Lyrics from Cover their Eyes

The Studebaker plant is closing down

Chevy’s taken over the town

How will we watch the sun go down

Now that the moon is rising, rising

And sitting on the old tin roof

You hold her hand a little tighter In the way that you do

And you beg her not to leave

Cause you still believe in forever

All the pretty horses run,

watch them go

Racing with the cars and trucks

down the long road home

Your horse has jumped a fence in the field

And the minute that you catch him you’ll regret it

Cause you know how it feels in your bones

The need to run alone on the wind

like you’re the only thing that’s ever been

All the pretty horses run,

watch them go

Racing with the cars and trucks

down the long road home

:Tonight you’ll open up a book in the dark

And you’ll dream yourself a story that

No one’ll ever read but you

By the light of the moon

The Studebaker plant is closing down

Your horse is running loose in the town

How will we watch the sun go down

Now that the moon is rising, rising

And sliding down the old tin roof

You catch your hand on the metal

But you lie like you do

And you beg her not to leave

Cause you might believe in forever

All the pretty horses run, watch them go

Racing with the cars and trucks down the long road home

All the pretty horses run, watch them go

Racing with the setting sun on the long road home

(At the bottom of a) bottle, In the back of my head

At the bottom of the bottle, It was something you said

In the dark and the distant - Lying there in a blue silk dress

Marlene in a movie - That’s how I like you best

At the door of the basement, At the bottom of the stairs

At the door of the basement, Sparkly things in your hair

Down in the dark unfinished just there where the light falls in

Marlene in a Movie - And you smell a little like gin

All the writing on the wall

Never bothered you at all

See her smile and she’s gone

And the band played on, and the band played on

At the end of the party – everybody’s going home

At the end of the party – and you wanna be alone

Somebody’s waiting for you to pick him from all the rest

Marlene in a movie - And they all love you best

And All the writing on the wall

Never bothered you at all

See her smile and she’s gone

And the band played on, and the band played on

Like the world was watching - It was something you said

Making eyes for the camera - it was something you said

about the ghosts and the bones in the folds of your dress

Marlene in a movie, Just like Marlene in a movie - That’s how I like you best

And All the writing on the wall

Never bothered you at all

See her smile and she’s gone

And the band played on, and the band played on

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.

Somebody’s whispering behind the curtains

I am the seeker and they are all hiding

And out in the kitchen and under the cupboard

Is my little brother, he thinks I won’t find him

Miniature bottles all stand uninspected

Right next to the beer steins my father collected

Dust from the curtains is snow in the air

And they are all hiding still, back behind there

I count to a hundred, by fives to a hundred

In doorways and stairways they run where they will

And I’ve covered my eyes and I let them all hide

And in cupboards and curtains they’re all hiding still

First day of highschool, my stockings are all wrong

My hair is too curly and everyone’s pretty

Out in the courtyard and there by the fountain

The cheerleaders huddle but they do not see me

Miniature soldiers all stand at attention

Right there on the football field

But my family’s not rich – like weeds in the lawn

So we hide in the livingroom with the tv on

I count to a hundred, by fives to a hundred

In doorways and stairways they run where they will

And I’ve covered my eyes and I let them all hide

And in cupboards and curtains they’re all hiding still

Somebody’s calling from California to

Give me the news of the ones that I missed

On the way to Alaska or Portland or some

Destination That isn’t the place that I am

Miniature pictures are glued in their lockets

They cover their eyes when the latches are closed

Dust from the curtains is snow in the air

And we are all hiding still back behind there

I count to a hundred, by fives to a hundred

In doorways and stairways they run where they will

And I’ve covered my eyes and I let them all hide

And in cupboards and curtains they’re all hiding still

You talk so pretty – by the side of the road

got my dress on - my slip is creeping up,

you know the summer's coming slow

all the while you’re whistling Dina won’t you blow…

I’m gonna hate to see you go

You talk so pretty in your church clothes –

hair just right

thoughts I shouldn't think are creeping in

and taking flight

the way you talk to me sounds like original sin

a moment’s thrill sold cheaply on this fanciful flight

And I count the ways

But I know it, it always ends too soon

In between the light of dream

and some anemic moon

And ‘love you forever’ goes walking out my door

and I don't know if I can bear to think of you

anymore.

You talk so pretty - like a preacher

In the television way

Noble goals and dried up tears like

organ grinders play

I thought my love could keep you here,

at least beyond today

What will I tell my friends

Now that you’re up and goin away?

And I count the ways

But I know it, it always ends too soon

In between the light of dream

and some anemic moon

And ‘love you forever’ goes walking out my door

and I don't know if I can bear to think of you

anymore.

And I count the ways

But I know it, it always ends too soon

In between the light of dream

and some anemic moon

And ‘love you forever’ goes walking out my door

and I don't know if I can bear to think of you

anymore.

You talk so pretty - like a poet –

like a slippery slope

your shirt is wrinkled, brush the dust off

with all of my hope

my fallen virtue, sweet excursion,

to remember you by

How will I get to heaven if I’ve lost the will to try

So I count the ways

but I know it

always ends too soon -

In between the light of dream and some anemic moon

and you forever goes walking out my door

and I know that I can’t bear to think of you anymore.

