Chelsea Hotel #2

Written by: leonard cohen

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

I remember you well in the chelsea hotel
you were talking so brave and so sweet
giving me head on the unmade bed
while the limousines wait in the street
those were the reasons and that was new york
we were running for the money and the flesh
and that was called love for the workers in song
probably still is for those of them left

but you got away, didn't you babe?
you just turned your back on the crowd
you got away, I never once heard you say,
I need you, I don't need you...
and all of that jiving around

I remember you well in the chelsea hotel
you were famous, your heart was a legend
you told me again you preferred handsome men
but for me you would make an exception
and clenching your fist for the ones like us
who are oppressed by the figures of beauty
you fixed yourself, you said, well never mind
we are ugly but we have the music

then you got away, didn't you babe?
you just turned your back on the crowd
you got away, I never once heard you say,
I need you, I don't need you...
and all of that jiving around

I don't mean to suggest that I loved you the best
I can't keep track of each fallen robin
I remember you well in the chelsea hotel
but that's all, I don't even think of you that often

Chemo Limo

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (from the Soviet Kitsch liner notes):

I had a dream
Crispy crispy Benjamin Franklin came over and babysat all four of my kids
Then in my dream I told the doctor off he said "if you don't wanna do it
then you don't have to do it"
he said "the truth is you'll be ok anyway"

Then in my dream
Crispy crispy Benjamin Franklin and the doctor went and had a talk with my boss
something about insurance policies
they kept the door closed at all times
i couldn't hear or see
When they came out they said "you'll be ok anyway"
and I smiled cause I'd known it all the while

No thank you no thank you no thank you no thank you
I ain't about to pay for this shit
I can afford chemo like i can afford a limo and on any given day I'd rather ride a limousine
No thank you no thank you no thank you no thank you
I ain't about to die like this
I can afford chemo like I can afford a limo
and besides this shit is making me tired it's making me tired it's making me tired
you know I planned to retire someday
but mama's gonna go out in style
go out in style
this shit is making me tired
it's making me tired, it's making me tired
mama gonna go out in style

When I woke up the kids were being quiet
i knew it was a dream right away I called the limousine company
then I got dressed
I dressed the kids as well
the limousine pulled in and we piled in
The doctor he asked which way we were headed
I said "sir let's just go west" and he listened obediently

Sophie only wanted to listen to radio BBC
Michael sat on my knees and whispered to me all about the meanies
Jacqueline was being such a big girl with her cup of tea looking out of the window
and Barbara, she looks just like my mom
oh my Barbara she looks so much like my mom

No thank you no thank you no thank you no thank you
i ain't about to pay for this shit
I can afford chemo like I can afford a limo
and any given day I'd rather ride a limousine
No thank you no thank you no thank you no thank you
i ain't about to die like this
i can afford chemo like i can afford a limo
and besides this shit is making me tired
it's making me tired, it's making me tired
you know I plan to retire someday
but mama gonna go out in style
go out in style
this shit is making me tired
it's making me tired, it's making me tired
mama gonna go out in style
go out in style
Style

I had a dream
Crispy crispy Benjamin Franklin came over
and babysat all four of my kids
I had a dream
Crispy crispy Benjamin Franklin came over
and babysat all four of my kids

Sophie only wanted to listen to radio BBC
Michael sat on my knees and whispered to me all about the meanies
Jacqueline was being such a big girl with her cup of tea looking out of the window
and Barbara, she looks just like my mom Oh my God, Barbara she looks so much like my mom
Oh my Barbara she looks so much just like my mom...

"the clocks were asleep" (title unknown)

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

The clocks were asleep and asleep’s how we found them
we found them and wound them again
but they didn’t last us till morning and warning
that you never should force mechanical things
they are not meant for hardship, they’ll snap
if you tighten and wind them and pry them and try
just stop right now, now’s the time to let go
and stop right now, now’s the time to break free

the parakeet sitting inside the gazebo
was sighing, though she shouldn’t have know how
to do anything except tweet tweet tweet
the gentleman giving the power presentation
felt the bayonet scar on his shoulder reopen
a warm trickle of blood through his fresh-pressed shirt
so stop right now, now’s the time to let go
and stop right now, now’s the time to break free

how much do you really know you?

