Machine

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

my eyes are bifocal
my hands are subjointed
I live in the future
in my pre-war apartment
and I count all my blessings
I have friends in high places
and I'm upgraded daily
all my wires without traces

hooked into machine...
I'm hooked into...machine...

I collect my moments
into a correspondence
with a mightier power
who just lacks my perspectives
and who lacks my organics
and who covets my defects
and I'm downloaded daily
I am part of a composite

hooked into machine...
I'm hooked into...machine...

everything's provided
consummate consumer
part of worldly taking
apart from worldly troubles
living in your pre-war apartment
soon to be a post-war apartment
and you live in the future

and the future
it's here
it's bright
it's now

Making Records

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

I am braiding records into my hair
needles and record players, everything’s a
possible record cover
or a possible name for a band that
I will never have…
cause I sing my songs all by myself
all to myself, by myself
I am cute but I’m not in a band
where’s my band? where’s my band?
where’s my amplifiers?

so why don’t I just sleep in the middle of this kitchen
surrounded by forks and a linoleum floor
I am drunk and there’s no one here to stop me
from being so tired and sleeping with my mascara on

in the studio they’re adjusting the wires and microphones
and I’m about to sing my songs and they won’t be just my own
and I’m glad that they’ll exist but they’ll make me obsolete
cause I sing it just once and the wires they remember it
and sing it right back and they do it better than I can
anytime, anywhere, I’m preserved
I’m a jelly or a jam…

so why don’t I just sleep in the middle of this kitchen
a halo of forks and a linoleum floor
I am drunk and there’s no one here to stop me
from being so tired and being so drunk
why don’t I just pee in the middle of this kitchen
into a little teacup and I won’t miss a drop
I am drunk and there’s no one here to stop me
from being so eccentric and being so lonely

corazón…this is my corazón

I know that I am lucky, I make shit up all the time
and I start to believe it myself just cause it rhymes
but I’m so inconsistent my handwriting changes every other word
so I’m braiding records into my hair
needles and record players
everything’s a possible record cover or a possible name for a band that I will never have…

so why don’t I just sleep in the middle of this kitchen
a halo of forks and a linoleum floor
I am drunk and there’s no one here to stop me
from being so drunk and being so drunk
why don’t I just pee in the middle of this kitchen
into a little teacup and I won’t miss a drop
I am drunk and there’s no one here to stop me
from being so eccentric and being so lonely

Man of a Thousand Faces

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

the man of a thousand faces
sits down at the table
eats a small lump of sugar
and smiles at the moon like he knows her

and begins his quiet ascension
without anyone's steady instruction
to a place that no religion
has found a path to or a likeness

his words are quiet like stains are
on a tablecloth washed in a river
stains that are trying to cover for each other
or at least blend in with the pattern

good is better than perfect
scrub til your fingers are bleeding
and I'm crying for things that
I tell others to do without crying

he used to go to his favorite bookstores
and rip out his favorite pages
and stuff them into his breast pockets
and the moon to him was a stranger

now he sits down at the table
right next to the window
and begins his quiet ascension
without anyone's steady instruction

to a place that no religion
has found a path to or a likeness
and eats a small lump of sugar
and smiles at the moon like he knows her

Marry Ann

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (as originally posted by Regina on brümstix):

Miss Marry Ann
kept her man
in porcupine gloves, in porcupine gloves
and on that day
as scheduled
they made porcupine love, porcupine love

so stiff and stuck and prickly
he came in and then back out quickly
but lord not any quicker than according to plan
like a soldier, one foot in front of the other

Miss Marry Ann
had a man
named Stan, Stan Buttler
he had no antlers
he had no center
he had no enter and he had no exit

his hair was short and prickly
he came in and then back out quickly
but lord not any quicker than according to plan
like a soldier, one foot in front of the other

and how he loved her apple pies,
how he loved her meat loaf,
how he loved her chicken breasts,
how he loved her pudding,
served promptly at eight o'clock,
served promptly at seven
served promptly at ten o'clock,
and promptly at eleven heaven

Miss Marry Ann
kept her cans
in alphabetical order
Miss Marry Ann
began to have
some thoughts of murder

Miss Marry Ann
started to think
real hard about her future
Miss Marry Ann
preferred her meat
to be freshly butchered

oh she killed him rather quickly
man that woman was truly sickly
but lord not any sicker than according to plan
like a soldier, one foot in front of the other

and how he loved her apple pies,
how he loved her meat loaf,
how he loved her chicken breasts,
how he loved her pudding,
served promptly at eight o'clock,
served promptly at seven
served promptly at ten o'clock,
and promptly at eleven heaven

Miss Marry Ann
kept her man
in porcupine gloves, in porcupine gloves
and on that day
as scheduled
they made porcupine love, porcupine lo-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-apchu!

