2003

This Train Still Runs

Janis Ian/Jess Leary

* Also recorded by Ronnie Gilbert & Holly Near

I felt a rumble in my heart, over the mountains
as the engine ate the spark, spitting out the miles
Times when I tried to jump the track
Weight of the world upon my back
Still after all is said and done

This train still runs
It doesn't matter where it's gone
This train still runs
and though the baggage weighs a ton,
we carry on
Nothing is forever young
I'm not done - his train still runs

I had a friend I left behind, back at the station
We used to burn the power lines, racing with the wind
But time has the manners of a thief
Young love turns bittersweet
Still we keep that lantern hung - this train still runs

This train still runs
It doesn't matter where it's gone
This train still runs
and though the baggage weighs a ton,
we carry on
No one is forever young
I'm not done this train still runs

Got a ticket in my pocket & I'm ready to ride
Got a motor rolling over to an easy glide
I'm gonna travel on the gravel to the other side
Sure as a baby loves the teat
Sure as a high heel on concrete
Sure as the songs I've left unsung
This train still runs

This train still runs
It doesn't matter where it's gone
This train still runs
and though the baggage weighs a ton,
we carry on
Nothing is forever young
I'm not done - this train still runs
This train still runs
This train still runs

© Rude Girl Pub. (50%)/WB Music Corp.
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Fly Too High (Written/recorded for the motion picture Foxes)

Janis Ian/Giorgio Moroder

Anonymous autonomous
will likely get the best of us yet
Before you disappear
if you can lend me half an ear I'll regret
If i treat you like a number
it's because i can't remember your name
so have another cigarette
and help me to forget why I came

Run too fast, fly too high
Run too fast, fly too high

On dark & lonely nights
I'm only right
when things are bright on the floor
Dancing & romancing
Gallivanting with a handsome I score
If you don't believe me you should
see me when I'm ready to score
I'll lose my concentration
on a new infatuation I'm sure

Run too fast, fly too high
Run too fast, fly too high
Got no past, no goodbye
Run too fast, fly too high

Hanging around on the infield,
what do you steal
but another feel at the top
Making believe in the long run
when a shotgun
is the way to get out of the shop
Hang tail in a new jail
Go bail, you can dance until you drop
There's no fool like an old fool
in a new school – you just can't stop

Run too fast, fly too high
Run too fast, fly too high
Got no past, no goodbye
Run too fast, fly too high

© Mine Music Ltd./EMI Music Publishing Japan Ltd. (50%) Ricks Music Inc./Warner Chappell.
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Take Me Walking In The Rain

Janis Ian/Jenny Yates

This town isn't big enough for my dreams
This place is just about to break at the seams
Baby baby, you and I
need just a little bigger piece of the sky
Big hopes, big dreams
Baby, can you set me free?

Take me walking in the rain
Take me dancing in the waves, baby
Let 'em wipe away the tears
Wash away the years
Take me walking in the rain

Take me right here where I stand
Let me feel your heart on mine
Life'll never be the same
We've got everything to gain
Take me walking in the rain

This life may be good enough for the rest
but this heart is just about to break through my chest
I remember every rule I've heard
and I'm strangling on every word
I can't say they're wrong,
but baby how can I go on?

Take me walking in the rain
Take me dancing in the waves, baby
Let 'em wipe away the tears
Wash away the years
Take me walking in the rain

Take me right here where I stand
Let me feel your heart on mine
I don't want somebody new
I just want the rest of you
Take me walking in the rain

Take me right here in the sand
Life ain't what we plan

© Rude Girl Pub. (50%)/In My Dreams.
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Jesse

Janis Ian

Jesse come home
There's a hole in the bed
where we slept
Now it's growing cold
Hey Jesse, your face
in the place where we lay
by the hearth, all apart
It hangs on my heart

And I'm leaving the light on the stairs
No I'm not scared - I wait for you
Hey Jesse, I'm lonely, come home

Jesse, the floors and the boards,
recalling your step
And I remember, too
All the pictures are fading
and shaded in grey,
but I still set a place
on the table at noon

And I'm leaving a light on the stairs
No I'm not scared - I wait for you
Hey Jesse, I'm lonely, come home

Jesse, the spread on the bed
is like when you left
I've kept it up for you
All the blues and the greens
have been recently cleaned,
and they're seemingly new
Hey Jes, me and you

