Difference between revisions of "Songs in Gravity's Rainbow"

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Pynchon loves to embed song lyrics into the text of his stories. For him the writing process does not involve only the traditional dialogue and description, but song lyrics to flavor the story too. Though present in nearly all of Pynchon's novels, more attention has been paid to the songs in ''Gravity's Rainbow'' over any other (probably as a mere consequence of the book's overwhelming clout). On this topic reference must be made to the collaborative band, [http://thomaspynchonfakebook.org/ ''The Thomas Pynchon Fake Book''], who have composed and performed music to many of the songs written for ''GR''.
+
Pynchon loves to embed song lyrics into the text of his stories, but why? For him the writing process does not involve only the traditional dialogue and description; music heavily colors his books too. Though present in nearly all of Pynchon's novels, more attention has been paid to the songs in ''Gravity's Rainbow'' over any other (probably as a mere consequence of the book's overwhelming clout). On this topic reference must be made to the collaborative band, [http://thomaspynchonfakebook.org/ ''The Thomas Pynchon Fake Book''], who have composed and performed music to many of the songs written for ''GR''.
  
−
Below are listed the songs that Pynchon writes for ''GR'', organized by the order in which they appear.
+
An interesting discovery was made by someone in the Pynchon community that connects a song from ''Mason & Dixon'' to "Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong" (the Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes duet from ''An Officer and a Gentleman''). Such a connection implies that Pynchon could have written the ''M&D'' song intentionally to fit with the tune and melody from "Love Lifts Us Up." This possibility opens up the opportunity for a surmountable research effort, the aim of which would be to discover which other of Pynchon's lyrics fit to existing songs (such research is par for the course when attempting to decode ''any'' Pynchon novel). With many minds serving as the eyes and ears for such a project it may be possible for other tunes to be connected.
 +
 
 +
The aim of this page is to serve as a database to which interested readers can refer in their attempts to decipher Pynchon's songs, and ultimately to better understand his novels. If a connection to an existing song is made, that song can be listed directly following the Pynchon lyric.
 +
 
 +
Below are the songs that Pynchon writes for ''GR'', organized by the order in which they appear. The page numbers refer to the 2006 Penguin edition.
  
 
==Part 1 Beyond the Zero==
 
==Part 1 Beyond the Zero==
Line 156: Line 160:
  
 
  (''Tantivy''):  --You see, your Englishman tends to lack
 
  (''Tantivy''):  --You see, your Englishman tends to lack
−
              That recklessness transatlantic,
+
              That recklessness transatlantic,
−
              That women find so romantic
+
              That women find so romantic
−
              Though frankly I can't see why...
+
              Though frankly I can't see why...
  
 
   (''Bloat''):      The polygamous Yank with his girls galore
 
   (''Bloat''):      The polygamous Yank with his girls galore
Line 164: Line 168:
  
 
  (''Tantivy''):    Though he's secretly held in re-ve-rent awe
 
  (''Tantivy''):    Though he's secretly held in re-ve-rent awe
−
                As a sort of e-rot-ic Clausewitz....
+
              As a sort of e-rot-ic Clausewitz....
  
 
  (''Together''): If only one could al-ly
 
  (''Together''): If only one could al-ly
−
                A-merican bedroom know-how
+
            A-merican bedroom know-how
−
                With British good looks, then ''oh'' how
+
            With British good looks, then ''oh'' how
−
                Those lovelies would swoon and sigh,
+
            Those lovelies would swoon and sigh,
−
                THough you and I know the Englishman's very shy.
+
            THough you and I know the Englishman's very shy.
 
P. 193-4
 
P. 193-4
 
           THE BALLAD OF TANTIVY MUCKER-MAFFICK
 
           THE BALLAD OF TANTIVY MUCKER-MAFFICK
Line 199: Line 203:
 
P. 198
 
P. 198
 
           TOO SOON TO KNOW (Fox-trot)
 
