LAURIE ANDERSON - BRIGHT RED

Speechless

(The Eagle and the Weasel)
It was August. Summer of '82.
You had that rusty old car
And me I had nothing better to do.
You picked me up. We hit the road. Baby me and you.

We shot out of town drivin' fast and hard.
Leaving our greasy skid marks in people's back yards.
We were goin' nowhere. Just driving around.
We were goin' in circles. And me I was just hanging on.

Like in that Annie Dillard book
Where she sees that eagle with the skull of a weasel
Hanging from its neck
And here's how it happened, listen.

Chorus:
Eagle bites the weasel. Weasel bites back.
They fly up to nowhere. Weasel keeps hangin' on.
Together forever.

We were goin' nowhere. Just driving around.
You did all the talking and me I didn't make a sound
If I open my mouth now I'll fall to the ground

If I could open my mouth. There's so much I would say.
Like I can never be honest. Like I'm in it for the thrill.
Like I never loved anyone. And I never will

(chorus)

I remember that old coat my grandma used to wear
Made of weasels biting each other's tails
A vicious circle. An endless ride.
On the back of an old woman

(chorus)
And me? I'm goin' in circles. I'm circling around.
And if I open my mouth now I'll fall to the ground.

Bright Red

Did she fall or was she pushed?
Your shirt on my chair

Chorus:
Your shirt on my chair
I'll be with you. I'll be there.
I'll never leave you.
Your shirt on my chair.

Come here little girl. Get into the car.
It's a brand new Cadillac. Bright red. Come here little girl.

Hey! Haven't I seen you somewhere before?
Your despair in my heart. Bright red.
Your words in my ears.
I'll be with you. I'll be there. I'll never leave you.

Wild beasts shall rest there
And owls shall answer one another there
And the hairy ones shall dance there
And sirens in the temples of pleasure

(chorus)

The Puppet Motel

I live on the highway near the Puppet Motel.
I log in every day. I know the neighborhood well.
Now about the residents of the Puppet Motel
They're more than a little spooky
And most of them are mean. They're runnin' the numbers
They're playin' cops and robbers
Down in their dungeons inside their machines.

Cause they don't know what's really real now
They're havin' fourth dimensional dreams
Their minds are out on bail now
And real is only what it seems.

And all the puppets in this digital jail
They're runnin' around in a frenzy in search of the Holy Grail.
They're havin' virtual sex. They're eatin' virtual food.
No wonder these puppets are always in a lousy mood.

So if you think we live in a modern world
Where everything is clean and swell
Take a walk on the B side of town down by the Puppet Motel.
Take a whiff. Burning plastic

I drink a cup of coffee I try to revive
My mind's a blank I'm barely alive
My nerves are shot I feel like hell
Guess it's time to check in at the Puppet Motel.

Boot up. Good afternoon. Pause.
Oooo. I really like the way you talk.
Pardon me. Shut down.

Speak My Language

Daddy Daddy. It was just like you said
Now that the living outnumber the dead.

Where I come from it's a long thin thread
Across an ocean. Down a river of red.
Now that the living outnumber the dead. I'm one of many.

Daddy Daddy. It was just like you said
Now that the living outnumber the dead.
Speak my language.

Hello. Hello.
Here come the quick. There go the dead.
here they come. Bright red. Speak my language.

World Without End

I remember where I came from
There were burning buildings and a fiery red sea
I remember all my lovers
I remember how they held me
World without end remember me.

East. The edge of the world.
West. Those who came before me.

When my father dies we put him in the ground
When my father died it was like a whole library
Had burned down. World without end remember me.

Freefall

You're out on the ocean and you get pulled down
Freefall to the bottom
Like when you're drowning or falling asleep
You get turned around
And when you think you're swimming to the surface
You're swimming straight down.
Down to the bottom. All the way to the bottom.

Secret codes and cryptograms
I'm lost in your words I'm swimming.
We're going down to the bottom. All the way to the bottom.
Rapture of the deep.

I got your letter. I couldn't read it. It was a cryptogram.
Did it say Take me with you or Take me as I am?
We're going down to the bottom.
All the way to the bottom. We get turned around.
There is another world spinning inside of this one.

I remember where I came from
There were tropical breezes and a wide open sea
I remember my childhood
I remember being free.

Down to the bottom.
All the way to the bottom. We get turned around.
There is another world inside of this one.
Rapture of the deep.

We're going down to the bottom.
There is another world spinning inside of this one.

Muddy River

Rain keeps pouring down
Houses are cracking. People drown.
Cars are rusting here. A church floats by
Washed in the blood of the lamb.

And all the superhighways have disappeared
One by one. And all the towns and cities and signs
Are underwater now. They're gone.

We're going down by the muddy river
We're walking down by the muddy river
Somebody tell me please
What happened here?

Mud is everywhere.
Fish are swimming in the fields.
Everybody's running around, they're yelling
Is this the end of the known world?

Men and women in their boats
Try to save what they've lost.
They're yelling, It's all gone now.
We're never gonna find it again.

But when the muddy river starts to rise
It covers us all. And when I look into your eyes
Two tiny clocks two crystal balls
We begin again. We try.
We begin again. Down by.

We're going down by the muddy river.
We begin again down by the muddy river.
We're walking down by down by the muddy river.
We're going down by down by the muddy river.