We'll swallow the light on the stairs
We'll do up my hair
We'll sleep unaware
Hey Jesse, I'm lonely, come home

© Taosongs Two. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Paris In Your Eyes

Janis Ian

Every time I see you, I see Paris in your eyes
A hint of the forbidden, Brigitte Bardot style
Every time I dream of you, I dream that distant land
where I once held tomorrow in my hand

First time I saw Paris in your eyes
you told me how you loved me
under blue Picasso skies
We spoke of Michelangelo
and we solved each others' lives
the first time I saw Paris in your eyes

Every time I touched you,
I could taste a breath of spring
April in Paris is every lover's dream
Every time I'd call your name,
it would sound so much in tune
just like Notre Dame Cathedral at high noon

First time I saw Paris in your eyes
you told me how you loved me
under blue Picasso skies
We spoke of Michelangelo
and we solved each others' lives
The first time I saw Paris in your eyes

Now every time I see you
April showers seem to start
and they rain on every hope I have
'til they hurricane my heart
Every time I dream of you
I dream of what we had
and wonder, how could something so good go so bad?

The last time I saw Paris in your eyes
you told me you were leaving
under blue Picasso skies
We spoke of Michelangelo
and believed each others' lies
the last time i saw Paris in your eyes
The last time i saw Paris in your eyes

© Taosongs Two. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Ride Me Like A Wave

Janis Ian

Hide me in your hollows
Taste the salt that clings to me
Shipwrecked in your shallows
Scented by the sea
Hide me in the wisdom of your thighs
Ride me like a wave

Chart my secret places
Navigate my shores
Map the ocean's traces
Lick them from my pores
Dry me with delusion and desire
Ride me like a wave
Cover me in spray
Promise you will stay

I remember mornings,
waking by your side
Your scent on the pillow
Fever in your eyes
Cast upon the waters
Shipless, I surrender
Lead me to your harbor
Cover me in splendor
Drown me in delusion and desire
Ride me like a wave

Other seas may call you
Other shores will shine
Tempt you with their treasures
Water into wine
Still the safest harbor will be mine
Ride me like a wave
Ride me like a wave

© Rude Girl Pub. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Love Is Blind

Janis Ian

Love is blind
Love is only sorrow
Love is no tomorrow
since you went away

Love is blind
How well I remember
In the heat of summer pleasure
winter fades

How long will it take
before I can't remember
memories I should forget?
I've been burning
since the day we met

Love is blind
Love is without a mercy
Love is "Now you've hurt me"
"Now you've gone away"
Love is blind
Love is no horizon
and I'm slowly dying
here in yesterday

In the morning
waken to the sound of weeping
Someone else should weep for me
Now it's over, lover, let me be

Love is blind
Love is your caress
Love is tenderness
and momentary pain
Love is blind
How well I remember
In the heat of summer pleasure,
winter fades

© Mine Music Ltd./EMI Music Publishing Japan Ltd.
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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boots like emmy lou's

Janis Ian

If I had boots like Emmy Lou's, I'd be a country star
Rhinestones on my BVD's, and a Hummingbird guitar
I'd buy myself the biggest bus that ever graced the track
with a loveseat for the two of us, and a swimming pool in back

If I had boots like Emmy Lou's
I'd wear my hair like Loretta used to do
I'd sing like Patsy Cline
and Kitty Wells combined
if I had boots like Emmy Lou's
I'd never need a shine

If I had boots like Emmy Lou's, I'd be so very rich
I'd hire a dog to scratch me every time I got an itch
I'd buy a thousand Cadallics, with longhorns on the front
Drive one 'til the ashtray filled, then haul it to the dump

CHORUS

I'd buy my clothes from Nudie
Have fingernails like Tammy
Tease my hair like Dolly
and measure ten feet tall
I'd teach those boots to talk
They'd lecture in New Yawk
If I had boots like Emmy Lou's,
I'd never need to walk

If I had boots like Emmy Lou's, I'd die without a care
Fly straight up to heaven's gate and shove my way in there
And when Saint Peter asked me What I'd done to be so bold
I'd point down to my boots and say - "They're recently re-soled"

So fit me for a robe. Wings and halo too
But I cannot stay if you take away my boots like Emmy Lou's
No I cannot stay if you take away my boots like Emmy Lou's

