Hero (of the Story)

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

He never ever saw it coming at all...
It's alright...

Hey, open wide, here comes original sin...
It's alright...

No one's got it all...

power to the people
we don't want it, we want pleasure
and the tv's try to rape us
and I guess that they're succeeding
and we're going to these meetings
but we're not doing any meeting
we're trying to be faithful but we're
cheating, cheating, cheating

Hey, open wide, here comes original sin...
It's alright...

No one's got it all...

I'm the hero of the story, don't need to be saved...
It's alright...

No one's got it all...

Hotel Song

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (from the Begin to Hope liner notes):

Come in, come in
Come into my world
I've got to show, show, show you
Come into my bed
I've got to know, know, know you
I have dreams of Orca whales and owls
But I wake up in fear
You will never be my --
You will never be my fool
Will never be my fool
Floaters in my eyes
Wake up in the hotel room
Cigarettes and lies
I am a child, it's too soon
I have dreams of Orca whales and owls
But I wake up in fear
You will never be my --
You will never be my fool
Will never be my fool
A little bag of cocaine
A little bag of cocaine
So who's the girl wearing my dress
I figured out her number
It's on a paper napkin
But I don't know her address
I wait downstairs
The porter smiles to me
A smile I've bought
With a couple of gold coins
A sign that I've been caught
I have dreams of Orca whales and owls
But I wake up in fear
You will never be my --
You will never be my dear
Will never be my dear, dear friend
My dear, dear friend

Human of the Year

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

hello? hello?
calling a karl projektorinski
to the front of the cathedral
you have won, dear sir
may I congratulate you first?
oh, what an honor

human! human of the year! you've won!...

why are you so scared?
you stand there shaking in your pew
the icons are whispering to you
they're just old men
like on the benches in the park
except their balding spots
are glistening with gold

human! human of the year! you've won!...

you have won! hallelujah...

outside the cars are beeping
out a song just in your honor
and though they do not know it
all mankind are now your brothers
and thus the cathedral had spoken
wishing well to all us sinners
and with a sigh grew silent
til next year's big human winner

outside the cars are beeping
out a song just in your honor
and though they do not know it
all mankind are now your brothers

all mankind are now your brothers

hallelujah...

hello? hello?
calling a karl projektorinski
to the front of the cathedral
you have won

"I cut off my hair" (title unknown)

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

I cut off my hair
and went to sleep
you were there in my dreams
nursing on my glass teet
it was a party
you were sucking liquor
on your jacket a VIP sticker...

I peed in my pants
and ran down the street
towards washington square park where
you had been beat up
you were wearing rags
I was wearing [?] shoes
and trying to lay next to you
but you wanted to snooze

the definition of
a crazy person is
soemone who does the same thing over
and over again
while expecting new results
I cut off my tongue
you started to kiss me
blood trickled down
don't you ever miss me?
don't you ever miss me?
don't you ever minced meat?...

called up my momma
but I couldn't be sweet
so I escaped through the window
on a rope made of sheets
got bitten by a squirrel
then stepped on a syringe
the view of manhattan from gw bridge

you said, honey
I said, baby
you said, funny
I said, maybe
you says, hi honey
I says, hey baby
you ask, was it funny?
and I said, well maybe...

Ink Stains

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

all the holocaust deniers
to a bathhouse, warm and quiet
complimentary soap, complimentary haircut
and gas them up until they know that

all the ink stains on the wrist mean business
and god is the almighty witness
i wish they'd cure the friendly neighbors
of the disease which makes them haters

you who accuse the dying of lying
and can't tell fake from honest crying
argentina steakhouse swiss bank gold card
aren't going to help you where you're going at

so who'd be the jew to make the papers
drenched in blood up to your blue jew eyeballs
and god in his almighty wisdom
may somehow grant an open season

I Want to Sing

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (as originally posted by Regina on brümstix):

I want to sing to you my love
My only love and happiness
don't be so blue so blue my love
take off your shoes take off my dress
I want to sing to you my love
My only love and happiness
don't be so blue so blue my love
this too shall pass this too shall pass

but tell me, what have I done to deserve you?
must have done something cause that's how it works
must have been kind to kittens and birds,
in a previous life must have thought happy thoughts...

'cause there, you were there right beside me
then somehow inside me while inside myself
books on the shelf thoughts on the shelf
hands to myself, i should definitely keep my hands to myself

Love is a dangerous pastime
caught between madness and gladness of flight
nothing is wrong and nothing is right
falling asleep in your arms every night

But Love's such a strange situation
full of frustration and anger and fear
Everything's tears
nobody hears
nobody's here, and nobody hears...

