Jane Siberry Jane Siberry +Marco Polo ----- ---- How did I ever get into this mess I fell in the river and I wrecked my dress I wanted to look good because he's coming tonight And he's bringing me things that I like Oh Marco--I'm shallow But I don't want you to think That you're buying my love With these things The last place you wrote from was Constantinople I am not impressed Marco--I've been around Well, anyways--I told our friends And we'll meet you at the warehouse Down by the docks tonight Oh Marco--I'm shallow But I don't want you to think That you're buying my love With these frivolous things But I'm dying for dresses And I've run out of perfume And I'm pining for a wine That is halfway decent Please don't think I'm forward but I made a reservation At our favorite restaurant tonight for two And if you need a place to stay I mean if all the hotels are full Well, my room-mate is gone for the weekend Oh Marco--I'm shallow But I don't want you to think That you're buying my love With these frivolous things But I'm dying for dresses And I've run out of perfume And I'm pining for a wine That is halfway decent Marco Polo is coming tonight And he's bringing me things that I like Things that I like Things that I really, really like +This Girl I Know ---- ---- - ---- All I said was--why are you so fat If you don't want to be and all that No big deal--I just want to know Mind your own business--no I don't mean you It's the table over there I think they think I'm being rude I'm not being rude--I just want to know Then she said--you know I'm gonna lose a lot of weight someday I'll get some new clothes I'll change my style I'll cut my hair I'll meet a lot of men I'll have a lot of dates I'll discriminate I'll get myself together And then I said--why not do it now If you really want to be and all that No big deal--I just want to know Mind your own business--no I don't mean you It's the table over there I think they think I'm being rude I'm not being rude--I just want to know Then she said... And then she leaned over to me And she said--this is gonna sound weird But the reason I don't do it now Is I have this crazy fear That I wouldn't know what to do If a man thought I was... sexy or something And then she leaned back And I leaned back And we didn't say very much after that +The Sky Is So Blue --- --- -- -- ---- We're going to the seashore Gonna burst upon the brine From a car that's full of babies And dogs and food and wine Sand in our suits and salt in our hair And everyone feeling so fine The sky is so blue You can see right through My heart is so big I can't get through the door That's what I'm here for We're going to the country And we're gonna plant some wheat We're gonna steal some cow corn And drive across the fields Dance around the scarecrows And do whatever we please We're going to the country In our little deux-chevaux We're gonna put the top down Crank the radio up full Honk at all the cars we meet And let them know we know The sky is so blue... We're going to the mountains If there's still a little snow Gonna do some spring-skiing Go as fast as we can go Give instructions from the chairlift And tell all those tourists to go for it See the shorts and t-shirts Go whizzing through the trees With their Hollywood sunglasses And the scratches on their knees Yodelling on the mountainside And cutting the air like chickadees The sky is so blue... We're going to the cliffs now To see if we can fly I think I could do better With your wing out of my eye You can see for miles up here Open heart in open sky The sky is so blue You can see right through Our hearts they are so big We can't get through the door That's what we're here for +The Mystery At Ogwen's Farm --- ------- -- ------- ---- Ogwen--Bessie's gone Bessie's gone away I looked in the high meadow for her I think she's gone I looked down by the river And I looked behind the barn Ogwen--Bessie's gone Bessie's gone away I saw this girl down by the fence In the morning mist She was telling things to Bessie It looked strange--I wonder if... Ogwen--Bessie's gone Bessie's gone away Well, maybe it's a blessing What with winter coming on Because the man who owns this farm Was going to sell her to the yards Oh, I hope she really got away Ogwen--we are old I guess nothing is ever ours So much that we don't know Ogwen--Bessie's gone Bessie's gone away +The Magic Beads --- ----- ----- I reached the desert as the sun was rising On the day that you were passing through The caravan you travelled in was crowded I didn't like the people around you Those people hushed me when I tried to call you The pushed me back and would not let me through And these thin arms weren't strong enough to part them So back into the roadside rocks I withdrew Sometimes I am nervous when the night comes I hear so many noises that are new But I try not to think of you too often I try not to use the beads you threw Oh babe I conjured you up by mistake I know that I'm supposed to wait But when will I see you again In daytime I do dances for the tourists I strike a pose I hope they can't ignore My hope is to attract your caravan to me And then beat them to your side before they know Oh babe I'm really sitting by the road I hug my knees and hope that I'll see you I made up that bit about the dances But it keeps me from using the beads you threw Oh babe I conjured you up by mistake I know that I'm supposed to wait But when will I see you again Your caravan told me I was not one of them Because the way I talked was not part of their school I made too much fun of California Well--I made too much fun of paper tools You yourself--you told me not to join them You said I would do better where I was But is this really true--I get