If I had boots like Emmy Lou's
I'd wear my hair like Loretta used to do
I'd sing like Patsy Cline
and Kitty Wells combined
if I had boots like Emmy Lou's
I'd never need a shine

© Rude Girl Pub. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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days like these

Janis Ian

On days like these
when the rain won't fall
and the sky is so dry
that even birds can't call
I can feel your tears
disappearing in the air
Carried on the breeze
on days like these

It's years like these
that make a young man old
Bend his back against the promises
that life should hold
They can make him wise
They can drive him to his knees
Nothing comes for free
on days like these

But you can't reap what you don't sow
and you can't plant in fallow ground
so let us fill this empty earth with hope
until the rains come down

In lives like these
where every moment counts
I add up all the things
that i can live without
When the one thing left
is the blessing of my dreams
I can make my peace
with days like these

I can make my peace
with days like these

© Taosongs Two. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Society's Child

Janis Ian

Come to my door, baby
Face is clean and shining black as night
My mama went to answer
You know that you looked so fine
Now I could understand the tears and the shame
She called you "Boy", instead of your name
When she wouldn't let you inside
When she turned and said
"But honey, he's not our kind"

She says I can't see you any more, baby
Can't see you any more

Walk me down to school, baby
Everybody's acting deaf and blind
Until they turn and say
"Why don't you stick to your own kind?"
My teachers all laugh, their smirking stares
cutting deep down in our affairs
Preachers of equality
Think they believe it?
then why won't they just let us be?

They say I can't see you any more, baby
Can't see you any more

One of these days I'm gonna stop my listening
Gonna raise my head up high
One of these days I'm gonna raise up
my glistening wings and fly
But that day will have to wait for a while
Baby, I'm only society's child
When we're older, things may change
but for now this is the way they must remain

I say -- I can't see you any more, baby
Can't see you any more
No, I don't want to see you any more, baby

© Taosongs Two. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Between The Lines

Janis Ian

There's never much to say between
the moments of our games and repartée
There's never much to read between
the lines of what we need and what we'll take
There's never much to talk about or say aloud
but say it anyway
Of holidays and yesterdays
and broken dreams that somehow slipped away

In books and magazines of how to be
and what to see while you are being
Before and after photographs
teach how to pass from reaching to believing
We live beyond our means on other peoples' dreams
and that's succeeding
Between the lines of photographs, I've seen the past
It isn't pleasing

So strike another match
We'll have another cup of wine
and dance until the evening's dead
of too much song and time
There's never much to talk about,
or read between the lines
of what we dream about when we're apart
snd no one's looking on to say "You're mine"

It was a good year then. It was a good year then
We all remember
the time you threw the looking glass and seemed a fool,
or very clever
Don't spoil it all. I can't recall
a time when you were stuck without an answer
We'll live a quiet peaceful time between the lines
and go together

And I'm striking up the band
to play our last hurrah
We'll dance until we've killed another evening off
Don't think of anyone but me
I'll have no lovers on the side
Tonight is all we ever dreamed about
For once, let's get it right
We'll go down flying in the end
Throw another bottle in between the lines
We'll go down like a ship of state
Let's be gracious now, between the lines

© Mine Music Ltd./EMI Music Publishing Japan Ltd.
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Take No Prisoners

Janis Ian

The writer wrote. The singer sung.
The record broke. The audience was stunned.
Some they begged for mercy, others even cried
Some fled, left for dead. Some said it changed their lives.
And the writer said I wish you'd known me
When I still believed in the truth
Now it's all I have left
along with my debts and lack of youth
He said -

Take no prisoners. Tell no lies.
No pretty songs of compromise.
Take no prisoners. Tell no lies....
It's a good day to die.

God spoke. The people laughed.
The tablets broke while they were pissing on the golden calf
Some they found their heaven, some they found their hell
Some they ran to Canaan land, some just lay where they fell
And God said I wish you'd known me
when I still believed you'd be true
Now for the rest of your days when you call out my name
I'll be MR. GOD to you
He said -

Take no prisoners. Tell no lies.
No petty songs of compromise.
Take no prisoners. Tell no lies....
It's a good day to die.

And the lover said Why don't you touch me?
Reach out your hand just like this
You can capture my soul - you can take hold
and kill me with a kiss.
She said -

Take no prisoners. Tell no lies.
No pretty songs of compromise.
Take no prisoners. Tell no lies.
It's a good day to die.
It's a good day to die.
It's a good day....