I want to sing to you my love
my only love and happiness
don't be so blue so blue my love
take off your shoes take off my dress
I want to sing to you my love
my only love and happiness
don't be so blue so blue my love
This too shall pass, this too shall pass...

Just Like the Movies

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

It's just like the movies, I eat from the trees
if I do not open the curtains then I cannot see
all the people run by...

my heart eats beats...
my heart eats love...

you are mistaken cause I do not bite
over the williamsburg bridge on a bike
and if he loves me then why does he leave...?

don't say goodbye like you're burying him
cause the world is round and he might return...

but if he loves me then why does he leave...?

Lacrimosa

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

we keep on burying our dead
we keep on planting their bones in the ground
but they won't grow
the sun doesn't help
the rain doesn't help

if my garden would have a fence
then the rabbits couldn't just come in
and sit on the grass
and eat all the flowers
and shit

hi, i'm icarus, i'm falling
down, man for judgment must prepare me
spare, oh god, in mercy spare me

man, I have a terrible feeling
that something's gone awful, very wrong with the world
is it something we made?
is it something we ate?
is it something we drank?

hi, i'm icarus, i'm falling
from the dust of earth returning
man for judgment must prepare me
spare, oh god, in mercy spare me

lacrimosa...

we keep on burying our dead
we keep on planting their bones in the ground
but they won't grow
the sun doesn't help
and all we've got
is a giant crop
of names and dates

hi, i'm icarus, i'm falling
down on this day of tears and mourning
from the dust of earth returning
man for judgment must prepare me
spare, oh god, in mercy spare me

lacrimosa...
lacrimosa dies illa
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus
huic ergo parce, deus

Lady

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (from the Begin to Hope liner notes):

Lady sing the blues so well
as if she mean it
As if it's hell down here in this smoke filled world
Where the jokes are cold
They don't laugh at jokes
They laugh at tragedies
Corner street societies
But they believe her
They never leave her while she sings
She makes them feel things
She says I can sing this song so blue that you will cry
In spite of you
Little wet tears on your baby's shoulder
Little wet tears on your baby's shoulder
And I have walked these streets so long
There ain't nothing right
There ain't nothing wrong
But the little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
Little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
Lady lights a cigarette
Puffs away
No regrets
[Takes a look around, no regrets, no regrets]
Stretches out like branches of a Poplar tree
Says I am free
Sings so soft as if she'll break
Says I can sing a song so blue
That you will cry in spite of you
Little wet tears on your baby's shoulder
Little wet tears on your baby's shoulder
And I have walked these streets so long
There ain't nothing right
There ain't nothing wrong
But the little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
Little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
But on this stage
I've learned to fly
Learned to sing
And learned to cry
Little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
Little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
But now it's time to say goodbye
Some might laugh
But I will surely cry
Little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
Little wet tears on my baby's shoulder
Lady lights a cigarette
Puffs away
No regrets
Then winter comes
And she forgets

Laughing With

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

no one laughs at god in a hospital
no one laughs at god in a war
no one's laughing at god
when they're starving or freezing
or so very poor

no one laughs at god when the doctor calls
after some routine tests
no one's laughing at god
when it's gotten real late
and their kid's not back from the party yet

no one laughs at god when the airplane
starts to uncontrollably shake
no one's laughing at god
when they see the one they love
hand in hand with someone else
and they hope that they're mistaken

no one laughs at god when the cops knock on their door
and they say, we've got some bad news, sir
no one's laughing at god
when there;s a famine, fire, or flood

but god can be funny
at a cocktail party while listening to a good god-themed joke
or when the crazies say he hates us
and they get so red in the head you think they're about to choke

god can be funny
when told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way
and when presented like a genie who does magic like houdini
or grants wishes like jiminy cricket and santa claus

god can be so hilarious
ha ha...

no one laughs at god in a hospital
no one laughs at god in a war
no one's laughing at god
when they've lost all they've got
and they don't know what for

no one laughs at god on the day they realize
that the last sight they'll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes
no one's laughing at god
when they're saying their goodbyes

no one's laughing at god...
we're all laughing with god

Left Hand Song

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

too much time spent
trying to crawl into a hole
then trying to crawl out of that hole

I followed the path of a piece of bread traveling
from one little sparrow's beak
to another little sparrow's beak

it picked it up, flew with it, dropped it then this other one
picked it up and flew with it again
and then they broke it into pieces
ate it up and forgot that it ever existed

they were still hungry at the end...

I was inside my office at the time and I got real scared
thought I saw two snakes slithering
then I remembered snakes don't live in carpeted areas

too much time spent
and I'm spent

there is an old meatball wrapped inside of tin foil
yeah, yeah, yeah
lying on the bottom shelf of our fridge
a lesson in how fleeting preservation is

Notes: Formerly known as "A Lesson in How Fleeting Preservation Is"