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

On the Radio

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (from the Begin to Hope liner notes):

This is how it works
It feels a little worse
Than when we drove our hearse
Right through that screaming crowd
While laughing up a storm
Until we were just bone
Until it got so warm
That none of us could sleep
Then all the Styrofoam
Began to melt away
We tried to find some worms
To aid in the decay
But none of them were home
Inside their catacomb
A million ancient bees
Began to sting our knees
While we were on our knees
Praying that disease
Would leave the ones we love
And never come again
And on the radio
We heard November Rain
The solo's real long
But it's a pretty song
We listened to it twice
'Cause the DJ was asleep
This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath
No this is how it works
You peer inside yourself
You take the things you like
Then try to love the things you took
And then you take that love you made
And stick it into some --
Someone else's heart
Pumping someone else's blood
And walking arm in arm
You hope it don't get harmed
But even if it does
You'll just do it all again
And on the radio
You'll hear November Rain
That solo's awful long
But it's a nice refrain
You listen to it twice
'Cause the DJ is asleep
On the radio uh-oh
On the radio uh-oh

"open" (title unknown)

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

I am down the road and up the hill
I wait for you still
wires around my fingers

potentially lovely
perpetually human
suspended and open
open...

I am through the woods and past the trains
I wait here in vain
scrubbing out the stains again

potentially lovely
perpetually human
suspended and open
open...

open up and up your eyes and then...

in a night the snow starts falling
and everybody stares
through their windows at the streetlights
too beautiful to see

I am in a room I've built myself
four stray walls
one floor, one ceiling
and day after day I wake up feeling...

potentially lovely
perpetually human
suspended and open
open...

open up and up your heart and then...

Paris

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

I could’ve settled down in Paris
but the man who came for me
took me by the hand
and said it was time to leave
margaret atwood, she could not stop him
virginia woolf, she could not stop him
the truth is I wanted to go
he is all I know, he is all I know…

I got back home from Paris
and he told me what I’d done was wrong
and though his speech was rather long
I listened like an obedient child
the light was coming in through the windows
it was a most familiar type of night
how I loved every streetlight
and I wanted him to kiss me

margaret atwood, she could not stop me
virginia woolf, she could not stop me
the truth is I wanted to go
he is all I know, he is all I know…

sweet, sweet forever
I’ll comfort myself in my next life…

he told me that he couldn’t live without me
and I told him the same thing too
and though we knew it wasn’t true
we both knew it wasn’t a lie
the light was coming in through the window
it was a most familiar type of night
how I loved every streetlight
and I wanted him to kiss me

margaret atwood, she could not stop me
virginia woolf, she could not stop me
the truth is I wanted to go
he is all I know, he is all I know…

sweet, sweet forever
I’ll comfort myself in my next life…

Patron Saint

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

She's the kind of girl who'll smash herself down in the night
She's the kind of girl who'll fracture her mind till it's light
She'll break her own heart and you know she'll break your heart too
So darling, let go of her hand

She's been skipping days, spilling her drinks in the sink
and you know, she's never coming home, never coming home again
but when when when she open her eyes eyes eyes
beyond the chipping paint through the windowpane
lies lies lies
her patron saint, broken and lame
and absolutely insane for learning that true love exists
so darling, let go of her hand...
you'll be to blame for playing this game
and learning that true love exists

Pavlov's Daughter

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (as originally posted by Regina on brümstix):

The grave diggers getting stuck in the machine
pickings getting slim, slimmer
I hear them say my name
regin-ah, regin-ah, regin-a-ah

yes I'm putting the boulder to my ear
and I still can't hear
whadya think I was an amateur
playin' with my temperature...

If I hear another song about angels
if I see another feather on the dumb-box
I'm gonna go to Babylon and get me some whiskey
Gonna get me some whiskey now...
If I hear another song about angels
if I see another feather on the dumb-box
I'm gonna go to Babylon and get me some whiskey now

My name is Lucille and I know how you feel
I live downstairs
I hear you taking out your garbage
I hear you loving your girlfriend
I hear you loving yourself too
I hear you turning your thoughts off
I turn mine off too
The only thing I hear is you
and you don't sound good and you don't sound nice
and you don't sound good and you don't sound right

and it get's quiet...