© Rude Girl Pub. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Stars

Janis Ian

* Also recorded by Mel Torme

I was never one for singing
what I really feel
except tonight, I'm bringing
everything I know that's real

Stars, they come and go
They come fast or slow
They go like the last light of the sun, all in a blaze
And all you see is glory
Hey, but it gets lonely there,
when there's no one here to share
We can shake it away, if you'll hear a story

People lust for fame.
Like athletes in a game,
we break our collarbones and come up swinging
Some of us are downed.
Some of us are crowned
and some are lost and never found
But most have seen it all
They live their lives in sad cafes and music halls
They always have a story

Some make it when they're young,
before the world has done its dirty job
And later on, someone will say -
“You've had your day. “You must make way”
But they'll never know the pain
in living with a name you never owned,
or the many years forgetting
what you know too well

That the ones who gave the crown
have been let down
You try to make amends,
without defending

Perhaps pretending you never saw the eyes
of grown men of twenty-five,
that followed as you walked, and asked for autographs
or kissed you on the cheek -
and you never could believe they really loved you

Some make it when they're old.
Perhaps they have a soul they're not afraid to bare
or perhaps there's nothing there

Stars, they come and go
They come fast or slow
They go like the last light of the sun, all in a blaze
And all you see is glory
Hey, but it gets lonely there,
when there's no one here to share
We can shake it away, if you'll hear a story

Some women have a body men will want to see
so they put it on display
Some people play a fine guitar.
I could listen to them play all day
Some ladies really move across a stage
and gee, they sure can dance
I guess I could learn how, if I gave it half a chance

But I always feel so funny when my body tries to soar
And I always seem to worry about missing the next chord
I guess there isn't anything to put out on display
except the tunes, and whatever else i say

And anyway, that isn't really what I meant to say...
I meant to tell a story I live from day to day

Stars, they come and go
They come fast or slow
They go like the last light of the sun,
all in a blaze,
and all you see is glory
But those who've seen it all
live out their lives in sad cafes and music halls
We always have a story

So if you don't lose patience
with my fumbling around
I'll come up singing for you
even when I'm down

© Taosongs Two. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Will You Dance?

Janis Ian

Someone is waiting
Over by the window,
just beyond the stairwell someone's crying
Drowning in the words of the prophets
that are written for the dead and the dying
Someone's lying. No one's buying.

Someone is dying.
Panic in the streets
Can't get no relief, someone escaping
Waiting on a line for the holy revolution
Parading illusion
Someone's using. Most amusing

Will you dance, will you dance?
Smell of caviar and roses
Teach your children all the poses
How familiar are we all…
Will you dance, will you dance?
Light fantastic in the morning
How romantic to be whoring
Boring though it may be
Who'll survive
if you and I should fall

Someone is bleeding
Crimson in the night
Strangers, in the light a sudden meeting
Greeting one by one every life runs
flashing before those dashing eyes

Will you dance, will you dance?
take a chance on romance
and a big surprise?
Will you dance, will you dance?
Take a chance on romance
and a big surprise?

© Mine Music Ltd./EMI Music Publishing Japan Ltd.
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Honor Them All

Janis Ian

They say that you can choose your friends
but you can't choose your family
and it's a lucky man who ends up in good company
I've done my share of looking back
Regret's my middle name
but the time goes by so fast
You turn around, tomorrow's passed
and the ones you love will never be the same
So why don't you honor your father
Honor your mother
Honor yourself above all
Honor the gifts you bring one another
each time you rise or you fall
Honor them all

There's not a family on this earth
doesn't sling a little mud
Hands get weary, hearts get hurt
We bow to the flesh and blood
Oh, people can be cruel sometimes
It leaves a lasting scar
but when you put it to the test
you usually find they've done their best
and as bad as that may be
it's turned you into who you are
So why don't you honor your father
Honor your mother
Honor yourself above all
Honor the gifts you bring one another
each time you rise or you fall
Honor them all

I have three nephews, all my children
and my memories
If there's one thing I would ask
it's that they keep alive the past
so the future doesn't have to end with me

I want them to honor their father
Honor their mother
Honor themselves above all
Honor the gifts
they bring one another
each time they rise or they fall
Honor them all
Honor them all

