Indigo Girls



LOVE'S RECOVERY
CLOSER TO FINE
GALILEO
GHOST
LAND OF CANAAN
MYSTERY
POWER OF TWO
LEAST COMPLICATED
BEAUTY TO DISASTER
BLOOD AND FIRE
COLOR ME GREY
GIRL WITH THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD IN HER HANDS







LOVE'S RECOVERY

during the time of which I speak, it was hard to turn the other cheek
to the blows of insecurity. Feeding the cancer of my intellect,
the blood of love, soon neglected, lay dying in the strength of its impurity.

meanwhile the friends we thought were so together
have all gone and left each other in the search of fair weather
and we sit here in our storm and drink a toast
to the slim chance of love's recovery.

there I am in younger days, stargazing
painting picture-perfect maps
of how my life and loves would be
not counting the unmarked paths of misdirection
my compass,
and faith in love's perfection
I missed ten million miles of road I should have seen

meanwhile the friends we thought were so together
left each other one by one on the road to fair weather
and we sit here in our storm and drink a toast
to the slim chance of love's recovery.

rain-soaked and voice-choked like silent screaming in a dream
I search for my absolute distinction
not content to bow and bend to the whims of culture
that swoop like vultures
eating us away, eating us away, eating us away to out extinction

oh, how I wish I were a trinity, so if I lost a part of me
I'd still have two of the same to live
but nobody gets a lifetime rehearsal
as specks of dust, we're universal
to let this love survive would be the greatest gift that we could give.

tell all the friends who think they're so together
that these are ghosts and mirages, all these thoughts of fairer weather
and though it's stormy now, I feel safe within the arms
of love's discovery.



Closer To Fine

I'm trying to tell you something about my life
maybe give me insight between black and white
and the best thing you've ever done for me
is to help me take my life less seriously
it's only life after all
yeah

well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
and lightness has a call that's hard to hear
i wrap my fear around me like a blanket
i sailed my ship of safety till I sank it
i'm crawling on your shores

i went to the doctor, i went to the mountains
i looked to the children, i drank from the fountains
there's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line
and the less i seek my source for some definitive
(the less I seek my source)
the closer i am to fine
the closer i am to fine
and i went to see the doctor of philosophy
with a poster of rasputin and a beard down to his knee
he never did marry or see a b-grade movie
he graded my performance, he said he could see through me
i spent four years prostrate to the higher mind
got my paper and i was free

i went to the doctor, i went to the mountains
i looked to the children, i drank from the fountains
there's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line
the less i seek my source for some definitive
(the less I seek my source)
the closer i am to fine
the closer i am to fine
i stopped by the bar at 3 a.m.
to seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
and i woke up with a headache like my head against a board
twice as cloudy as i'd been the night before
and i went in seeking clarity.

i went to the doctor, i went to the mountains
i looked to the children, i drank from the fountains
yeah we go to the doctor, we go to the mountains
we look to the children, we drink from the fountains
yeah we go to the bible, we go through the workout
we read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout
there's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line
the less i seek my source for some definitive
(the less i seek my source)
the closer i am to fine
the closer i am to fine
the closer i am to fine


Galileo

Galileo's head was on the block
the crime was looking up for truth
and as the bombshells of my daily fears explode
i try to trace them to my youth

and then you had to bring up reincarnation
over a couple of beers the other night
and now i'm serving time for mistakes
made by another in another lifetime

how long till my soul gets it right
can any human being ever reach that kind of light
i call on the resting soul of galileo
king of night vision, king of insight

and then i think about my fear of motion
which i never could explain
some other fool across the ocean years ago
must have crashed his little airplane

how long till my soul gets it right
can any human being ever reach that kind of light
i call on the resting soul of galileo
king of night vision, king of insight

i'm not making a joke, you know me
i take everything so seriously
if we wait for the time till all souls get it right
then at least i know there'll nuclear annihilation
in the nighttime i'm still not right

i offer thanks to those before me
that's all i've got to say
'cause maybe you squandered big bucks in your lifetime
now i have to pay
but then again it feels like some sort of inspiration
to let the next life off the hook
but she'll say "look what i had to overcome from my last life
i think i'll write a book"

how long till my soul gets it right
can any human being ever reach the highest light
except for galileo god rest his soul
(except for the resting soul of galileo)
king of night vision, king of insight

how long
(till my soul gets it right)
[til we reach the highest light]
how long
(till my soul gets it right)
[til we reach the highest light]
how long



