Malvina Reynolds
These are some song lyrics from the old folk singer Malvina Reynolds. I think they are really beautiful, & I think the last one especially is pretty pertinent nowadays. They sound a bit emo & angsty I know, but they're not, they're just beautiful. Check her ouuuut :D
THERE'S A BOTTOM BELOW
CHORUS
Do you think you've hit bottom?
Do you think you've hit bottom? Oh no.
There's a bottom below.
There's a low below
The low you know.
You can't imagine
How far you can go
Down.
CHORUS
Every once in a while
You'll rise and glow.
But that's only so
They can let you go
Down.
CHORUS
You sit at a party
And watch the fun,
It don't touch you none
Cause you're off and gone
Down.
CHORUS
There's a nightmare kind
Where you fall and fall
And you wake to find
You haven't been dreaming
At all.
CHORUS
THIS WORLD
Baby, I ain't afraid to die,
It's just that I hate to say goodbye
to this world, this world, this world.
This old world is mean and cruel,
But still I love it like a fool, this world,
this world, this world.
I'd rather go to the corner store
Than sing hosannah on that golden shore,
I'd rather live on Parker Street
Than fly around where the angels meet.
Oh, this old world is all I know,
It's dust to dust when I have to go
from this world, this world, this world.
Somebody else will take my place,
Some other hands, some other face,
Some other eyes will look around
And find the things I've never found
Don't weep for me when I am gone,
Just keep this old world rolling on,
this world, this world, this world.
ON THE RIM OF THE WORLD
She inches along on the rim of the world,
Always about to go over,
How she can manage I never will know,
To get from one day to the other.
Scrounging a buck or a bed
Or the share of a roof for her head,
This nobody's child, this precarious girl,
Who lives on the rim of the world.
She looks like a princess in somebody's rags,
She dreams of a world without danger,
Climbing a stair to a room of her own
With someone who isn't a stranger,
But now she eats what she can,
And accepts what there is for a man,
This nobody's child, this precarious girl,
Who lives on the rim of the world.
LITTLE BOXES
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same,
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same
And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same,
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
WORLD GONE BEAUTIFUL
The world's gone beautiful
Because it's about to die.
I never saw such flower faces
Or so intent a sky.
I never heard such lines
From horns or violins,
Or saw such lavish girls, such dandy boys,
And I know why.
It's that the world is asking not to die.
I never saw such hands
Flexing like silver leaves,
I never knew such air,
Or leaned to so good a breeze.
Even the tears I cry,
They aren't salt but clear,
For seabirds riding the wind, calling their last,
Their wild goodbye.
The world is asking not to die.
I want to hold this world
And never let it go,
I want the sun to always rise
On the kids next door.
Whether I go or stay,
That question still abides,
Posed by rainbows in the river spray.
What answer do you give
A world that asks so bitterly to live?
THERE'S A BOTTOM BELOW
CHORUS
Do you think you've hit bottom?
Do you think you've hit bottom? Oh no.
There's a bottom below.
There's a low below
The low you know.
You can't imagine
How far you can go
Down.
CHORUS
Every once in a while
You'll rise and glow.
But that's only so
They can let you go
Down.
CHORUS
You sit at a party
And watch the fun,
It don't touch you none
Cause you're off and gone
Down.
CHORUS
There's a nightmare kind
Where you fall and fall
And you wake to find
You haven't been dreaming
At all.
CHORUS
THIS WORLD
Baby, I ain't afraid to die,
It's just that I hate to say goodbye
to this world, this world, this world.
This old world is mean and cruel,
But still I love it like a fool, this world,
this world, this world.
I'd rather go to the corner store
Than sing hosannah on that golden shore,
I'd rather live on Parker Street
Than fly around where the angels meet.
Oh, this old world is all I know,
It's dust to dust when I have to go
from this world, this world, this world.
Somebody else will take my place,
Some other hands, some other face,
Some other eyes will look around
And find the things I've never found
Don't weep for me when I am gone,
Just keep this old world rolling on,
this world, this world, this world.
ON THE RIM OF THE WORLD
She inches along on the rim of the world,
Always about to go over,
How she can manage I never will know,
To get from one day to the other.
Scrounging a buck or a bed
Or the share of a roof for her head,
This nobody's child, this precarious girl,
Who lives on the rim of the world.
She looks like a princess in somebody's rags,
She dreams of a world without danger,
Climbing a stair to a room of her own
With someone who isn't a stranger,
But now she eats what she can,
And accepts what there is for a man,
This nobody's child, this precarious girl,
Who lives on the rim of the world.
LITTLE BOXES
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same,
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same
And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same,
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
WORLD GONE BEAUTIFUL
The world's gone beautiful
Because it's about to die.
I never saw such flower faces
Or so intent a sky.
I never heard such lines
From horns or violins,
Or saw such lavish girls, such dandy boys,
And I know why.
It's that the world is asking not to die.
I never saw such hands
Flexing like silver leaves,
I never knew such air,
Or leaned to so good a breeze.
Even the tears I cry,
They aren't salt but clear,
For seabirds riding the wind, calling their last,
Their wild goodbye.
The world is asking not to die.
I want to hold this world
And never let it go,
I want the sun to always rise
On the kids next door.
Whether I go or stay,
That question still abides,
Posed by rainbows in the river spray.
What answer do you give
A world that asks so bitterly to live?