© Rude Girl Pub. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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At Seventeen

Janis Ian

I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
and high school girls with clear skinned smiles
who married young and then retired
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth

And those of us with ravaged faces
lacking in the social graces
desperately remained at home
inventing lovers on the phone
who called to say - come dance with me
and murmured vague obscenities
It isn't all it seems at seventeen

A brown eyed girl in hand me downs
whose name I never could pronounce
said - Pity please the ones who serve
They only get what they deserve
The rich relationed hometown queen
marries into what she needs
with a guarantee of company
and haven for the elderly

Remember those who win the game
lose the love they sought to gain
in debentures of quality and dubious integrity
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
in dull surprise when payment due
exceeds accounts received at seventeen

To those of us who knew the pain
of valentines that never came
and those whose names were never called
when choosing sides for basketball
It was long ago and far away
The world was younger than today
when dreams were all they gave for free
to ugly duckling girls like me

We all play the game, and when we dare
we cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
that call and say - Come dance with me
and murmur vague obscenities
at ugly girls like me, at seventeen

© Mine Music Ltd./EMI Music Publishing Japan Ltd.
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Cosmopolitan Girl

Janis Ian

I was only
twenty-nine and lonely as a bull moose in heat
when he came along, singing that same old song
I said, You know I'm entering my prime
Thirty-one to thirty-nine
Bet you've read the articles, too
Statistically speaking, my hormones are creeping
I can feel them moving in the night
But like the articles say - I am woman
I can wait until it's right

I want to be a cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan girl
Take half a dozen lovers, teach them what i've seen
in between the covers of my favorite magazine
I want to read statistics, plan logistics
Live my life to the hilt
without shame, without pain, without guilt

I hit thirty
waiting for my endocrines to match the questionnaires
He grew impatient. I said - I'm saving myself
Meantime, let's do some therapy
Take a course in co-dependency
and while we're at it, you could lose some weight
We've got so much to share - no, don't touch me there
What's another year between friends?
The wait will be worth it
I'm bound to be perfect by then

I want to be a cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan girl
I'm reading Kama Sutra - I bought it on cassette
I found a chiropractor who can limber up my neck
I want that first time flawless, really lawless
Want to enjoy it to the hilt
without shame, without pain, without guilt

The big day finally came
There was a note on the door
It said - Here's a little something to remember me by
I've fallen for a waitress who accepts her cellulite

This is a cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan gift
And I know that you'll appreciate it when you think of me
all those empty nights while you're protecting your virginity
This gift is flawless, this gift is cordless
so enjoy it to the hilt
without shame, without pain, without guilt
without shame, without pain, without guilt
No shame, no pain, no guilt

© Taosongs Two. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Tattoo

Janis Ian

Her new name was tattooed to her wrist
It was longer than the old one
Sealed in the silence with a fist
This night will be a cold one
Centuries live in her eyes
Destiny laughs over jack-booted thighs
"Work makes us free" says the sign
Nothing leaves here alive
Tattoo

She steps out of line to the left,
and her father to the right
One sides a cold, clean death
The other is an endless night
Gold from a grandmother's tooth
Mountains of jewelry and toys
piled in the corners, mailed across the borders
Presents for the girls and boys
Presents for the girls and boys
Tattoo

It gets darker every night
Spread-eagled out among the stars, she says
Somewhere in this tunnel lives a light
Still my beating heart
I have never known a man
What man will want me now?
Am I still alive, somehow?
If I can survive, somehow
Tattooed

Soldiers from the other side
liberated them at dawn
Gave her water, gave her life
She still had all her clothes on
She lived until she died
Empty as the autumn leaves that fly
Surgeons took the mark
but they could not take it far
It was written on her heart
Written on her empty heart
Tattooed

© Rude Girl Pub. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Watercolors

Janis Ian

I remember photographs
Watercolors of the past
He turned and said - You ask much of me
Then, when we'd made our peace,
we lay between the sheets
He turned and said - I set you free

Go on, be a hero, be a photograph
Make your own myths
Christ, I hope they last
longer than mine
Wider than the sky we measure time by
Go on, be a hero, I set you free
Your stagehand lovers have conquered me
They'll send you carnations,
while smiling faces look on and applaud
Go on, go on, go 'way from me