Ghost

There's a letter on the desktop
that i dug out of a drawer
the last truce we ever came to
in our adolescent war
and i start to feel the fever
from the warm air through the screen
you come regular like seasons
shadowing my dreams

and the mississippi's mighty
but it starts in minnesota
at a place that you could walk across
with five steps down
and I guess that's how you started
like a pinprick to my heart
but at this point you rush right through me
and i start to drown

and there's not enough room
in this world for my pain
signals cross and love gets lost
and time passed makes it plain
of all my demon spirits
i need you the most
i'm in love with your ghost
i'm in love with your ghost

dark and dangerous like a secret
that gets whispered in a hush
(don't tell a soul)
when i wake the things i dreamt about you
last night make me blush
(don't tell a soul)
and you kiss me like a lover
then you sting me like a viper
i go follow to the river
play your memory like a piper

and i feel it like a sickness
how this love is killing me
i'd walk into the fingers
of your fire willingly
and dance the edge of sanity
i've never been this close
i'm in love with your ghost

unknowing captor
you never know how much you
pierce my spirit
but i can't touch you
can you hear it
a cry to be free
oh i'm forever under lock and key
as you pass through me

now i see your face before me
i would launch a thousand ships
to bring your heart back to my island
as the sand beneath me slips
as i burn up in your presence
and i know now how it feels
to be weakened like achilles
with you always at my heels

this bitter pill i swallow
is the silence that i keep
it poisons me i can't swim free
the river is too deep
though i'm baptized by your touch
i am no worse than most
in love with your ghost

you are shadowing my dreams
(in love with your ghost)
(in love with your ghost)
(in love with your ghost)


Land Of Canaan

You can go to the east to find your
your inner hemisphere
you say we're under the same sky babe
your bound to realize honey it's not that clear
i'm not your promised land oh no
i'm not your promised one
i'm not the land of canaan sweetheart
waiting for you under the sun

i'm lonely tonight
i'm missing you now
i'm wanting your love
and you're giving it out
i'm lonely tonight
i'm lonely tonight
i'm lonely tonight

well, the meanings changed
for what it's worth
it's just a senseless game
well i should think of love
but it's fear every time i hear
honey your heartbeat strain
it's not the fallen man
it's not the call of time
it's just the london skyline sweetheart
telling me you're not mine
i'm lonely tonight
i'm missing you now
i'm wanting your love
and you're giving it out
i'm lonely tonight
i'm lonely tonight
i'm lonely tonight

my blood is running dry
my skin is, my skin is growing thin
for every time you find yourself
you loose a little bit of me honey from within
it's just a raging cycle
why can't we bring it all to the end of the line
from inside this existence, sweetheart
time is not on my side

i'm lonely tonight
i'm missing you now
i'm wanting your love
and you're giving it out
i'm lonely tonight
i'm lonely tonight
i'm lonely tonight

i'm not your promised land
(i'm lonely tonight)
i'm not your promised one
(honey i'm trying to tell you that i'm lonely tonight)
i'm not your promised land
i'm not your promised one
i'm not the land of canaan
(i'm lonely tonight)
i'm not your land of canaan
(i'm lonely tonight)
i'm not the land of canaan sweetheart
waiting for you under the sun
i'm lonely tonight