Consequence of Sounds

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (asposted by the mod on brümstix):

My rhyme ain't good just yet
My brain and tongue just met
And they ain't friends so far
My words don't travel far
They tangle in my hair
And tend to go nowhere
They grow right back inside
Right past my brain and eyes
Into my stomach juice
Where they don't serve much use
No healthy calories
Nutrition values
And I absorb back in
The words right through my skin
They sit there festering
Inside my bowels
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds

Got a soundtrack in my mind
All the time
Kids screamin' from too much beat up
And they don't even rhyme
They just stand there, on a street corner
Skin tucked in and meat side out and shouting
I'd like to turn 'em down
But there ain't no knob
Born into picket fences
Not into picket lines
All this hippie shit's for the '60s
and a cliché in our times, but
What if one of these days your heart
Will just stop ticking
And they sort of just don't find you
Till your cubicle is reeking?

The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
Ahh ah ah ah ahh ah ahh ah ah ah, ah
Ahh ah ah ah ahh ah ahh ah ah ah, ah
Dan, t-t-dan, t-t-dan-dan-dan
Dan, t-t-dan, t-t-dan-dan-dan

Did you know that the gravedigger's still gettin' stuck in the machine
Even though it's a whole other daydream?
It's another town
It's another world
Where the kid's asleep
And the loans are paid
And the lawns are mowed
What'd ya think
All the gravediggers were gone
Just 'cause one song is done?
There's always another one
Waiting right around the bend
Till this one ends
Then it begins
Sqeaky clean
And it starts all over again

The weather report keeps on
Tossing and turning
Predicting and warning
And warning and warning of
Possible leakage from news publications, and
Possible leakage from news TV stations; that
Very same morning, right next to her coffee
She noticed some bleeding and heard hollow coughing
The National Geographic was being too graphic
When all she had wanted to know was the traffic
The world's got a nosebleed, it said
And we're flooding, but we keep on cutting the trees and the forests!
And we keep on paying those freaks on the TV
Who claim they will save us, but want to enslave us, and
Sweating like demons, they scream through our speakers
But we leave the sound on 'cause silence is harder, and
No one's the killer and no one's the martyr
The world that has made us can no longer contain us
And prophets are silent and rotting away, 'cause

The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
Ahh ah ah ah ahh ah ahh ah ah ah, ah
Ahh ah ah ah ahh ah ahh ah ah ah, ah
Dan, t-t-dan, t-t-dan-dan-dan-dan
Dan, dan, t-t-dan, t-dan-dan

My rhyme ain't good just yet
My brain and tongue just met
And they ain't friends so far
My words don't travel far
They tangle in my hair
And tend to go nowhere
They grow right back inside
Right past my brain and eyes
Into my stomach juice
Where they don't serve much use
No healthy calories
Nutrition values
And I absorb back in
The words right through my skin
They sit there festering inside my bowels
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds

"a cooler version" (title unknown)

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

a cooler version of yourself
a cooler version of your dad
a crueler version in my mind
I pull away when you’re inside…
so young and drunk…
I lie down here until I die…
I’m so sorry for telling stories
I’m so young and drunk…
I didn’t know it’d be so boring
I fall asleep when you’re inside…

a cooler version of myself
a cooler version of my dad
a crueler version in my mind
I pull away when you’re inside…
I’m so young and drunk…

Dance Anthem of the 80's

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

you are so sweet
dancing to the beat
there's a meat market down the street
the boys and the girls watch each other eat

you are so sweet, so sweet
dancing and moving to that beat, that beat
there's a meat market down the street
the boys and the girls watch each other eat...
when they really just want to watch each other sleep

I went walking through the city like a drunk but not
with my slip showing a little, like a drunk but not
and I am one of your people, but the cars don't stop...

it's been a long time since before I've been touched
now I'm getting touched all the time
and it's only of matter of whom
and it's only a matter of when

an addiction to hands and feet
there's a meat market down the street
the boys and girls watch each other eat
when they really just want to watch each other sleep...

they want to watch, to watch each other...sleep...