Mermaid

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

I'm a mermaid
but I've sold my voice
for a pair of feet
that tend to bleed
when I go walking in the road

I'm a mermaid
but I've sold my voice
for a couple of feet
and they always bleed
when I go walking in these streets

and I once saw a most beautiful man
at the local record store
he bumped into me and said,
well excuse me, young ma'am,
but haven't I seen your pretty eyes somewhere before?
I smiled but gestured at my throat
to show that I was mute
well, he quickly looked down at the floor
and shuffled in his boots
he was out of there so fast

I'm a mermaid
but I've sold my voice
for a midnight train
and a bump of cocaine
and an old photo of ballets russes

I'm a mermaid
but I have sold my voice
for a bottle of gin
cause I can't swim
and I sure don't want to float

I was so lonely walking out of that store
and back into the busy people street
when overhead I heard an argument
a woman opened up her window, threw a flower pot from it
I was startled by the crash
but went over to find a little plant
I quickly emptied out my paper coffee cup and
adopted it
transplanted it
took it home and
named it mozart

I am a mermaid
but I've sold my voice
and I got rid of my tail
at a junkyard sale
along with some favorite childhood toys

I'm a mermaid
but I have sold my voice
for a couple of feet
that tend to bleed
when I go walking in the street...

I'm a mermaid
but I have sold my voice
for a couple of feet
and they always bleed
no matter how clean...

Mockingbird

Written by: Unknown (traditional), with additional lyrics by regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

hush, little baby, don't say a word
papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird
and if that mockingbird don't mock real well then
papa's gonna buy you a freedom bell
oh, and if that freedom bell don't ring
papa's gonna buy you a cubic zirconia ring
oh, and if that cubic zirconia ring don't shine
you're gonna give your papa a real hard time
now ain't you...?

and if that real hard time don't pass
papa's gonna get wrinkles all upon his face
and then he'll blend in with all the other papas then
screw the whole mockingbird situation, we can't even afford a medical plan
now can we...?

this song won't do, let's start this over...

hush, little baby, here comes the sandman
papa's gonna buy you a medical plan
oh, and if that medical plan don't cover your ass
papa's gonna buy you a pregnancy test
oh, and if that pregnancy test comes out positive
well then, girl, I don't know how the hell we're gonna live
maybe on your bright ideas
maybe on cigarette butts
maybe on bubblegum wrappers
maybe on penalty shots

hush, little baby, don't you cry
you know to you your papa would never ever lie
oh, hush while I sing to you this crude little lullaby
and I'll get you all that shit one day by and by
but in the meanwhile...

hush, little baby, don't say a word
papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird
oh, and if that mockingbird don't sing
papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring
a real diamond, no cubic nothing
like in the movies with that...what's her name...Monroe...Marilyn...

hush...

Modern Girls and Old Fashion Men

Written by: julian casablancas

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (the Reptilia liner notes):

You were right... (Modern Girls Always have to go.)
right on time. (Old-Fashioned men always want a mistress.)

You were right, (Modern girls always get their way)
I was wrong (Modern men dream of what they can't say.)

That's alright.
I don't belong

Why you sitting over there? (Why you gotta say it if you know it's sounding wrong.)
(Says that he'll apologize and it won't take too long.)

Always thinking about yourself (You don't wanna trust trust nobody else)

Time... (There's a few things that are gonna have to change...)
I'm your son. (Everyone has the same opinion)

Won't you please (Your time is almost over)
Don't be mean. (We won't get the chance to do this over.)

That's alright.
I don't belong.

Why you sitting over there? (I don't want the imprint of your key upon my nose.)
(We don't have to tell no one cause no one wants to know)

Always thinking about yourself... (You don't have no happiness at home.)

... ... ... ... ... ... ... Oh yes, we're falling down... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... Oh yes, we're falling down... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
[so fucking help me up]

You don't love me. (Always thinking about yourself)
I am an animal. (Always thinking about yourself)
I am not practical... (Always thinking about yourself...)

Was I?

Music Box

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (from the Begin to Hope Special Edition liner notes):

Life inside the music box ain't easy
The mallets hit the gears are always turning
And everyone inside the mechanism
Is yearning
To get out
And sing another melody completely
So different from the one they're always singing
I close my eyes and think that I have found me
But then I feel mortality surround me
I want to sing another melody
So different from the one i always sing
...but when i do the dishes.....
I run the water very very very hot
And then I fill the sink to the top with bubbles of soap
And then I set all the bottle caps I own afloat
And it's the greatest voyage in the history of plastic
And then I slip my hands in and start to make waves
And then I dip my tongue in and take a taste
It tastes like soap but it doesn't really taste like soap
And then I lower in my whole mouth and take a gulp
...and start to...feel mortality surround me
I close my eyes and think that I have found me
But life inside the music box ain't easy
The mallets hit the gears are always turning
And every one inside the mechanism
Is yearning to get out...

The Mustard Musketeers

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

the mustard musketeers
travelled the world calming the fears
of the ladies in waiting
twas a glorious time
swords and swoons and magic harpoons
and white horseback riding

the mustard musketeers
huffed and puffed til they puffed away
everyone's sorrows
then they rode away
into directionless dust and no one could say
where they'd end up tomorrow

the time went by and
they got older
skies got hotter and
days got colder
it's paper or plastic...

so the mustard musketeers
scaled their last castle wall and went in
undercover
one went in dressed like a priest
one went as a gardner
and one went in as a flower