Pavlov's daughter woke up in the morning
Heard the bell ring
And something deep inside of her made her want to salivate
So she lay there drooling on her pillow
So she lay there, the sun skimming her skin, and drooling on her pillow
Pavlov's daughter
And it was far away and hazy like a dream
not a dream, but the ocean,
not the ocean, but forever...

The grave diggers getting stuck in the machine...
...And it gets quiet...
As quiet as an ambulance checking out the neighborhood, waiting for the blade to slip and that final blow, but nothing happens, it's a cruel joke
as ironic as a ticker tape parade over the rain forest,
as ironic as a ticker tape parade over my head,
as ironic as a ticker tape parade over my head going down stream... to where...it isn't... even... real...rain... at...all...

Poor Little Rich Boy

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (from the Soviet Kitsch liner notes):

Poor little rich boy
all the couples have gone
You wish that they hadn't
you don't want to be alone
but they want to kiss
and they got homes of their own
poor little rich boy
all the couples have gone have gone have gone

and you don't love your girlfriend
you don't ♥ your girlfriend
and you think that you should but she thinks that she's fat but she isn't but you don't love her anyway
and you don't love your mother
and you know that you should
and you wish that you would
but you don't anyway...

poor little rich boy
oh the world is okay
the water runs off your skin
and down into the drain
you're reading Fitzgerald
you're reading Hemingway
they're both super smart
and drinking in the cafes

but you don't love your girlfriend
you don't ♥ your girlfriend
and you think that you should but she thinks that she's fat but she isn't but you don't love her anyway
and you don't love your mother
and you know that you should
and you wish that you would
but you don't anyway

you're so young you're so god damn young
you're so young you're so god damn young
and you don't love your girlfriend

Pound of Flesh

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

if you're never sorry
then you can't be forgiven
if you're not forgiven
then you can't be forgotten
if you're not forgotten
then you can live forever
if you live forever
then you'll begin to dream
of death...

ezra pound sat upon my bed
asked me which books as of late I've read

ezra pound sat upon my bed
asked me which books as of late I've read
asked me if I've read his own
and whether I could spare a pound
of flesh to cover his bare bones
I says, man, take a pound, take two
what's a pound of flesh between
friends like me and you?
what's a pound of flesh among friends?

but if you're never sorry...

if you're never sorry
then you can't be forgiven
if you're not forgiven
then you can't be forgotten
if you're not forgotten
then you must live forever
if you live forever
you cannot be reborn
if you're not reborn then
you can't be a baby
if you're not a baby
you can't learn how to crawl
if you cannot crawl away
then you must stay in bed all day
if you stay in bed all day
you're sure to have some visitors

ezra pound'll sit upon your bed
ask you which books as of late you have read
ask you if you've read his own
and whether you could spare a pound
of flesh to cover his bare bones
you'll say, man, take a pound, take two
what's a pound of flesh between
friends like me and you?
what's a pound of flesh among friends?...

Prisoners

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

all of the prisoners serving life sentences
wait for the earth to suddenly shake
for the walls to somehow suddenly come crumbling, tumbling and
for the bars to somehow magically break

there's nothing wrong with them
that a thousand bucks can't fix
that a thousand arms can't hold down
in the ground they're tattooing the stones with
cusses like cavemen - your mama was here

but they want to run through the air with no barriers or obstacles
gunmen or guard dogs or priests
and to rise from the mud and start over and over
with the people all dead

if hans christian andersen could've had his way with me then
none of this shit would have ever gone down
in my cell I'm tattooing myself with
mermaids and swallows and though I do swallow
my mama thinks I'm grown but I'm really just little
and someday I will remember

Raindrops

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

you don’t know but that’s okay
you might find me anyway
don’t you know that I
belong arm in arm with you, baby
in a town that’s cold and gray
we will have a sunny day
don’t you know that I
belong arm in arm with you, baby…