[alt]
they want to be watched, they want to be washed
they want to be touched, to touch each other
they want to sleep, they want to be slept

Daniel Cowman

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (as posted by the mod on brümstix):

On the day that Daniel Cowman stopped existing
The world should have ended right then and there
Precisely 4:15, when he stopped existing
The world should have ended
How could it go on?
How could it go on?
How could it go on?

Well, I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist

So now that we've got that straight
Does it mean that I can fly?
Does it mean I that I can go do whatever I want?
Now that we've got that clear
And you know that I'm not here
Does it mean that I can go do whatever I please?

The premature ejaculation of his death sentence
Hit Daniel in the face like a big round spitball, hwk-pfff
And everything got hazy in the courtroom
And then he stood up and then he sat back down
Another two times in a row
And everything got real slow
Like a gunshot in the movies
And he remembered
Heroin Boy walking through the door
Bouncing off the walls and the floor
Taking off his belt
Taking off his pants
Filling up the bathtub
Getting ready to go in for a swim

Singing, I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist
I don't exist

So now that we've got that straight
Does it mean that I can fly?
Does it mean that I can go do whatever I want?
Now that we've got that clear
And you know that I'm not here
Does it mean that I can go do whatever I please?
And he start remembering and remembering and remembering and remembering and remembering...

The Heroin Boy
He walked through the door
And he was screaming
And everybody was like, what's you screaming as if it's the end of the world?
And he was like, well it is.
And I was sittin' in the corner with my pants down
And I was sure someone next door was blowin' up balloons
And they was red and orange

And there was this one lady at the bar
And she was trying to buy gin
And there was this other lady at the bar
And she was trying to sell gin
And it worked out good for the boths of them

And Heroin Boy
Started takin' off his belt
Started takin' off his pants
Started takin' off his shoes
Filling up the bathtub
Gettin' ready to go in for a swim
And I says nooo
You're gonna drooown
He says nooo
I can't drown
Simply because...
Shhhh..

A man destined to hang
Can never drown
A man destined to hang
Can never drown
A man destined to hang
Can never, ever drown
A man destined to drown
Can never burn
A man destined to drown
Can never burn
A man destined to drown
Can never, ever burn
A man destined to fry
Can never, ever, ever
A man destined to fry
Can never, ever, ever
A man destined to fry
Can never, ever, ever die
In any other way
But frying
Lucky that I'm dying
By hanging
And not drowning

So now that we've got that straight
Can't I just be left alone?
I want to take a fuckin' bath.

December

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

December starts on Sunday, next Sunday
won't you feel happier then?
turn your room upside down, turn your down upside

rumors have started that you are in love again
rumors that are completely unsubstantiated

come on and say you're sorry, real sorry
for the trouble that you've caused
can't you see all this love? can't you see all this love?

we are not evacuating this house
we don't believe in you and your wrecking crew...
we don't believe in you, we don't believe in you...

"the devil come to bethlehem" (title unknown)

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

joseph and mary are so bad
kissing in the park, kissing in the park, kissing in the park
he practices dentistry without a license
but it’s alright cause mary read the books and she’s got his back
they’re saving up for a trip to france
gonna leave the baby with one of the in-laws
just long enough to see the eiffel tower and back
wear red scarf and booze on the airplane

but the devil come to bethlehem
with a bible and an alarm clock
the devil come to bethlehem
and he ain’t afraid of the dark

joseph and mary are so sad
sitting in a park in paris, france reading the news and it sure looks bad
a pile of empty postcards on their laps
nothing bright to write and nothing good to send

but the devil come to bethlehem
with a bible and an alarm clock
the devil come to bethlehem
and he ain’t afraid of the darkness
is less frightening than
the nightness is less frightening than
the dark

joseph and mary are so dead
honest, it’s been years, it’s been years, it’s been many, many years
all their descendants are long buried and gone
their closest blood relative works in a philadelphia sears

walking on water in his own bathtub
turning that water to wine

the devil come to bethlehem
with a bible and an alarm clock
the devil come to bethlehem
he ain’t afraid of the darkness
is less frightening than
the lightness is less frightening than
the darkness is less frightening than
the lightness is less frightening than
the dark