           TOO SOON TO KNOW (Fox-trot)
 +
It's still too soon,
 +
It's not as if we'd kissed and kindled,
 +
Or chased the moon
 +
Through midnight's hush, as dancing dwindled
 +
Into quiet dawns,
 +
Over secret lawns..
 +
 +
Too soon to know
 +
If all that breathless conversation
 +
A sigh ago
 +
Was more than casual flirtation
 +
Doomed to drift away
 +
Into misty gray...
 +
 +
How can we tell,
 +
What can we see?
 +
Love works its spells in hiding,
 +
Quite past our own deciding...
 +
 +
So who's to say
 +
If joyful love is just beginning,
 +
Or if its day
 +
Just turned to night, as Earth went spinning?
 +
Darling, maybe so--
 +
It's TOO SOON TO KNOW.
 +
P. 205
 +
Oh, THE WORLD OVER THERE, it's
 +
So hard to explain!
 +
Just-like, a dream's-got, lost in yer brain!
 +
Dancin' like a fool through that Forbid-den Wing,
 +
Waitin' fer th' light to start shiver-ing--well,
 +
Who ev-ver said ya couldn't move that way,
 +
Who ev-ver said ya couldn't try?
 +
If-ya find-there's-a-lit-tle-pain,
 +
Ya can al-ways-go-back-a-gain, cause
 +
Ya don't-ev-er-real-ly-say, good-by!
 +
P. 216
 +
                    VULGAR SONG
 +
Last night I poked the Queen of Transylvan-ia,
 +
Tonight I'll poke the Queen of Burgundee--
 +
I'm bordering on the State of Schizophren-ia,
 +
But Queenie is so very nice to me....
 +
It's pink champagne and caviar for break-fast,
 +
A spot of Chateaubriand wiv me tea--
 +
Ten-shilling panatelas now are all that I can smoke,
 +
I laugh so much you'd think the world was just a silly joke,
 +
So call me what you will, m' lads, but make way for the bloke
 +
That's poked the love-ly little Queen of Transyl-vaayn-yaa!
 +
P. 219
 +
                    THE PENIS HE THOUGHT WAS HIS OWN
 +
(lead tenor): 'Twas the penis, he thought-was, his own--
 +
    Just a big playful boy of a bone...
 +
    With a stout purple head,
 +
    Sticking up from the bed,
 +
    Where the girlies all played Telephone--
 +
(bass): Te-le-phone....
 +
 +
(inner voices): But They came through the hole in the night,
 +
(bass): And They sweet-talked it clear out of sight--
 +
(inner voices): Out of sight...
 +
(tenor): Now he sighs all alone,
 +
    With a heartbroken moan,
 +
    For the pe-nis, he thought-was, his, owwwwn!
 +
(inner voices): Was, his, own!
 +
P. 232-3
 +
          PAVLOVIA (Beguine)
 +
It was spring in Pavlovia-a-a,
 +
I was lost, in a maze...
 +
Lysol breezes perfumed the air,
 +
I'd been searching for days.
 +
I found you, in a cul-de-sac,
 +
As bewildered as I--
 +
We touched noses, and suddenly
 +
My heart learned how to fly!
 +
 +
So, together, we found our way,
 +
Shared a pellet, or two...
 +
Like an evening in some café,
 +
Wanting nothing, but you...
 +
 +
Autumn's come, to Pavlovia-a-a,
 +
Once again, I'm alone--
 +
Finding sorrow by millivolts,
 +
Back to neurons and bone.
 +
And I think of our moments then,
 +
Never knowing your name--
 +
Nothing's left in Pavlovia,
 +
But the maze, and the game....
 +
P. 234
 +
Wash me in the water
 +
That you wash your dirty daughter,
 +
And I shall be whiter than the whitewash on the wall....
 +
P. 240
 +
    O, O, O,
 +
To-tus flore-o!
 +
Iam amore virginali
 +
Totus ardeo...
 +
P. 247
 +
With my face shined up-like a microphone
 +
And uh Sta-Comb on my hair,
 +
I'm just as suave-as, an ice-cream cone, say,
 +
I'm Mis-ter Debo-nair....
 +
P. 248
 +
          JULIA (Fox-trot)
 +
Ju-lia,
 +
Would you think me pe-cul-iar,
 +
If I should fool ya,
 +
In-to givin' me--just-a-little-kiss?
 +
 +
Jool-yaaahh,
 +
No one else could love you tru-lier,
 +
How I'd worship and bejewel ya,
 +
If you'd on-ly give-me just-a-little-kiss!
 +
 +
Ahh ''Jool''-yaaahhhh--
 +
My poor heart grows un-ru-lier,
 +
No one oozier or droller,
 +
Could I be longing for--
 +
What's more--
 +
 +
Ju-lia,
 +
I would shout hallelujah,
 +
To have my Jool-yaaahh,
 +
In-my-arms forevermore.
 +
P. 262-3
 +
