I ever write this letter
Bitter words it would contain
Just an unrequited lover
Whishing she had never
Spoken your name
Had never known your name
But if I ever write this letter
The truth it would reveal
Knowing you brought me pleasure
How I'll often treasure
Moments that we knew
The precious, the few