I do not know
where does it go
when it goes
suddenly though
everything’s slow
and I miss you so

round each corner there’s a chance
people searching glance to glance
moving bout real fast
like insects and fish when they’re scared
and they sing the same old song
though it’s been so very long
they sing, raindrops falling on my head
but that doesn’t mean that I am dead

and I do not know
where does it go
when it goes
suddenly though
everything’s slow
and I miss you so

you don’t know but that’s okay
you might find me anyway
don’t you know that I
belong arm in arm with you, baby
in a town that’s cold and gray
we will have a sunny day
don’t you know that I
belong arm in arm with you, baby…

Reading Time with Pickle

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

walking home from work
stop at the supermarket
the condiment aisle
a jar of pickles catches the eye
made eye contact with a solitary pickle
bought the jar, took it home

then made it up the stairs
and made it through the doorway
and waded through the floor
tried to head in the general direction of the bathroom
the truest room in the whole damn house

saying love is the answer to a question that I have forgotten
and I know I've been asked
so the answer's got to be love

so feeding time with tv
then sleeping time, not sleepy so
reading time with pickle
but where the bedside lamp had been
is now emanating soft soft green

has it always been this way?
is it possible that all this magic went unnoticed?
maybe now things will start to change
and life will turn a better page
no more rage

saying love is the answer to a question that I have forgotten
but I know I've been asked
and the answer's got to be love

tomorrow back to work again
but run to the supermarket
running hopeful through the aisles
haven't been this happy in a long time
but not a single jar was smiling
after all,
pickle jars are just
pickle jars and pickles are just pickles
ingredients: water, salt, cucumbers,
garlic, and pickling spices

love is the answer to a question that I have forgotten
and I know I've been asked
and the answer's got to be love

Reginasaurus

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

if I was a dinosaur
I'd be a reginasurus
and if I knew a million english words
I'd publish my own spektor's thesaurus
if I was born in the merry month of may
then I would be a taurus
and if I had some extra time on my hands, then I'd
surely join a chorus

if I was a philosophy
I'd be registentialism
and if people spoke using quotes of me
they'd say reginaisms
if I was a religion, then my church
would surely have a schism
there'd be regewish and registian and reguslim and reguddist and regatheist
but they'd still be friends

if I was a great big city
I'd be reginapolis
no one would be sickly or achey
in my thriving metropolis
unless of course they came down with bad case of
reginitis
a heartache and a headache and a sunburn and a little bit of
acute gastritis

but if I was a dinosaur
I'd be a reginasaurus
and if I knew a million english words
I'd have my own spektor's thesaurus
if I was born in the merry month of may
then I would be a taurus
and if I had some extra time on my hands, then I'd
surely join a chorus

Rejazz

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (as originally posted by Regina on brümstix):

Thought I'd cry for you forever
But I couldn't so I didn't
people's children die and they don't even cry forever
Thought I'd see your face in my mind for all time
But I don't even remember what your ears looked like

And the clock still strikes midnight and noon
and the sun still rises and so does the moon
birds still migrate south and people move on
even though I'm no longer in your arms
Thought the mountain would crumble
and the rivers would bend
but I thought all wrong and the world did not end
guess the maps will just have to stay the same for a while
Didn't even need therapy to rehabilitate my smile
rehabilitate my smile

Thought I'd cry for you forever
But I couldn't so I didn't...

Riot Gear

Written by: regina spektor

Available Recordings: Click to view

Lyrics (fan transcription):

wake up, put on my riot gear
but in the study of my house
i've got a smoking jacket
passed to me from granddaddy
it's made of bow and arrow meat

come home, take off my riot gear
put on my smoke jacket
but in the library of my house
i have a book, medieval jokes
are just as a funny now if you've got a degree

heaven help the ones who know
what makes the world go slow

night comes, time to go on the town
and in my best sashimi dress
and marble arch supporting shoes
i am a vision in my horse drawn tank

stay out, drinking into the night
and they are saying those same things
and i'm like ha ha ha and hee hee hee
til half past three and then it's time for me to go

heaven help the ones who know
what makes the world go slow

come home, take off my tuna dress
put on my collard greens
and in my sleep what dreams may come
before I'm woken by alarms
put on my riot gear