Beautiful Pea Green Boat

I'm lying in the shade of my family tree
I'm a branch that broke off
What will become of me?

Dear Mom, I'm lying here in this queen-sized bed.
I'm thinking back
To all the stories you read to me.
About the little animals who went to sea
In their beautiful pea green boat.
But I can't remember now
What happened then?
Dear Mom, how does it end?

The owl and the pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat.
They took some honey and lots of money
Wrapped in a five pound note.
The owl looked up to the stars above
And sang to a small guitar.
O lovely pussy! Pussy my love!
What a wonderful pussy you are.

Let us be married
Too long we've tarried
But what shall we do for a ring?
What shall we do for a ring?
Hey! Hey!

They sailed away for a year and a day
To the land where the bong tree grows
And there in a wood a piggy wig stood
A ring at the end of his nose (x2)

Chorus:
And hand in hand at the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the
By the light of the, by the light of the moon.

(chorus)
The moon, the moon.
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

Love Among the Sailors

There is a hot wind blowing
it moves across the oceans and into every port.
A plague. A black plague. There's danger everywhere
And you've been sailing.

And you're all alone on an island now tuning in.
Did you think this was the way
Your world would end?
Hombres. Sailors. Comrades.

There is no pure land now. No safe place.
And we stand here on the pier
Watching you drown.
Love among the sailors. (x2)

There is a hot wind blowing.
Plague drifts across the oceans.
And if this is the work of an angry god
I want to look into his angry face.
There is no pure land now. No safe place.
Come with us into the mountains.
Hombres. Sailors. Comrades.

Poison

It was one of those black cat night
The moon had gone out and the air was thin
It was the kind of night the cat would drag in.

I'll never forget it, we had a fight.
Then you turned around turned on the light. You left our bed.
Then you moved downstairs to live with her instead.
Yeah just one floor and a shout away.
I guess I should have moved but I decided to stay.
Did I drink some poison that I don't remember now?

And every night I open all the windows
I let a cold dark wind blow through.
I play loud organ music and I talk to myself and dream of you.
Uh oh! I hear voices coming up through the pipes.
Through all the springs in my bed and up through the lights.
The volume goes up then it drops back down
I can hear the two of you playing records
Moving furniture and fooling around.

Did I drink some poison that I don't remember now?
Is there blood on my hands?
No, my hands are clean.
Did I do something in another lifetime
That was really really mean?

Yeah I'm hearing voices.
Am I losing my mind?
Think I'm going crazy, I gotta get out.
I run into the street and start to shout
Get out of my way! Get out! Get out!

Did I drink some poison that I don't remember now?
Is there blood on my hands?
Did I do something in another lifetime
that was really really mean?

A small bullet, a piece of glass
And your heart just grows around it.

In our Sleep

Refrain 1:
In our sleep as we speak
Listen to the drums beat
As we speak

Refrain 2:
In our sleep as we speak
Listen to the drums beat
In our sleep

(refrain 1)

As we speak in our sleep
Listen to the drums beat
In our sleep

(refrain 1)

(refrain 2)

In our sleep where we meet (x2)

Night in Baghdad

And oh it's so beautiful
It's like the Fourth of July
It's lie a Christmas tree
It's like the fireflies on a summer night.

And I wish I could describe this to you better.
But I can't talk very well now
Cause I've got this damned gas mask on.
So I'm just going to stick this microphone out the window
And see if we can hear a little better. Hello California?
What's the weather like out there now?

And I only have one question: Did you ever really love me?
Only when we danced. And it was so beautiful.
It was like the Fourth of July.
It was like fireflies on a summer night.

Tightrope

Last night I dreamed I died and that my life had
been rearranged into some kind of theme park.
And all my friends were walking up and down the boardwalk.
And my dead grandmother was selling
cotton candy out of a little shack.
And there was this big ferris wheel
about half a mile out in the ocean,
half in and half out of water.
And all my old boyfriends were on it.
With their new girlfriends.
And the boys were waving and shouting
and the girls were saying Eeek.

Then they disappeared under the surface of the water
and when they came up again they were laughing
and gasping for breath

In this dream I'm on a tightrope
and I'm tipping back and forth trying to keep my balance.
And below me are all my relatives
and if I fall I'll crush them.
This long thin line. This song line. This shout

The only thing that binds me to the turning world below
and all the people and noise and sounds and shouts.
This tightrope made of sound
This long thin line made of my own blood
Remember me is all I ask
And if remembered be a task forget me

Remember me is all I ask
And if remembered be a task forget me
This long thin line. This long thin line
This long thin line. This tightrope
(x2)

Same Time Tomorrow

You know the little clock, the one on your VCR
the one that's always blinking twelve noon
because you never figured out
how to get in there and change it?
So it's always the same time
just the way it came from the factory.
Good morning. Good night.
Same time tomorrow. We're in record.

So here are the questions: Is time long or is it wide?
And the answers? Sometimes the answers
just come in the mail. And one day you get the letter
you've been waiting for forever. And everything it says
is true. And then the last line says:
Burn this. We're in record

And what I really want to know is: Are things getting better
or are they getting worse? Can we start all over again?
Stop. Pause. We're in record. Good morning. Good night.
Now I in you without a body move
And in our hearts we fly. Standby
Good morning. Good night

Produced by Brian Eno
Co-produced by Laurie Anderson
Engineered and mixed by Kevin Killen
Music Director: Greg Cohen

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