              LOONIES ON LEAVE!
 +
Here we come foax--ready or not!
 +
Put your mask on, and plot your plot,
 +
We're just laughing' and droolin', all-''over''
 +
    the sleigh,
 +
Like a bunch happy midgets on a holiday!
 +
 +
Oh we're the LOONIES ON LEAVE, and
 +
We haven't a care--
 +
Our brains at the cleaners, our souls at the Fair,
 +
Just freaks on a fur-lough, away from the blues,
 +
As daffy and sharp as--the taps on our shoes!
 +
Hey, we're passin' the hat for--your frowns and
 +
    your tears,
 +
And the fears you thought'd never go 'way--
 +
Oh take it from a loony, life's so dear and swoon,
 +
So just hug it and kiss it to-day!
 +
La-da-da, ya-ta ya-ta ta-ta &c...
 +
==Part 3 In the Zone==
 +
P. 288
 +
If you see a train this evening,
 +
Far away against the sky,
 +
Lie down in your wooden blanket,
 +
Sleep, and let the train go by.
 +
 +
Trains have called us, every midnight,
 +
From a thousand miles away,
 +
Trains that pass through empty cities,
 +
Trains that have no place to stay.
 +
 +
No one drives the locomotive,
 +
No one tends the staring light,
 +
Trains have never needed riders,
 +
Trains belong to bitter night.
 +
 +
Railway stations stand deserted,
 +
Rights-of-way lie clear and cold:
 +
What we left them, trains inherit,
 +
Trains go on, and we grow old.
 +
 +
Let them cry like cheated lovers,
 +
Let their cries find only wind.
 +
Trains are meant for night and ruin.
 +
We are meant for song, and sin.
 +
P. 293
 +
Well good mornin' gang, let's start it
 +
Off with a bang, so long to
 +
Double-u Double-u Two-o-o-o!
 +
Now the fightin's over and we're all in clover
 +
And I'm here ta bring sunshine to you--
 +
Hey there Herman the German, stop yer fussin'
 +
    and squirmin',
 +
Don'tcha know you're join' home ta stay--
 +
No, there's never a frown, here in Rocket,
 +
    Sock-it Town,
 +
Where ev'ry day's a beautiful day--
 +
(Quit kvetchin', Gretchen!)
 +
Go on and have a beautiful daa-aay!
 +
P. 294
 +
Love never goes away,
 +
Never completely dies,
 +
Always some souvenir
 +
Takes us by sad surprise.
 +
 +
You went away from me,
 +
One rose was left behind--
 +
Pressed in my Book of Hours,
 +
That is the rose I find....
 +
 +
Though it's another year,
 +
Though it's another me,
 +
Under the rose is a drying tear,
 +
Under my linden tree....
 +
 +
Love never goes away,
 +
Not if it's really true,
 +
It can return, by night, by day,
 +
Tender and green and new
 +
As the leaves from a linden tree, love,
 +
    that I left with you.
 +
P. 315
 +
Ev'ry little Nazi's shooting' pool or plain' pots
 +
On the Mittel-werk Ex-press!
 +
All the funny Fascists just a-twirlin' their mustaches
 +
Where we goin'? Can't you guess?
 +
Headin' for the country just down the tracks,
 +
Never heard o' shortages or in-come-tax,
 +
Gonna be good-times, for Minnie and-Max,
 +
On the Mittel-werk Express!
 +
P. 319
 +
OH...thur's...
 +
Nazis in the woodwork,
 +
Fascists in the walls,
 +
Little Japs with bucktooth grins
 +
A-gonna grab yew bah th' balls.
 +
Whin this war is over,
 +
How happy Ah will be,
 +
Gearin' up fer thim Rooskies
 +
And Go-round Number Three....
 +
P. 324-5
 +
          SOLD ON SUICIDE
 +
 +
Well I don't care-for, th' things I eat,
 +
Can't stand that boogie-woogie beat--
 +
But I'm sold, on, ''suicide!''
 +
 +
You can keep Der Bingle too, a-
 +
And that darn "bu-bu-bu-boo,"
 +
Cause I'm sold on suicide!
 +
 +
''Oh!'' I'm not too keen on ration stamps,
 +
Or Mothers who used to be baby vamps,
 +
But I'm sold, on, ''suicide!''
 +
 +
Don't like either, the Cards or Browns,
 +
Piss on the country and piss on the town,
 +
But I'm S.O.S...
 +
P. 363-4
 +
              THE AQYN'S SONG
 +
 +
I have come from the edge of the world.
 +
I have come from the lungs of the wind,
 +
With a thing I have seen so awesome
 +
Even Džambul could not sing it.
 +
With a fear in my heart so sharp
 +