Dog and Pony

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

dog and pony
empty our cabinet
you never forget
you never come back the same
each time you go up in flames
each time you begin to blame
you never come back the same

just a little bit more love...for me
just a little bit more love...but it's alright
don't cry, my sweet

you were born
unto me, I'm torn
unto me, I'm worn
unto me, unworn

so I danced my dance
and I kissed your hands
and I took a chance
and we fell into a trance

just a little bit more love...for me
just a little bit more love...but it's alright
don't cry...my sweet

say one, two, three...
you sitting on the rooftop
me begging here on my knees
I stayed in love with you
you're just falling in love with me
and darling you know that ain't right
so if love never lasts forever ever

little brother
little lover
twist these strings of fate
there is no clean slate
so I'm carting away
all of myself
in this metal crate

and my dog and my pony
and my empty file cabinet
you never forget
you never come back quite the same
each time you go up in flames
each time you begin to blame
you never come back quite the same

just a little bit of true love...for me
just a little bit more love...but it's alright
don't cry...my sweet

Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

after all, everything's been said and done
i feel, i feel better now
come away, lay your hands at rest and close your eyes
and say a prayer for those who've gone

it's hard...to live...
it's harder than it's ever been before
the things that used to comfort me
don't comfort me, not anymore

after all, children being born into
a time of searching for some glory
and the lie's still repeating through the years
dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

it's hard...to live...
it's harder than it's ever been before
the things that used to comfort me
don't comfort me, not anymore

but you can't spend your whole life waiting for god to kiss you...
you can't spend your whole life waiting for god to kiss you back...

come on...come on back...

Düsseldorf

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

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

In Düsseldorf I met a clown
his nose, it was red
in Gelterkinden I forgot to frown
then remembered again
In Paris I saw a big fish
swimming slow in the Seine
it made me hopeful that someday our
water will be breathable again…
In Franfurt I heard eins zwei drei
counting cookies and no one was shot
In Berlin stopped by the Polizei
for drunk driving and everyone smiled
In Prague I knew I’d been a witch
burnt alive, a pyre of Soviet kitsch
it made me miss my Moscow muttdom
it made me miss my New York nothing…
In Montpelier I stayed in a Château
a boy climbed into my bed and he knew no boundaries
In Amsterdam I got quite crazy
it might have been all the tulips and canals
or it might have been all that hash, and in
Barcelona, buenos dias, chocolato, le Picasso
And in Brussels, clean-cut hostel
And in London, me and the French existentialists…
In Corsica I floated away all the way to Marseilles
I should have held an afterparty for all the thoughts I didn’t say
In Düsseldorf I met a dwarf
with bad breath and a really good tan
In Gelterkinden I remembered how to laugh
and I never ever forgot it again

"dust to dust" (title unknown)

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

say goodbye
love again…
I don’t want to, want to, want to, want to
go in circles, round the bend
until we are just friends again
and then not even that
sometimes I almost can recall what it was like before we ever met
sometimes not even that

I was carved
from your rib…
dust to dust to dust to dust to to dust to
go in circles, round the bend
until we are just friends again
and then not even that
sometimes I almost can recall what it was like before we ever met
sometimes not even that…

Edit

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (from the Begin to Hope liner notes):

White lines on your mind
Keep it steady
You were never ready
For the lies
You don't have no Dr. Robert
You don't have no Uncle Albert
You don't even have good credit
You can write but you can't edit

Eet

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

it's like forgetting the words to your favorite song
you can't believe it, you were always singing along
it was so easy and the words so sweet
you can't remember, you try to feel the beat

eet...

you spend half of your life trying to fall behind
you're using your headphones to drown out your mind
it was so easy and the words so sweet
you can't remember, you try to move your feet

eet...

someone's deciding whether or not to steal
he opens a window just to feel the chill
he hears that outside a small boy just started to cry
cause it's his turn, but his brother won't let him try

Fidelity

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (from the Begin to Hope liner notes):

I never loved nobody fully
Always one foot on the ground
And by protecting my heart truly
I got lost in the sounds
I hear in my mind
All these voices
I hear in my mind
All these words
I hear in mind
All this music
And it breaks my heart
Suppose I never ever met you
Suppose we never fell in love
Suppose I never ever let you
Kiss me so sweet and so soft
Suppose I never ever saw you
Suppose you never ever called
Suppose I kept on singing love songs
Just to break my own fall
Just to break my fall
All my friends say
That of course it's
Gonna get better...