Mystery(handed down and made by hand)

each time you'd pull down the driveway
i wasn't sure when i would see you again
yours was a twisted blind sided highway
no matter which road you took then
oh you set up your place in my thoughts
moved in and made my thinking crowded
now we're out in the back with the barking dogs
my heart the red sun
your heart the moon clouded
i could go crazy on a night like tonight
when summer's beginning to give up her fight
and every thought's a possibility
and the voices are heard but nothing is seen
why do you spend this time with me
maybe an equal mystery

so what is love then is it dictated or chosen
(handed down and made by hand)
does it sing like the hymns of 1000 years
or is it just pop emotion
(handed down and made by hand)
and if it ever was there and it left
does it mean it was never true
and to exist it must elude
is that why i think these things of you
i could go crazy on a night like tonight
when summer's beginning to give up her fight
and every thought's a possibility
and the voices are heard but nothing is seen
why do you spend this time with me
may be an equal mystery

but you like the taste of danger
it shines like sugar on your lips
and you like to stand in the line of fire
just to show you can shoot straight from you hip
there must be a 1000 things you would die for
i can hardly think of two
but not everything is better spoken aloud
not when i'm talking to you

oh the pirate gets the ship and the girl tonight
breaks a bottle to christen her
basking in the exploits of her thief
she's a very good listener
maybe that's all that we need
is to meet in the middle of impossibility
we're standing at opposite poles
equal partners in a mystery
(handed down and made by hand)

we're standing at opposite poles
equal partners in a mystery



Power Of Two

now the parking lot is empty
everyone's gone someplace
i pick you up and in the trunk i've packed
a cooler and a 2-day suitcase
cause there's a place we like to drive
way out in the country
five miles out of the city limit we're singing
and your hand's upon my knee

so we're okay
we're fine
baby i'm here to stop your crying
chase all the ghosts from your head
i'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed
smarter than the tricks played on your heart
we'll look at them together then we'll take them apart
adding up the total of a love that's true
multiply life by the power of two

you know the things that i am afraid of
i'm not afraid to tell
and if we ever leave a legacy
it's that we loved each other well
cause i've seen the shadows of so many people
trying on the treasures of youth
but a road that fancy and fast ends
ends in a fatal crash
and i'm glad we got off
to tell you the truth

cause we're okay
we're fine
baby i'm here to stop your crying
chase all the ghosts from your head
i'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed
smarter than the tricks played on your heart
we'll look at them together then we'll take them apart
adding up the total of a love that's true
multiply life by the power of two

all the shiny little trinkets of temptation
(make new friends)
something new instead of something old
(but keep the old)
all you gotta do is scratch beneath the surface
(but remember what is gold)
and it's fools gold
(what is gold)
fools gold
(what is gold)
fools gold

now we're talking about a difficult thing
and your eyes are getting wet
i took us for better and i took us for worse
don't you ever forget it
now the steel bars between me and a promise
suddenly bend with ease
the closer i'm bound in love to you
the closer i am to free

so we're okay
we're fine
baby i'm here to stop your crying
chase all the ghosts from your head
i'm stronger than the monster beneath your bed
smarter than the tricks played on your heart
we'll look at them together then we'll take them apart
adding up the total of a love that's true
multiply life by the power of two



Least Complicated

i sit two stories above the street
it's awful quiet here since love fell asleep
there's life down below me though
the kids are walking home from school

some long ago when we were taught
that for whatever kind of puzzle you got
you just stick the right formula in
a solution for every fool

i remember the time when i came so close to you
sent me skipping my class and running from school
and i bought you that ring cause i never was cool
what makes me think i could start clean slated
the hardest to learn was the least complicated

so i just sit up in the house and resist
and not be seen until i cease to exist
a kind of conscientious objection
a kind of dodging the draft

the boy and girl are holding hands on the street
and i don't want to but i think you just wait
it's more than just eye to eye
learn the things i could never apply

i remember the time when i came so close with you
i let everything go it seemed the only truth
and i bought you that ring, it seemed the thing to do

what makes me think i could start clean slated
the hardest to learn was the least complicated
so what makes me think i could start clean slated
the hardest to learn was the least complicated

i'm just a mirror of a mirror myself
all the things that i do
and the next time i fall i'm gonna have to recall
it's isn't love it's only something new

i sit two stories above the street
it's awful quiet here since love fell asleep
there's life down below me though
the kids are walking home from school

i'm remember the time when i came so close with you
sent me skipping my class and running from school
and i bought you that ring cause i never was cool

what makes me think i could start clean slated
the hardest to learn was the least complicated
so what makes me think i could start clean slated
the hardest to learn was the least complicated
the least complicated
the least complicated



