Vic Chesnutt - Little

 

 

Isadora Duncan

Once i dreamed i was dancing with isadora duncan
In a silver cafe,
It was a cafe that was not at all near here
She was planning to diversify
And she sang i should do the same
So i whistled to her how i loved her the best

But she sang "i can't believe you own this attitude",
But with some ballet moves,
I removed her shoes
And i painted my lips to hers
And still she sang "i can't believe you own this attitude"
She sang "i can't believe you own this, this attitude"

She needed her beauty sleep
Though i didn't want it to sound like that
Her mind was occupied,
Her hard coffee was cold by then as snow

And she sang "my smile is more than pearly white,
And my dreams are more than you",
She sang "my yellow eyes are more than mirrors,
And my scarf is more, more, more than blue."

And she sang "i can't believe you own this attitude"
Yes i sang "i can't believe you own this, this attitude"

She closed her new directions paperbook
And screamed "there is no shelter in the arts"
She'd been crying all day
But now her eyes they were brighter than the moon

And she sang "my smile is more than pearly white,
And my dreams are more than you",
She sang "my yellow eyes are more than mirrors,
And my scarf is more, more, more, more than blue."

And she sang "i can't believe you own this attitude"
"i can't believe it, i can't believe you own this attitude",
"i can't believe it, i can't believe you own this, this attitude".

 

Danny Carlisle

He wanted a treefort more than anything
yes, he wanted to build and defend one on his own
but the neighbour boys BB seige was overwhelming
so he won't be building his dream treefort anymore

he received a five-speed Schwinn for Christmas
so he built a ramp out of the plywood and a stump
and at nights he dreamed Evil Knievel
and a canyon to jump in his backyard.

Danny Carlisle, he don't give a shit about the contras
Danny Carlisle, he's barely grown and he's used up most of his options
and still he would rather dream, dream, dream still he would rather dream than fuck

once he used a pocket knife to kill a garden snake
yes he chopped that evil serpent into four
and when he raised his eyes to heaven as a soldier
he wiped the blood of bad snake on his shirt

Yeah, Danny Carlisle he don't give a shit about the contras
yeah Danny Carlisle he's barely grown and he's used up most of his options
and still he would rather dream dream dream than fuck
still he would rather dream than fuck

 

Gepetto

Gepetto! Pinnochio,
your adopted son is getting ready to go
the candle wicks are asterisks
you carved him yourself out of sticks

a propos, had to go,
he loved the alps,
but he hated the snow
things switch,
chop a new niche
soon you won't remember
oh which one is which

your sorrow is so silly,
what's there to keep him in Italy?
what's there to keep him in Italy?

he'll send you news
how he took a cruise
stuck his sea legs in the sailor shoes
and finally, across some sea,
finding himself all kinds of the finery

but he took a week to learn how to speak
but the language hurts,
yeah, the consonants tweak
mute malaise, heavy haze,
the reparations only partly pays.

but your sorrow is so silly,
what's there to keep him in Italy?
what's there to keep him in Italy?

 

Bakersfield

Well the souvenirs
on my dusty shelf
well I get out the Tarn-X,
and I polish them myself
yes, posters are falling,
but who needs them at my age?
well I've learned to smile,
when all I feel is rage

so I think I will go to Bakersfield
with Gabriel and Paul
and I will hide behind the garbage cans
while the holy platitudes fall
and blow the gates,
I am coming through
with my albatrosses and all

and it's strategy not protocol
yes, it's strategy, not protocol,
that brings me here.

 

Mr. Reilly

Well there's a Mr. Reilly who swears
that in Baton Rouge Louisiana,
they don't care about, his philosophy
he swears that any time in Baton Rouge
everything is the same

well we stared into the cup,
but we could not see the bottom
he was drinking muddy water
as a river deep
a cup a day to curb visibility
all those nasty notions go away

well had you heard the news
about Joan our ex-newspaper girl?
they found her swinging from a tree
and i know
just a week ago, she was beautiful
but now now now shes rather vile
they found her by the frozen lake,
but it wasn't frozen enough to skate
and by the look on her face,
it must've been awful tempting
they found her in her skates
she was the coldest cadaver in the state
and look at the lake
not even the ducks are resting on it.

