Monkey & Bear
Joanna Newsom
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Down in the green hay Where monkey and bear usually lay (lay) They woke from a stable-boy's cry Said someone come quick The horses got loose, got grass-sick They'll founder, fain, they'll die What is now known by the sorrel and the roan? By the chestnut, and the bay, and the gelding grey? It is, stay by the gate you are given And remain in your place, for your season And had the overfed dead but listened To that high-fence, horse-sense, wisdom But Did you hear that, Bear? said Monkey, we'll get out of here, fair and square They left the gate open wide So, my bride, here is my hand Where is your paw? Try and understand my plan, Ursula My heart is a furnace Full of love that's just and earnest Now you know that we must unlearn this Allegiance to a life of service And no longer answer to that heartless Hay-monger, nor be his accomplice The charlatan, with artless hustling But Ursula, we've got to eat something And earn our keep, while still within The borders of the land that man has girded All double-bolted and tightfisted Until we reach the open country A-steeped in milk and honey Will you keep your fancy clothes on, for me? Can you bare a little longer to wear that leash? My love, I swear by the air I breathe Sooner or later, you'll bare your teeth But for now, just dance, darling C'mon, will you dance, my darling? Darling, there's a place for us Can we go, before I turn to dust? Oh, my darling there's a place for us Oh darling, c'mon will you dance my darling? Though the hills are groaning with excess Like a table ceaselessly being set Oh my darling, we will get there yet They trooped past the guards Past the coops, and the fields And the farmyards, all night till finally The space they gained grew much farther than The stone that Bear threw To mark where they'd stop for tea But Walk a little faster, don't look backwards Your feast is to the East, which lies a little past the pasture And the blackbirds hear tea whistling they rise and clap And their applause caws the kettle black And we can't have none of that Move along, Bear, there, there, that's that Though cast in plaster Our Ursula's heart beat faster Than monkey's ever will But still, they had got to pay the bills Hadn't they? That is what the monkey'd say So, with the courage of a clown, or a cur Or a kite, jerking tight at its tether In her dung-brown gown of fur And her jerkin of swan's down and leather Bear would sway on her hind legs The organ would grind dregs of song For the pleasure of the children who'd shriek Throwing coins at her feet and recoiling in terror Sing, Dance, darling C'mon, will you dance, my darling? Oh darling, there's a place for us Can we go, before I turn to dust? Oh my darling there's a place for us Oh darling, c'mon, will you dance, my darling? You keep your eyes fixed on the highest hill Where you'll ever-after eat your fill Oh my darling dear mine, if you dance Dance darling, and I'll love you still Deep in the night, shone a weak and miserly light Where the monkey shouldered his lamp Someone had told him the Bear'd been wandering a fair piece away From where they were camped Someone had told him the bear'd been sneaking away To the seaside caverns, to bathe And the thought troubled the monkey For he was afraid of spelunking Down in those caves, also afraid what the Village people would say if they saw the bear in that state Lolling and splashing obscenely Well, it seemed irrational, really Washing that face, washing that matted and flea-bit pelt In some sea-spit-shine old kelp dripping with brine But monkey just laughed, and he muttered When she comes back, Ursula will be bursting with pride Till I jump up saying, You've been rolling in muck Saying, You smell of garbage and grime But far out, far out, by now, by now Far out, by now, Bear ploughed 'Cause she would not drown First the outside-legs of the bear Up and fell down, in the water, like knobby garters Then the outside-arms of the bear Fell off, as easy as if sloughed from boiled tomatoes Lowered in a genteel curtsy Bear shed the mantle of her diluvian shoulders And, with a sigh she allowed the burden of belly to drop Like an apron full of boulders If you could hold up her threadbare coat to the light Where it's worn translucent in places You'd see spots where Almost every night of the year Bear had been mending, suspending that baseness Now her coat drags through the water Bagging, with a life's-worth of hunger Limitless minnows In the magnetic embrace, balletic and glacial Of bear's insatiable shadow Left there, left there When Bear left Bear Left there, left there When bear stepped clear of bear Sooner or later you'll bury your teeth
Become A Better Singer In Only 30 Days, With Easy Video Lessons!
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"Monkey & Bear Lyrics." Lyrics.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 May 2024. <https://www.lyrics.com/lyric-lf/1452671/Joanna+Newsom/Monkey+%26+Bear>.
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