"Diver Boy"

Young Emily was fair lady bright
She loved her diver boy
Who sailed over the ocean
To gather up some gold
Seven long years returning,
His money for to show
He'd been sailing over the main
Down in the low land, low

"my father runs a big hotel
Down by the river side
You go there go for to stay
And I shall be your bride
Meet me early morning
Don't let my parents know
You have been the diver boy
Down in the low land, low"

Young Henry taking a drink
That night before he went to bed
Not thinking of the danger
That crowned all over his head
Young Edward said to his father,
"let's take his money sure
And send his body sinking fast
Down in the low land, low"

Young Emily went to be that night
She dreamed an awful dream
She dreamed she saw
Her true love's blood
Go flowing down the stream
Waking early morning
To parents she did say,
"where could be that stranger boy
Who came here for to stay?"

"oh, father you're a robber
You robbed me of my wren!
Oh brother you have murdered
The one that I loved best!
The trees on yonder mountain
Are bending to and fro
They remind me of my diver boy
Down in the low land, low"

"Down On Penny's Farm"

Come here ladies and gentleman
Listen to my song
Play it to you right
But you may think it wrong
May make you mad
But I mean no harm
It's just about the renters
On Penny's farm
It's a hard time in the country
Down on Penny's farm

Go into the fields
And you work all day
Deep into the night
But you get no pay
Promise you some meat
Or a little bucket of lard
It's hard to make a living
On Penny's farm
It's a hard time in the country
Down on Penny's farm

Hear George Penny
He'll be coming into town
With a wagon load of peaches
Not a one of them sound
Gotta get his money
Gotta get a check
Pay you for a bushel
But you never get a peck
It's a hard time in the country
Down on Penny's farm

George Penny's renters
They be coming into town
With their hands in their pockets
And their heads hanging down
Go to the merchant
And the merchant he'll say,
"your mortgage it is due
And I'm looking for my pay"
It's a hard time in the country
Down on Penny's farm

Deep into his pocket
With a trembling hand,
"can't pay you what I owe
But I'll pay you what I can"
Down to the merchant
And the merchant make a call
Put you on the chain gang
Don't pay at all
It's a hard time in the country
Down on Penny's farm

"Equestrienne"

See, they are clearing the sawdust course
For the girl in pink on the milk-white horse
See the girl in pink on the milk-white horse
Cantering over the sawdust course

Her spangles twinkle his pale flanks shine
Every hair of his tail is fine

See the girl in pink on the milk-white horse
Cantering over the sawdust course

While his hoofbeats fall like rain

Over and over and over again

And bright as a comet's his mane blows free
And she points a toe, bends a knee

Nothing that moves on land or sea
Will seem so beautiful to me

As the girl in pink on the milk-white horse
Cantering over the sawdust course
As the girl in pink on the milk-white horse
Cantering over the sawdust course

As the girl on the milk-white horse
Cantering over the sawdust course

"Frozen Charlotte"

Blue like the winter snow in this full moon
Black like the silhouettes of the trees
Late blooming flowers lye frozen underneath the stars
I want you to remember me that way

Far away
I'll be gone
Will you wait for me here?
How long?
I don't know
But wait for me here

Still as the river grows in December
Silent and perfect blinding ice
Spring keeps her promises
No cold can keep her back
I want you to remember me that way

Far away
I'll be gone
Will you wait for me here?
How long?
I don't know
But wait for me here
Follow
Don't follow me to where I'll go

Far away
I'll be gone
Will you wait for me here?
How long?
I don't know
But wait for me here
Follow
Don't follow me to where I've gone
Someday you'll take my place
And I'll wait for you here

"Giving Up Everything"

Giving up everything,

my hungry ghost of hopefulness.


Giving up everything,

not haunted by wanting this.


Giving up everything,

the fortune I was saving. 


Giving up everything,

I mercy-killed my craving.


Giving up everything,

I’ve opened up my eyes for this.


Giving up everything,

see the whole magnificent emptiness.


Gave what I want for how it is,

for the stone inside and the bitterness,

for the sweetness at the core of it.


Giving up everything,

the master plan, the scheming.


Giving up everything,

my cursed search for meaning.


Giving up everything,

the compass and the map I was reading.



The hinterlands I’m leaving,

I’m finally leaving behind.


Giving up everything,

the big to-do, the hullabaloo,
the tug-of-war for some twisted truth.

For the everlasting ache of it,

no longer slave, not chained to it,

no gate, no guard, no keeper,

no guru, master, teacher.



See the slow-receding faces

dissolve to black, no traces.

"Go Down Moses"

Moving on, moving on,
isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?
Just hold it back and keep moving on.

Pushing on, pushing on,
isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?
But it’s so hard to keep pushing on.

I’m moving on, moving on,
isn’t that what everybody tells me I gotta do?
But it’s so hard moving on without you.