I said - Do you wish me dead?
Lip service to books you've read
Articles on how to bed a bird in flight
You called it love - I called it greed
You say - You take what you want
I say - You get what you need

Go on, be a hero, be a man
Make your own destiny if you can
Go find a fence, locate a shell
and hide yourself
Go on, go to hell, go away from me
I need no charity

He said - Come unto me
I am beauty
I am the light
Come unto me
Hold the darkness and stay the night
for I am wonder, I am the heart's delight
Tomorrow we'll fight

Come on come on, come near to me
Come be my fantasy
We'll talk it over again sometime
I'll send you some flowers
to change your mind,
but for tonight, turn out the light
Hold me -
Come on, come on and set me free
Lend me your charity

© Mine Music Ltd./EMI Music Publishing Japan Ltd.
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Breaking Silence

Janis Ian

Come into my solitude
though I weary be
Come into my tenderness
Dream along with me
Listen to the whispers sing
Listen to the singer shout
Come into my solitude
Me and my big mouth

Thoughts unspoken, thoughts unsaid
Lies of hearth and home
Children broken on the bed
and left to lie alone
Things you talk around
Scum you choke on down
Come into my solitude
Step on sacred ground

We were speaking
of values and violence
Breaking silence

Fathers who are lovers to
the daughters that they own
Mothers who don't leave a child
a single safety zone
People so unhinged
that death is much too kind
Come into my solitude
Step over that line

...Thought I was the only one
...Thought I was the only one
...Thought I was the only, only one

We were speaking
of values and violence
Breaking silence

Come into my solitude
Welcome to the wheel
Come into this wonderland
of wounds that will not heal
Walls that do not speak
Steps that do not sound
Come into my solitude
Burn this building down

© Rude Girl Pub. All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Berlin

Janis Ian/Linda Perry

I was walking down a wrong way street
I was feeling like a refugee
Berlin
Got shot by an old man's eyes
Got pinned like a butterfly
Berlin

This should have been a happy love song
This should have been a sappy song for you
This should have been a happy love song

Saw a woman on a bridge last night
She was standing on the edge of life
Berlin
I was deafened by the anxious crowd
They were yelling JUMP RIGHT
NOW

This should have been a happy love song
This should have been a sappy song for you

There's a lady laying in my bed
Angel flying overhead
Berlin
There's a needle laying on the floor
And a letter saying
Please no more

This should have been a happy love song
This should have been a sappy song for you
This should have been a happy love song

© Rude Girl Pub. (50%)/Sony/ATV Harmony
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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Silly Habits

Janis Ian

I'm still in love,
though I don't care to let you know
there's something there
It doesn't show,
but when you're near,
silly habits mean a lot

I've been alone now
for quite some time, it's true
but every night when I come home
I'm coming home to you
I listen for your footsteps
Sometimes I even knock
Silly habits mean a lot

I've been parading
and I've led a lot astray
Why bother waiting
when you can have it all today?
You may remember...
I like my coffee hot
Silly habits mean a lot

So you go your way
and I'll go mine
Maybe someday
our paths will re-entwine
I used to say “I love you”
but one day I forgot
Silly habits mean a lot
Silly habits mean a lot

© Mine Music Ltd./EMI Music Publishing Japan Ltd.
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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In The Winter

Janis Ian

* Also recorded by Dusty Springfield, and Barbi Benton

The days are okay
I watch the TV in the afternoons
If I get lonely,
the sound of other voices,
other rooms are near to me
I'm not afraid

The operator,
She tells the time,
It's good for a laugh
There's always radio,
and for a dime I can
talk to God - Dial-a-Prayer
Are you there?
Do you care?
Are you there?

And in the winter,
extra blankets for the cold
Fix the heater, getting old
I am wiser now, you know
and still as big a fool concerning you

I met your friend
She's very nice, what can I say?
It was an accident
I never dreamed we'd meet again this way
You're looking well
I'm not afraid

You have a lovely home
Just like a picture.
No, I live alone
I found it easier
You must remember how
I never liked the party life
Up all night
Lovely wife
You have a lovely wife

And in the winter
Extra blankets for the cold
Fix the heater, getting old
You are with her now, I know
I'll live alone forever
Not together now

© Mine Music Ltd./EMI Music Publishing Japan Ltd.
All rights reserved; international copyright secured.

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