It will cut the strongest of metals.
 +
 +
In the ancient tales it is told
 +
In a time that is older that Qorqyt,
 +
Who took from the wood of Šyrghaj
 +
The first qobyz, and the first song--
 +
It is told that a land far distant
 +
Is the place of the Kirghiz Light.
 +
 +
In a place where words are unknown,
 +
And eyes shine like candles at night,
 +
And the face of God is a presence
 +
Behind the mask of the sky--
 +
At the tall black rock in the desert,
 +
In the time of the final days.
 +
 +
If the place were not so distant,
 +
If words were known, and spoken,
 +
Then the God might be a gold ikon,
 +
Or a page in a paper book.
 +
But It comes as the Kirghiz Light--
 +
There is no other way to know It.
 +
 +
The roar of Its voice is deafness,
 +
The flaw of Its light is blindness.
 +
The floor of the desert rumbles,
 +
And Its face cannot be borne.
 +
And a man cannot be the same,
 +
After seeing the Kirghiz Light.
 +
 +
For I tell you that I have seen It
 +
In a place which is older than darkness,
 +
Where even Allah cannot reach.
 +
As you see, my beard is an ice-field,
 +
I walk with a stick to support me,
 +
But this light must change us to children.
 +
 +
And now I cannot walk far,
 +
For a baby must learn to walk.
 +
And my words are reaching your ears
 +
As the meaningless sounds of a baby.
 +
For the Kirghiz Light took my eyes,
 +
Now I sense all Earth like a baby.
 +
 +
It is north, for a six-day ride,
 +
Through the steep and death-gray canyons,
 +
Then across the stony desert
 +
To the mountain whose peak is a white džurt.
 +
And if you have passed without danger,
 +
The place of the black rock will find you.
 +
 +
But if you would not be born,
 +
Then stay with your warm red fire,
 +
And stay with your wife, in your tent,
 +
And the Light well never find you,
 +
And your heart will grow heavy with age,
 +
And your eyes will shut only to sleep.
 +
P. 375
 +
              THE DOPER'S DREAM
 +
 +
Last night I dreamed I was plugged right in
 +
To a bubblin' hookah so high,
 +
When al of a sudden some Arab jinni
 +
Jump up just a-winkin' his eye.
 +
"I'm here to obey all your wishes," he told me,
 +
As for words I was trying to grope.
 +
"Good buddy," I cried, "you could surely oblige me
 +
By turnin' me on to some ''dope!''"
 +
With a bigfat smile he took ahold of my hand,
 +
And we flew down the sky in a flash,
 +
And the first thing I saw in the land where he took me
 +
Was a whole solid mountain of hash!
 +
All the trees was a-bloomin' with pink 'n' purple pills,
 +
Whur the Romilar River flowed by,
 +
To the magic mushrooms as wild as a rainbow,
 +
So pretty that I wanted to cry.
 +
All the girls come to greet us, so sweet in slow motion,
 +
Morning glories woven into their hair,
 +
Bringin' great big handfuls of snowy cocaine,
 +
All their dope they were eager to share.
 +
Well we dallied for days, just a-ballin' and smokin',
 +
In the flowering Panama Red,
 +
Just piggin' on peyote and nutmeat tea,
 +
And those brownies so kind to your head.
 +
Now I could've passed that good time forever,
 +
And I really was fixing to stay,
 +
But you know that
 +
                            jinni turned out, t'be a narco man,
 +
And he busted me right whur I lay.
 +
And he took me back, to this cold, cold world,
 +
'N' now m' prison's whurever I be...
 +
And I dream of the days back in Doperland
 +
And I wonder, will I ever go free?
 +
P. 384
 +
Jubilee Jim, just a-peddlin' through the country,
 +
Winkin' at the ladies from Stockbridge up to Lee--
 +
Buy your gal a brooch for a fancy gown,
 +
Buggy-whip rigs for just a dollar down,
 +
Hey come along ev'rybody, headin' for the Jubi-lee!
 +
P. 393
 +
Aquí me pongo a cantar
 +
al compás de la vigüela,
 +
que el hombre que lo desvela
 +
una pena estrordinaria,
 +
como la ave solitaria
 +
con el cantar se consuela.
 +
P. 421-2
 +
              VICTIM IN A VACUUM!
 +
 +
