1. |
The Shadow Workhouse
03:41
|
|||
|
Black dog don't come growlin
When she slinks in from outside
That black dog don't come growlin
When she slinks in from outside
Don't come round to cause no trouble
Just got tired of bein tied
Bein tied
Day and night
To the shadow workhouse
Come join me by my fire
Tell me have you any word
Come and eat beside my fire
But tell me have you any word
About my sister or my brother
Won't you tell me what you've heard?
What have you heard
Of the fire they stirred
At the shadow workhouse?
She said you start with dust and darkness
That is the story of the sun
You must gather dust and darkness
If you would live to see the sun
Then she stood up at the window
With her head cocked like a gun
Just like a gun
At a man who runs
From the shadow workhouse
She said this world is made of bones and blood and tears and mud and grit and grime
Stone and flood and fear and love all covered up in grit and grime
And you can never clean it up
But you can learn to make it rhyme
Well you can make your rhymes
While you do your time
In the shadow workhouse
In the shadow workhouse
In the shadow workhouse
|
||||
2. |
||||
|
Bright light
Cold floor
Empty eyes opening into me
What are they looking for?
Soft place
Weak joint
Something of steel at the center
to hone to a killing point
Red room
Red room
Something has come for me
I cannot stop it I cannot stop it I cannot stop it
Brought down
Scraped clean
I am the virgin huntress
Fed to the death machine
Still hands
Still heart
Only the black hole blooming
Tearing the world apart
Red room
Red room
Blood crawling over me
I cannot stop it I cannot stop it I cannot stop it
(stop)
Wake up
Bad dream
Ghost of an unmade memory
Crack of a strangled scream
Lost names
Lost years
Guttering light staring back at me
Tell me your secret fear
Dark night
Locked door
Monsters are only a fairy tale
What are you screaming for?
Red room
Red room
I take back all that is left of me
You cannot have it
You cannot have it
You cannot have it
|
||||
3. |
||||
|
And did you not love me for my eye so keen?
Have I been ungentle, have I been unwise?
Else why do you make of me a tarnished queen,
Is it for the shape of me that you devised?
Was it you who cut the bow to fit my hand?
I sought to win your favor when we won the day
Showed you I could wield it well as any man
Still you call it ugly and you turn away
And is it now that you forsake me?
Forsake me, forsake me
For that I never grew to be your golden child
Woe and what to do about a willful girl?
Cast her in the darkness as a thing defiled
Crush a shining powder from a faulted pearl
Stir it in a bitter draught and drink it deep
Save a little special for the second born
Silence is the only thing you let me keep
Nothing left escaping from a broken horn
And so you choose, and so forget me
Forget me, forget me
For I could never bend enough to bear your rule
Mercy everlasting at the price you name
Love is jealous, love is vengeful, love is cruel
Love has taught me every word I know for shame
Somewhere you are watching on your blinding throne
Piercing through the desert here to burn my mind
Offering your kingdom if my soul atones
There you will be waiting till the end of time
It is not for you to forgive me
It is not for you to forgive me
It is not for you to forgive me
|
||||
4. |
||||
|
Sweet was the beat of the heart he held out for me
Blood ruby deep as the first wound of life
Into the wilderness endless I followed
And so he would have me, the dream-master's wife
Smoldering slowly the stars that entranced me
My tongue learned the feel of the fruit that we shared
And danger stole off while desire was feasting
Then found us at dawn in the sun's jealous glare
To stay was to die - but to leave was my doom
So the ice held me down - while the fire consumed
Ten thousand years in a cage
For refusing that poisonous spell
Enough of pleading and rage
Now I'll stand on my feet and I'll dance out of hell
My choice is my own and my pleasure my own
My pride and my joy and my treasure my own
Tell the demon who rose
Tell the angel who fell
But my own voice will lead as I dance out of hell
No man may steal what I carry inside me
No nightmare will drag me through stones of the past
There is no going home, there is no going back
Though I walk in the shards of my palace of glass
There is only the road I will make for myself
So if I am remade it is by my own hand
The wind of the storm I have danced into singing
Will banish the shadow along with the sand
No hunger can break me - no captor can take me
No shackles will bind me - they shatter behind me
Ten thousand years I survived
My strength and my spite served me well
My hatred kept me alive
But now light as a feather I’ll dance out of hell
For my choice is my own and my pleasure my own
My pride and my joy and my treasure my own
Tell the demon who rose
Tell the angel who fell
But my own voice will lead as I dance out of hell
As I dance out of hell
As I dance out of hell
As I dance, as I dance,
Dance out of hell
|
||||
5. |
||||
|
Where you've left your gown to lie
There is the barest hint of May
But the glass that holds your eye
Is a lone December day
I can fetch what's gone away
At your feet I'll sit and stay
All at once I'll growl and grin
Kiss you till you smile again
Though I know you feel afraid
And I know you miss the sun
In the night your dreams have strayed
And your heart is all undone
I will find what you have lost
Save it from the early frost
Guard you close against the cold
Listen till your tale is told
Where you go I chase the light
When you cry I swim the sea
When you sleep I am your sight
When you run then I am free
I can breathe where you have been
I can tell you need a friend
All is well now, never fear
Gentle maiden, I am here.
I can fetch what's gone away
At your feet I'll sit and stay
All at once I'll growl and grin
Kiss you till you smile again
Kiss you till you smile again
|
||||
Summer Russell recommends:
I could listen to Lauren sing forever. Her writing is vivid and sensitive, sweetly and painfully human--never apologizing for sharp corners and rough edges. The beauty of her spirit shines through.
go to albumIf you like Summer Russell, you may also like:
Our Kind of Strange
by The Faithful Sidekicks
supported by 12 fans who also own “Underworld”
go to album
Labyrinth of Shadows
by Lawrence Dean
supported by 10 fans who also own “Underworld”
go to album
Full of Filk
by Cathy McManamon
supported by 10 fans who also own “Underworld”
I first heard Cathy and fell in love with her music in filk circle at a con. This album perfectly recreates the feeling of that environment. All the songs on the album are fantastic, highlighting Cathy’s pure and warm vocals and guitar.
go to album
Dakota Blue Moon
by Jackson Harden
Gorgeous acoustic Americana from North Carolina, stripped-back and sublime.
go to album
Singer-songwriter Henry Parker puts his own spin on the classic sounds of '60s and '70s British folk on this wilderness-inspired new LP.
go to album