Beauty to Disaster

I cried the night you left me
I never cried so hard
I never felt so helpless
Except the night that we made love

From beauty to disaster
I held you in my arms
Long enough to reach around you
To keep my fingers warm

Through egos, bars, and pills
You kept me in my place
You saved me from this spotlight
Well, I guess I'm living in disgrace

From beauty to disaster
I held you in my arms
Long enough to reach around you
To keep my fingers warm

I wonder, how is California?
Is it the blonde-haired, blue-eyed life?
Is it okay for me to ask you
Do you have a husband or a wife?

From beauty to disaster
I never cried so hard
I never felt so helpless
I cried with all my might.


Blood and Fire

I have spent nights with matches and knives,
leaning over ledges, only two flights up.
Cutting my heart, burning my soul.
Nothing left to hold,
Nothing left but, blood and fire.

You have spent nights, thinking of me
Missing my arms, but you needed to leave.
Leaving the cuts, leaving my burns,
hoping I'd learn.

Blood and Fire
are too much for these restless arms to hold.
And my nights of desire are calling me,
back to your fold.
And I am calling you, calling you from 10,000 miles away
Won't you wet my fire with your live, babe?

I am looking for someone, who can take as much as I give,
Give back as much as I need,
And still have the will to live.
I am intense, I am in need,
I am in pain, I am in love.
I feel forsaken, like to things I gave away.

I am intense, I am in need, I am in pain, I am in love.
I am intense, I am in need, I am in pain, I am in love.
I am intense, I am in need, I am in pain, I am in love.



Color Me Grey

Her life is a show
One act follows the other everywhere she goes
She takes the leading role
She never plays herself, save for the time she's on the stage
Color her black or white
Now, either one reflects the teardrops
One extreme for the other
Nothing in between
Color her white for the princess she could be
Color her black for the troubled child she plays so well
Well, she's dancing through hell on a dream.
And blue is soul of the one
Reaching for the man that she hasn't got yet
And holding on to those hearts for lost causes
She could be so bright
But she's reaching for us all
Color her blue for the loneliness she feels
She's hiding her heart in the sky.

And this is a Thursday afternoon
It's just another Thursday afternoon
It's just another Thursday afternoon

Color me grey
I'm a little bit of everything today
And I'm not sure where I'm going
Color me grey
Wishing I was something more of distinction.

Color us all 'cause we're just stars
Wishing our lives away
Into the distance
And out of existence.

Color her black or white
Color her blue
Or color me grey
Color us all - we're stars
Wishing our lives away
Now we're stars.



Girl with the Weight of the World in Her Hands

She won't recover from her losses,
She's not chosen this path, but she watches who it crosses
Maybe move to the right, maybe move to the left
So we can all see her pain she wears like a banner on her chest
And we all say it's sad, and we think it's a shame
And she's called to our attention, but we do not call her name
The girl with the weight of the world in her hands

We're busy with our happiness, busy with our plane
I wonder if alone she wants it taken from her hands
But if things didn't get any harder
She might miss her sacred chance to go a consecrated martyr
The girl with the weight of the world in her hands

I wonder which saint that lives inside a bead
Will grant her consolation when she counts upon her need
It makes us all angry though we feign to care
But who will be the scale to weigh the cross she has to bear -
The girl with the weight of the world in her hands

Is the glas half-full or empty, I ask her as I fill it
She said it doesn't really matter, pretty soon you're bound to spill it
With the half logic language of the sermon she delivers
And the way she smiles so knowingly at me gives me the shivers
I pull the blanket higher when I'm finally safe at home
And she'll take a hundred with her, but she always sleeps alone
The girl with the weight of the world in her hands