1.Cups And Punches
I saw a black girl last night called
Charmaine Champaign
She wasn't a worn out ex-so-and-so, no
not from Times Square
But she went to Johnny Romero's till it
was too hot to handle
And she's got nothing to show for it： no
money, no love,
but she could tell me the squarest thing
on the jukebox
She's gonna get me folked up, fairly beat
Teach me not to get baited with stage
whispers
Like, 'Can anybody turn me on？'
Show me how to make cups and punches
It's so simple without a simple syrup
You have to gather a quarter pound of
young peach leaves
on a dry and sunny day
And the cost is so uncertain since peach
leaves are seldom sold
She's gonna get me folked up, fairly beat
She likes a Strong Sangaree
that shakes for 12 hours,
Keeps warm for 12 months,
then sits for 6 months more
Then she's gonna sing me the squarest
thing on the jukebox
She's gonna get me folked up, fairly beat
2.7 Silver Curses
My little sister had a glass of wine
No doubt a glass of wine too many
'I bet he's out right now with his Nazi whore
That's right, I said it, that's what she is, and when he
Finally saunters back at three or four,
Don't let him in, put the chain on the door.'
But of course I'd let him in, the jerk.
Now my silly little sister went to some vlachos coffee-grind
reader
Ad had a gypsy glint in her eye when she'd smirk
'Since that's how you feel, I know what to do
Make sure she gets fixed before she takes him from you.'
It's a hot August night and my sister and I are creeping down
south Halsted
Towards a storefront past a storefront stoop and a moon
And a star and a placard that says Madame Maria's.
'Tell me your troubles,
But five dollars first.'
That's what she said
And of course, I thought the worst
Charlatan, phony
Fraud gypsy bitch whose Greek was bad and English was worse
I held tight to my purse
My sister did the talking and I looked down
And tapped my foot and sort of twisted on one heel.
Madame pointed to corner
And twisted her shawl,
Uncovered a dusty old crystal ball
I peered in despite myself
Somewhere on some love seat, my husband was there
Paying court to his mistress and stroking her hair
I saw it for myself
'I can't believe it!' I cried
Madame Maria said, 'Well, I had a notion
So before you came in, I prepared half a potion
Now you must do the other half
I wrote you a list
You must get seven part-silver curses made special out of bullet
bits by some Pollock I know in Evergreen Park
And dip them in the potion and drop them in Buckingham Fountain
at 3：13 on Friday morning
And then she'll be gone, you'll be rid of her!'
Quick, for the potion, we have to get three dozen crabapples
that fell off a raggedy old tree right in the southwestern
corner of Columbus Park!
Faster, we have to go up to Caputo's Produce and Fruit Market on
Harlem and get the garden snake that lives in the banana bin!
Hurry, we have to get the mercury out of the old thermometer
they have through the north-facing doors
To the left by the shoe-shine boys in the lobby of the Monadnock
building!
And don't be late, for you must get the silver out of the teeth
of one George Karmalitis
Who as we speak lies dead under a dirty wool blanket in the
basement of the morgue of Laretto hospital
The silver teeth of a man killed by a jealous wife!
I wasn't always an old maid
I didn't always walk down the street
And have the children yell at me Spinny Spinny the Spinster
And try to knock the hat off my head
I had a fiancee, or he led me to believe I'd soon be his fiancee
And I did believe him, as I had every right to
And I'd put on my best dress and we'd go dance at all the dances
And I'd never let the boys from the barracks cut in
They'd come out of Great Lakes, usually straight off the farm
anyway
And I'd never really let any of the country club beaus get a
chance
Those cream-colored summer suits were never cut to my taste
anyhow
And those Hyde Park fraternity fellas were out as a matter of
course
I don't enjoy a man in red, so certainly not maroon, that's for
sure
I only had eyes for my guy, see
But one night he had said he wouldn't be able to take me
As he hurt his shoulder and had his arm in a sling
But I went anyway and saw him with another woman
And she was wearing his ring
The silver still smelled and smelted down quick into the copper
or lead or whatever else it was
And when the metal was still soft and hot you'd engrave the
curse into it with a stylus from an old whale bone
I thought for a second of what I might write
Something a little different, but with the correct sort of spite
One of them asked panayia mou to make that blonde's hair fall
straight out
The potion was ready back at my apartment
And my sister and I mumbled and crossed ourselves when we
dropped the curses in
And I thought of my husband
My husband and her
And I thought of me and him, of what we were
I thought of our wedding day
And I was happy, very simply happy
Do you hear it
A modest young woman's simple contentment
It's probably a sunny day, and I think it was
The birds were chirping
And I felt like I was dancing on air
But not very far off the ground
I wonder if I knew even then that things wouldn't always be
perfect
That one day he'd seek solace in the arms of another woman
And that to win him back, to win him back, I'd have to do this
3：11!, 3：12!, 3：13!
On a hot August night everyone is asleep
But the crows were watching, witching and my temple was
twitching
Twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch
Fountain, sweet fountain
Fountain, sweet fountain
Let your water react and turn the curses to fact and come true
Fountain, sweet fountain
Fountain, sweet fountain
Let your water react and turn the curses to fact and come true
And they do
The instant we dropped them in, our hearts started to race
And a wind came up off the lake; make no mistake, we felt
something released out into the city
And I swore
And I swooned
As I swept back somehow to Austin, I don't remember how
Scared of what I had wrought
But terrified, I didn't get what I had sought
Oh Jimmy, where you been so long
Oh Jimmy, where you been so long
Oh Jimmy, where you been so long
Oh Jimmy, where you been so long
Oh Jimmy, where you been so long
Oh Jimmy, where you been so long
And as the clock struck eight the next morning
My husband was next to me with a smile on his face
And I looked, no blond hairs on his pajamas
And it was as if I had been awakened from a bad dream
3.Does It Remind You Of When？
How the years have gone
It's come to this
A rose on his lapel, in the open coffin I'd give him a kiss
I have to go up north to play at his funeral
And his wife is there
In some chapel she's picked out
And there's not even an organ
I have to play on some broken upright piano
Listen to these low notes
What a joke
And you have to park and you couldn't even hear the ceremony in
the cemetery
because the noise from the traffic and construction is so
terrible
And I stood there in the slush
And I walked along, very slowly
To the tree by the turn
And I went in front of my mother and father and sister and
husband's graves
And looked over to the sun setting to the right
Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock
And I thought of myself
And I thought of them
In the cold hard ground
You still can't believe
You still can't believe
I didn't believe it then
And I don't believe it now
I didn't believe it then
And I don't believe it now
I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now
But there it is
Listen to this tune I'm playing for you now, kids
Does it seem sad
Does it remind you of when
Shady grave
Come the summer it will be
Shady grave
Come the summer it will be
Well I can hear the cars just
A hundred feet behind
And I smell the rock salt in the air
And I know in my bones it isn't fair
And the sun sets in the sleet to the side
4.Athsma Attack
I woulda had a asthma attack
If I seen the shark bite back
I woulda had a asthma attack
If I seen the shark bite back
Yeah it's paradise island I know
Yeah, yeah, yeah I been there before
Once, twice, three times maybe
Once with my Moms and twice with my baby
I shook my silver bracelet at a thousand times
They like the shimmer-glimmer but said
No never, no never, no never swim in the dark
Once, twice, three times maybe
Once with my Moms and twice with my baby
I woulda had a asthma attack
If I seen the shark bite back
I woulda had a asthma attack
If I seen the shark bite back
Yeah, yeah it's just a figure of speech
A python ate my babe when he hit the beach
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