 

Rabbit Box

While I was still in elementary school
I discovered Daddy's tools
and amassed a small pile, of scrap lumber
and I built a rabbit box
and i set it facing north
but i caught a possum and a kitten
both of which were a bitch to set free
cause I thought they were going to bite me
but we all three escaped safely

well once I took my single shotgun
and put on my camouflage
and hid in the neighbour's pasture by the little cow pond
and finally after a long time
a bunch of doves flew by
and landed in a huddle on the power line
and so I aimed with an eagle's eye and fired
but it was two pigeons that fell like bean bags into the weeds
well they sure looked like doves to me

 

Speed Racer

Have I learned anything from all of these lectures?
I think it's my attention span clipped by TV at an early age
well who heard the radio when you are five years old?
I used to watch Speed Racer with that hyper attitude
that carried me here to this flourescent enlightenment

I'm not a victim, I'm not a victim
Oh, I...I...I...I am intelligent, I am intelligent
I'm not a victim, I'm not a victim
Oh, I...I...I...I am an atheist, I am an atheist

the idea of divine order is essentially crazy
the laws of action and reaction
are the closest thing to truth in the universe
so don't try to spray me with your archaic rites of soul
your vision is a biological one
I can dodge the thunderbolts
and scratch out an existence on this glorious but simple plane
I'm not a victim, I'm not a victim
Oh, I...I...I...I am intelligent, I am intelligent
I'm not a victim, I'm not a victim
Oh, I...I...I...I am an atheist, I am an atheist

 

Soft Picasso

It was a modern love affair
completely cool and casual
they hardly knew each other was there
i mean Both of them had their own getting off to do
and they had to dream about their own self
when they were through
but the modern girl was elated

with what the revolution gave her
and since she was liberated she could have
everything that striked her fancy
and she fancied quite a bit
i mean if it felt good she did it
and she did it every chance she could get
with her main modern man and otherwise
and her taste wasn't limited to just modern guys
since another modern girl showed her

that modern girls know how to hold her
and after she had her eyes opened
all her old close friends started getting closer
and new friends weren't that far away
but the modern man he just wasn't so lucky
he being shook from his usual role as the heartbreaker
he was completely battered and bewildered when he actually started in feeling something for her
and he discovered a new emotion

when they stopped ending up together as frequently
and when he finally confronted her with the question
"had she been bedding down with others in the periphery without him?"
and she replied "Hell yes! ain't it funny!"
so view the modern man looking, looking, looking,like a soft Picasso
he's there with his head in his hand
repeating to himself an epigram
"live by the scam, die by the scam."

 

Independence Day

Well future stepped into my field and turned it into an empire
forefathers where are you now?
your dust is settling on my furniture

oh independence day, I never knew it would be so symbolic.
oh independence day.

well I stepped out of a cloud and the ditch it is close
I mean the ditch it is closing in.
Hemmingway did yourself justice
so here's to you you articulate dead fisherman

independence day, I never knew it would be so symbolic.
independence day.
independence day, I never knew it would be so symbolic.
independence day.

what if I said I loved you
and i needed your guidance to help me through the obstacles?
would you say I am too wordy and then, then would you laugh?
what if I said I'm under glass untouchable as the document itself?
would you say ok,
and that you never even considered me?

oh independence day, yes independence,
independence day, independence,
independence day, day,

independence day, I never knew it would be so symbolic.

 

Stevie Smith

Nobody heard him the dead man,
but still he lay moaning:
i was much further out than you thought
and not waving but drowning

Poor chap he always loved larking
and now he's dead
it must have been too cold for him, his heart gave way
they said.

Oh, no, no, no, it was always too cold
still the dead one lay moaning
i was much too far out all my life
and not waving but drowning

Oh, no, no, no, it was always too cold
still the dead one lay moaning
I was much too far out all my life
and not waving but drowning

 

Bernadette

I was shivering I'll admit it.
I had nothing better to do.
Except to wheeze my lazy wheeze.
"Bernadette where are you?"

She gets much acclamation
for such a self-ordained Faustian
Bernadette doesn't like doubters.
She wants to fight in the coliseum!

What can you tell me of Therese and Isabelle?
Was it just fate that brought them together
or did they will their usual union?
In cahoots or love or all of the above?

I was sputtering.
But I got over it after hours of tireless review
under the gracious and analytical hand
"Bernadette I honour you."
"Bernadette I love you some."