so lonely The only wine that fills me up is you Oh babe I conjured you up by mistake I know that I'm supposed to wait But when will I see you again I am not as nervous when the night comes And darkness falls among these desert rocks Even though I still touch your beads and wish for you Waiting becomes easier than not Oh babe I conjured you up by mistake I know that I'm supposed to wait I just wanted to see you again But when will I see you again when? +Writers Are A Funny Breed ------- --- - ----- ----- It is very quiet here--so still I don't live here--I live down the hill On this winter's afternoon The distant sun--it slowly swings the room around This room hangs on a golden chain Suspended Frozen Frozen in time since you went away Walking through your rooms I touch your things Fitting--these aren't fingers these are wings It says April on your calendar It's winter now--I wonder where you are I hope it's warm and sunny--or cold and windy As long as you're fine Your house is as tumble-down as mine Crumpled papers everywhere like mine This one says "I'll write no more" That one says "don't lock the door" Writers are a funny breed I should know You said someday when we're pure and high We won't need to capture and describe The things we see or don't see We'll let things be Let things be That's when you'd leave And that is why I had to come today My mad scribbling crumpled, crippled, fey Tossing words from ledges that erode From ledges--I am not a goat I am not a piece of chalk I just want to do it right like you And now I stand here in your house Everything's so still I wonder if I'll write again Or let things be Writers are a funny breed +The Strange Well --- ------- ---- One time I saw Canada fall through a hole in the sky I do not know if I was really sad to see her go For in her place there was a herd of early morning cows They moved in one direction They knew where, when, how, why not There is a strange well I go to And each time I lean, I look I learn, I leave I go back to town Saying things I don't believe My words they're just pebbles under water They rise like flocks of birds They are discontinued because the well has overhead and said Are your opinions not confirmed until you tell them to someone And is this the lonely night not real until it has been framed as one There is a strange well I go to... I spoke about the rosewood proud and I said this river is wise And I said these mountains are all-seeing Said the well--you must realize That once again your words have pulled the universe out of place To exist it need not have a human face There is a strange well I go to... And sometimes when I go there and my heart is clear There are no visions--there are no sounds to hear Oh strange well--does your voice rise and fall When I am away And do your watercolours run like they're doing today There is a strange well I go to And each time I lean, I look I learn, I leave I go back to town Saying things I don't believe +Above The Treeline ----- --- -------- I went out with Wolf tonight, I had so many worries on my mind I was feeling lost, feeling confused, feeling afraid--I wanted to hide But when I got home after work Wolf would not let me stay inside So I put on my heavy coat and kerchief and closed the door behind us I followed Wolf across the road, he took a trail that leads up through the forest I saw Wolf's shadow moving through the trees ahead of me --don't go too fast Wolf And finally we got to the other side --it was so still, it was so bright and clear For there stretched before us like a ballroom glove in the moonlight lay the snowfields It was a starry night And the snow had stopped falling And I feel that I heard someone singing Fly us to the moon High above our upturned faces Booming in the bright Send some good things down on this earth tonight Wolf ran out into the glittering fields --I stood and watched him from the treeline The starry heavens danced down on the snow then up again like gateways gathering Then somehow I was out there with Wolf --I stared at him--he looked so different Oh Wolf I can't stop laughing but I feel somehow that everything is all right I don't know how many miles we traced across the snow--maybe a thousand I followed Wolf in peace and I don't even know if we were breathing And part of me never went home after that night--I think it stayed there But it is in good care beneath the stars above the fields of snow that stretch there +In The Blue Light -- --- ---- ----- I was on a train Somewhere in Spain Sometime in the night I drew up my knees In second class And watched in the blue light Strangers beside me Strangers across from me They've closed their eyes So far away from home The empty stations echo As we go dreaming by I miss you like crazy I wish that you were here Holding me So many times I see something I want to show you Like the crazy man Crying on his violin I gave him two drachmas for you And every city square Pigeons everywhere Fountains and painters I sit upon the step My chin upon my knees I watch lovers go by I miss you like crazy I wish that you were here Holding me Because you give me peace You give me hope I love you Of course--there are other men Sharing in the sways and bends Of Paris and Rome And though I do not know Exactly what the difference is I never asked them home It made me realize How beautiful and strange Is the bird of love It flies so differently Cries so differently From the bird of whatever the other I miss you like crazy I wish that you were here Holding me Because you give me peace You give me hope I love you Do I give you something too I was on a train Somewhere in Spain Sometime in the night I drew up my knees In second class And watched in the blue light