My Man

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

my man don't treat me right
don't kiss me sweet good night
don't buy me flowers to smell
he's a rotten boy from hell

my man don't treat me good
he eats up all my food
and he leaves me such a mess
they say I'm cursed, but I am blessed

cause he loves me, he loves me
he really, really loves me
and his eyes are bluer
than the bluest sky above the city
you don't agree? well, what a pity
he loves me, yes, he does

my man don't treat me sweet
he walks the empty street
and he drinks and smokes and swears
and they say he doesn't care

my man breaks my heart
he tears me all apart
and he leaves me such a mess
they say I'm cursed, but I am blessed

cause he loves me, he loves me
he really, really loves me
and his eyes are bluer
than the bluest sky above the city
you don't agree? well, what a pity
he loves me, yes, he does

oh, my man, I love him so
he'll never know
all my life is just a spare
but I don't care
when he takes me in his arms
the world is bright
alright

what's the difference if I say
I'll go away
when I know I'll come back on
my knees someday?
for whatever my man is
I'm his
forevermore

Notes: The last section of the song (beginning with "oh, my man, I love him so") is taken from the Billie Holiday song "My Man", music by Maurice Yvain, original French lyrics ("Mon Homme") by Albert Willemetz & Jacques Charles, English lyrics by Channing Pollock.

Ne Me Quitte Pas

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

down in bowery they lose their [?? and their lipped mouths?] in the night
and stumbling through the street they say, sir do you got a light
and if you do then you're my friend and if you don't then you're my foe
and if you are a deity of any sort then please don't go
ne me quitte pas, mon chere

down on lexington they walk in new shoes stuck to aging feet
and close their eyes and open and not recognize the aging street
and think about how things were right when they were young and veins were tight
and if you are the ghost of christmas past, then won't you stay the night?
ne me quitte pas, mon chere

down in bronxy bronx the kids go sledding down snow-covered slopes
and frozen noses, frozen toes, the frozen city starts to glow
and yes, they know that it will pass and, yes, they know new york will thaw
but if you are a friend of any sort then play along and catch a cold
ne me quitte pas, mon chere

I love paris in the rain...

down in paris they walk fast, that is, unless they're walking slow
and in cafes they look away, that is, unless they look right in
and in the gardens I get lost, that is, unless I'm getting found
and if you are the ghost of new york city, won't you stick around?
ne me quitte pas, mon chere

The Noise

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

all the power of my voice can't compare
with the power of a quiet whisper
still, it's a choice, and I choose to rage
instead of ever quietly listening

i can't hear you...i can't hear you anymore
i can't hear you...i can't hear you through this noise
i can't hear you through the noise

all the power of my words can't compare
with the power of a silent answer
still, it's a choice, and I choose to rage
ignoring all those silent answers

i can't hear you...i can't hear you anymore
i can't hear you...i can't hear you through this noise
i can't hear you through the noise

all the noise

Ode to Divorce

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (from the Soviet Kitsch liner notes):

The food that 'm eating is suddenly tasteless
I know i'm alone now
I know what it tastes like
So break me to small parts
let go in small doses
But spare some for spare parts
there might be some good ones!
Like you might make a dollar
I'm inside your mouth now
Behind your tonsils
Peaking over your molars
You're talking to her now
you've eaten something minty and you're making that face that I like and you're going in in for the kill kill
for the killer kiss kiss for the kiss kiss

I need your money, it will help me
I need your car and I need your love
So won't you help a brother out
Won't you help a brother out?
won't you help a brother out, out, out, out, out

Just break me to small parts
let go in small doses
but spare some for spare parts
you might make a dollar

you might make a $
So won't you help a brother out
Won't you help a brother out?
Won't you help a brother out, out, out, out, out

Just break me to small parts
let go in small doeses
but spare some for spare parts
there might be some good ones
you might make a $

Oedipus

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

I'm the king's thirty-second son
born to him a thirty-second time
born to him with my hair still on
born to him with two eyebrows on
and that's all I was wearing
when I woke up staring at the world

my mom had been a rather crazy queen
but not at all like sex machine
she liked to keep her body clean clean
thought the world to be quite obscene
but she'd retire to her chambers
and we'd remain quite strangers
and to see me made her awful sad
and to touch me made her awful sad
and to see me made her awful
and to touch me made her awful