Every morning waking in a fever wet and shaking,
my heart inside me pounding, muddy water all around me.
Cold, shocked and speechless, can’t anybody reach us
and why, oh God, why?

Go down, go down, Moses,
go down to the city of New Orleans.
Go part the muddy water.
Let your people cross over.

Go down!

I’m moving on, moving on,
that’s what I’m trying to do,
just holding back and moving on.

Keeping on, keeping on,
that’s what I’m trying so hard to do
but it’s so hard keeping on without you.

Gone and lost my patience with this hopeless situation,
yeah, I’m alive, I’m a lonely sole survivor.
Spared me for some reason so I’m picking up the pieces
but why? Oh God, why?

Go down, go down, Moses,
go down to the city of New Orleans.
Go part the muddy water.
Let your people cross over.

Go down!

"Golden Boy"

Top of the fold
Toast of the town
Everyone stops when you come around
They hold their breath for you

Heroes are born
Idols are made
We're all fools for this factory fame
And you've got the brand new face

You've got the brand new face
Golden boy

Beauty untamed
Stupid and wild
Poster boy, you're society's child
Cut your teeth
Cut your mouth
Cut it out

Meteor rise from obscurity
All it took was a killing spree
And the whole world was lying at your feet
Golden boy

I know my place
Stick to my lines
Stay in your shadow
Don't block your light

So you can shine divine
Golden boy

"Griselda"

Griselda is greedy, I'm sorry to say.
She isn't contented with four meals a day,
Like breakfast and dinner and supper and tea
(I've had to put tea after supper-you see
Why, don't you?)
Griselda is greedy as greedy can be.

She snoops about the larder
For sundry small supplies,
She breaks the little crusty bits
Off rims of apple pies,
She pokes the roast-potato-dish
When Sunday dinner's done,
And if there are two left in it
Griselda snitches one;
Cold chicken and cold cauliflower
She pulls in little chunks-
And when Cook calls:
"What are you doing there?"
Griselda bunks.

Griselda is greedy. Well, that's how she feels,
She simply can't help eating in-between meals,
And always forgets what it's leading to, though
The Doctor has frequently told her: "You know
Why, don't you?"
When the stomach-ache starts and Griselda says:
"Oh!"

She slips down to the dining-room
When everyone's in bed,
For cheese-rind on the supper-tray,
And buttered crusts of bread,
A biscuit from the biscuit-box,
Lump sugar from the bowl,
A gherkin from the pickle-jar,
Are all Griselda's toll;
She tastes the salted almonds,
And she tries the candied fruits-
And when Dad shouts:
"Who is it down below?"
Griselda scoots.

Griselda is greedy. Her relatives scold,
And tell her how sorry she'll be when she's old,
She will lose her complexion, she's sure to grow fat,
She will spoil her inside-does she know what she's at?-
(Why do they?)
Some people are greedy. Leave it at that.

"Henry Darger"

Who'll save the poor little girl?
Henry Darger
Henry Darger

Who'll save the poor little girl?
O, Henry...

Who'll tell the story of her?
Henry Darger
Henry Darger

Who'll tell it all to the world?
O, Henry...

Who'll buy the carbon paper now?
Henry Darger
Henry Darger

Who'll trace the lines of her mouth?
O, Henry...

Who will conquer foreign worlds
Searching for the stolen girls?

Princesses you'll never fear
The patron saint of girls is here!

Who will draw the calvary in
Risk his very own precious skin
To make our Angelinia a free and peaceful land again?

Henry

Who'll love a poor orphan child?
Henry Darger
Henry Darger

Lost, growing savage and wild?
O, Henry
O, Henry
O, Henry

"House Carpenter"

"well met, well met
And I know true love
Well met, well met", said he
"I'm just returning from the salt, salt sea
And it's all for the love of thee"

"come in, come in
My own true love
And have a seat with me
It's been three-fourths
Of a long, long year
Since together we have been"

"no I can't come in
And I can't sit down
For I have but a moment's time
They say that you're married
To a house carpenter
And your heart shall never be mine"

"well I could have married
The king's daughter fair
She would have married me
But I forsaked upon
Her crowns of gold
And it's all for the love of thee"

"now will you forsake on
Your house carpenter
And go along with me?
I'll take you where
The grass grows green
On the banks of the bitter reeds"

She pick'd up her wee little babe
And kisses, gave it three saying,
"stay right here my darling little one
Keep your papa company"

Now they had not been
On the ship two weeks
I swear it was not three
When his true love began
To weep and moan
And she wept most bitterly

"are you weeping
For my silver and gold
Are you weeping for my store or are
You weeping for that house carpenter
That you ne'er shall see no more?"


"a curse on the sailor she swore
A curse, a curse she swore
You robbed me of my sweet little babe
That I never shall see no more!"

Well, they had not been
On the ship three weeks
I swear it was not four
Until there came a leak in the ship
And she sank
To rise no more...