Paris wasn’t lit the way I thought it would be lit

A photograph or two – maybe a chance, a postcard view

But no sparkle in the wine – love to compare

It’s just a city, another city, and paper falls out of the air

Newspaper ad, a playing card, a morning magazine, a candy wrapper

A crust of bread gone stale – an apple underneath the rail

The pavement grayer still, no shadow dancing upon it

And Paris wasn’t lit the way it should be lit

Paris wasn’t wine and cheese, no pretty fleur des lis

A sudden breeze, the leaves fell to the street and down among the ashes

Cold coq au vin, an old baguette – left on an empty bed

A busy city, oh mais oui, and children hide beneath the thread

Bottle of beer shared on a bet, the tangled hair – a cigarette is burning low

A secret kept in empty bellies, in the doorways hiding out

Like pebbles left upon a shore – spit from the sea

And Paris wasn’t wine and cheese, no not for me

Paris never had me singing in the rain, no April rain –

No umbrella to dance under, no framboise with my champagne

No eyes that met at last – no reverie, no lovers’ play

Was just a city by a river and cars go by, go on their way

A red tail light, a passing glance, a foggy window – And he looked like you,

someone I knew so very long ago

Lights were sparkling, oh, the sweet tableau – but was it Italy or Spain?

and Paris never had me singing in the rain

No, Paris never had me singing in the rain…

Spent the night under the dogstar chasing my tail

All out of things to say

No one to tell anyway

And the ambulance sped down the road in search of a heart

Whose beating had stopped

A life interrupted

Statements were taken and solemnly filed in a drawer

I wish I had known, she said, that he’d go off alone

And Icarus fell while no one was looking

We had places to go, and what could we do

He fell out of the sky, disappeared in the blue unending

Maybe it’s better there on the other side

I hope that it is For my sake and for his

It’s got to be greener, she said, when they’d left with their lights

All gone on their way

Nobody to save today

He should have known better than flying so close to the sun

The wings couldn’t hold, but he never did what he was told

And Icarus fell while no one was looking

We had places to go, and what could we do

He fell out of the sky, disappeared in the blue forever

I could have saved him, I could have, just one minute more

Had I thought of it then, but you know how it’s been,

All this thinking I do lately takes all of my attention.

A minute has passed since the words dropped right off of the page

Nobody to catch them

May I live to at least forget him…

House on a hill with the windows bare

Rock the baby and smell the air

Dust and wind and a rod divine

Rock til I find the water line

Rock the baby and watch the signs

Eyes to heaven no cloud to find

Walk the land with a rod divine

Walk til I find the water line

Til I find the water line

Heaven and hell and the mortal coil

Heaven and hell and the dusty soil

Heaven in the water like a diamond mine

Walk til I find the water line

Call the witches and count to three

Bring the rain, come trinity

Light the flame and pour the oil

Fill the kettle the fire to boil

Bring a feather and a piece of twine

Drop of blood and a dandelion

Baby’s breath and a lover’s tear

Dance the water on back to here

Heaven and hell and the mortal coil

Heaven and hell and the dusty soil

Heaven in the water like a diamond mine

Dance til I find the water line

It might be trouble and might be sin

Chalk a circle and step right in

What preacher don’t know can’t hurt him, friend

Didn’t bring no rain those holy men

Cause the world is dry and the crops are gone

And the babies cry while the sun shines on

the man I loved in the bottle fell

And I might be livin in the preacher’s hell

But the man I loved left with the rain

And the preacher can’t bring them back again…

Heaven and hell and the mortal coil

Heaven and hell and the dusty soil

Heaven in the water like a diamond mine

Rock til I find the water line

Rock the baby and watch the signs

Rock til I find the waterline

I’ll build you a house on an island

We’ll row out to it.

Lay in the soft pine needles

Watch the clouds blow through it

No windows, don’t need them

Let the rain come in

And the light will wake us

When we are dry again

In a champagne glass

Something sweet and pink

I had a dream at the end of the evening

I sat at my desk and I wrote it down

Scratched at the surface of something much bigger

‘as usual,’ I said, though no one was around

I had a dream at the end of my dreaming

An elephant fell from a cliff to the sea

I watched as he tumbled down into the water

And he swam away…no one saw but me

When are you coming back? Will you be gone long?

How will I know it’s you when so often I’m wrong?

So often I’m wrong.

I had a dream there were boys in the bushes

Playing with matches at the end of a day

They lit them and threw them, one after the other

Til they had all burned, and the boys ran away

When are you coming back? Will you be gone long?

How will I know it’s you when so often I’m wrong?

So often I’m wrong.

I had a dream of a wedding I’d been to

Out in the woods on a Saturday night

I fought with my love in the shadow of pinegrove

While fireflies danced and lit up the night

I had a dream that you left without telling me

Where you were going and I couldn’t find you

I dialed all the numbers that I could remember

And then I remembered I’d been so unkind

When are you coming back? Will you be gone long?

How will I know it’s you when so often I’m wrong?

So often I’m wrong.

I knew a girl that went blind when she got scared

She just didn’t see what she just couldn’t see

‘How luck,’ I said, though no one was listening

To no one, I said, ‘I wish that was me.’

On Silver Creek lay him down, (lay him down by the water)

On the banks of the creek (lay him down by the water)

And he’ll sing his sorrow from a place that’s hotter,

lay him down, (lay him down)

Lay him down. Lay him down.

Oh the wage of sin is a place that’s hotter,

Lay him down.

To sin and woe lay him down, (lay him down by the water)

A wicked way, did he go (lay him down by the water)

And he sold his soul to a place that’s hotter, lay him down, (lay him down)

Lay him down.

Lay him down.

Oh the wage of sin is a place that’s hotter,

Lay him down.

Robert Wright, lay him down, (lay him down by the water)

A bloody night when he fell (lay him down by the water)

through the gates of hell to a place that’s hotter, lay him down, (lay him down)

Lay him down.

Lay him down.

Oh the wage of sin is a place that’s hotter,

Lay him down.

Child, look away, (lay him down, lay him down by the water)

From the grave that he made (lay him down by the water)

Or he’ll sing your sorrow from a place that’s hotter lay him down, (lay him down)

Lay him down.

Lay him down.

Oh the wage of sin is a place that’s hotter,

Lay him down.

Lay him down.

Lay him down.