I'm the king's thirty-second son
man, all it took was thirty seconds' time
but a spoiled little prince I was not
had a chamber maid and a chamber pot
and there's thirty-one others just like me
there's thirty-one others I can be

sometimes I'd stand by the royal walls
the sky'd be so big that it broke my soul
and I'd stand on my toes to catch a glimpse
of my mother's eyes and my mother's skin
but she'd retire to her chambers
and we'd remain quite strangers
and to see me made her awful sad
and to touch me made her awful sad
and to see me made her awful
and to touch me made her awful

and then one morning I woke up
and I thought, Oedipus...Oedipus...Oedipus...Oedipus...
then one morning and I woke up
and I thought, Rex...Rex...Rex...
cause thirty-two's still a goddamn number
thirty-two still counts
gonna make it count...

long live the king

I'm the king's thirty-second son
there's thirty-one others just like me
there's thirty-one others on the way
there's thirty-one others after that

sometimes I stand by the royal gate
people screaming love and hate
and they scream and they scream and they scream and they scream
long live the king! long live the queen!

Oh, Marcello!

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

Oh, Marcello, how I wonder
the madonna, she tell the truth, no?
she been saying, I’ll have a baby
when he grow up he become a killer

I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood…

Oh, Marcello, never thought I’d
really love you, but I do so
my head waiter’s head on your platter
just say the word and [???] make him kiss my gutters

I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood…

Oh, Marcello! Oh, Marcello!

Oh, Marcello, how I wonder
the madonna, when she speak she tell the truth, no?
she been saying, I’ll have a baby
when he grow up he become a killer and kill everybody

I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood…

One More Time with Feeling

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

your stitches are all out
but your scars are healing wrong
and the helium balloon
inside your room has come undone
and it's pushing up at the ceiling
and the flickering lights it cannot get beyond

oh, everyone takes turns
now it's yours to play the part
and they're sitting all around you
holding copies of your chart
and misery inside their eyes is
synchronized and reflecting into yours

hold on, one more time with feeling
try it again, breathing's just a rhythm
say it in your mind
until you know that the words are right
this is why we fight

you thought by now you'd be
so much better than you are
you thought by now they'd see
that you had come so far
and the pride inside their eyes would
synchronize into a love you've never known
so much more than you've been shown

hold on, one more time with feeling
try it again, breathing's just a rhythm
say it in your mind
until you know that the words are right
this is why we fight

this is why we fight

One-String Blues

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

got me a pair of dreary eyes
pale color blue upon pale color white
sometimes they cry
sometimes they dry
pale color blue upon pale color white
got me a pair of dreary eyes
and they tell no lies

I got me some lips but they taste no sweet
I got me some lips but they taste no sweet
they're as dry as the old concrete
beaten up new york street
and they taste no sweet...

if only my baby would come back home to me
if only my baby would come back home to me
I would go to sleep with
sugar on my tongue
I would go to sleep with
sweetness in my lungs
I would go to sleep
wrapped inside his skin
and I don't care what they say
but it ain't no sin...

so, me and poseidon we been hanging around the water hole and he says to me, he says
regina, regina I got no authority no more
no one waits to hear the sound of my flip-flops by the door
and all my little fish have gone to war
so I says to him, I says
poseidon dear, you're better off than me, I hear
cause I been taking all the wrong busses everywhere
wrong busses, they lead me to wrong stops
wrong stops, they lead me to wrong people
wrong people, they take me nowhere fast
so he says to me, he says
going nowhere fast
just cause he didn't want me speaking fast
and I didn't think that was real polite
and he whips out his cigarettes and asks me for a light
and I say no and he says, oh baby
and I say no and he says, oh baby
and I say no and he says, oh baby
and then he just doesn't speak
so we just sit there and stare
finally he says, he says, oh hell
and I try not to wince at his fishy smell
cause i didn't think that that was real polite
and he whips out his cigarettes and asks me for a light
and I say no and he says, oh baby
and I say no and he says, oh baby
and I say no and he says, oh baby
and then he just, he just doesn't speak

got me a pair of dreary eyes
pale color blue upon pale color white
sometimes they cry
sometimes they dry
pale color blue like the dingy sky
pale color blue, pale color blue
pale color blue upon pale color white