    Nur...ein...Op-fer!
 +
    Sehr ins Vakuum,
 +
("Won't somebody take advantage of me?")
 +
    Wird niemand ausnut-zen mich, auch?
 +
("Just a slave with nobody to slave for,")
 +
    Nur ein Sklave, ohne Her-rin, (''ya''-ta ta-''ta'')
 +
("A-and how th'heck wants ta be, free?")
 +
    Wer zum Teufel die Freiheit, braucht?
 +
 +
Aw, the sodium lights-aren't so bright in Berlin,
 +
I go to the bars dear, but nobody's in!
 +
Oh, I'd much rather bee
 +
In a Greek trage-dee,
 +
Than be a VICTIM IN A VACUUM to-nite!
 +
P. 456-7
 +
Lookin' for a little fun--
 +
Big old bayou mosquito, oh my you
 +
Shoulda seen what he done!
 +
Poked his head up, under her dress,
 +
Give a little grin and, well I guess,
 +
Things got rough on Buf-falo  Bayou,
 +
Skeeter turn yer meter, down,
 +
All--right--now!
 +
                          Ua ta, ta-ta, ya-ta-ta, ta-ta
 +
Lookin' for a little fun,
 +
''Ev''-rybody!
 +
 +
--And,
 +
Things got rough on, Buf-falo Bayou,
 +
Skeeter turn yer meter, down,
 +
Hubba hubba--
 +
Skeeter turn yer meter, down!
 +
P. 470
 +
              WELCOME ABOARD
 +
 +
Welcome aboard, gee, it's a fabulous or-gy
 +
That you just dropped in on, my friend--
 +
We can't recall just how it star-ted,
 +
But there's only one way it can end!
 +
The behavior is bestial, hardly Marie-Celestial,
 +
But you'll fit right in with the crowd,
 +
If you jettison all of those problems,
 +
And keep it hysterically loud!
 +
 +
There are mothers, with their lo-vers,
 +
Sterling tor-ters, from their daught-ers,
 +
Big erec-tions, predilec-tions
 +
That you wouldn't believe,
 +
So put your brain on your sleeve,
 +
And come a-
 +
          board the ''Titanic'', things'll really be manic,
 +
Folks'll panic the second that sunken ice''berg'' is knocked,
 +
Naughty 'n' noisy, and very Walpurgisnacht,
 +
That's how the party will end,
 +
So--welcome aboartd, welcome aboard, my friend!
 +
P. 504
 +
              BRIGHT DAYS (Fox-trot)
 +
 +
--bright days for the black mar-ket,
 +
That silver 'n' gold makes-it shine!
 +
From the Cor-al Sea to, the sky, blue, Baltic,
 +
Money's the mainspring, that makes it ''all'' tick--like a
 +
Blinkin' beacon, there's a pricetag peekin'
 +
From each décolletage dee-vine--
 +
Be she green or scar-let, even Mom's a har-lot, it's the
 +
Good Lord's grand design...
 +
A-and it's sunny days-for, the black, black ma(a)rket,
 +
Cause silver and gold makes it shii-iine!
 +
P. 506
 +
                          SEA CHANTY
 +
 +
I'm the Pirate Queen of the Baltic Run, and nobody fucks
 +
    with me--
 +
And those who've tried are bones and skulls, and lie beneath
 +
    the sea.
 +
And the little fish like messengers swim in and out their eyes,
 +
Singing, "Fuck ye not with Gory Gnahb and her desperate
 +
    enterprise!"
 +
 +
I'll tangle with a battleship, I'll massacre a sloop,
 +
I've sent a hundred souls to hell in one relentless swoop--
 +
I've seen the Flying Dutchman, and each time we pass, he cries,
 +
"Oh, steer me clear of GOry Gnahb, and her desperate
 +
    enterprise!"
 +
P. 530
 +
Just a daredevil Desox-yephedrine Daddy
 +
With m'pockets full o' happee daze,
 +
Zoomin' through the Zone, where the wild dogs roam,
 +
Givin' all m'dreams away...
 +
Took the tubes outa my radio-yo,
 +
Don't mean a thing to me--
 +
Wouldn't spend a nickel on the Stars 'n' Stripes, cause I'm coin' my own few free....
 +
 +
Mouth keeps goin', nobody listenin',
 +
Gabbin' at a terrible pace--
 +
Aw, you're so sly, but I wave good-by,
 +
With a shit-eatin' grin on m'face!
 +
 +
Don'tcha ephedrine of me, my honey,
 +
Swoon just to hear my name--
 +
In the curfew cells when all the lights are gone, oh,
 +
Ev'ry thing'll be the same
 +
(Just light the candles)
 +
Ev-rything'll be the same....
 +
P. 541
 +
Where is the Pope whose staff will bloom for me?
 +
Her mountain vamps me back, with silks and scents,
 +
Her oiled, athletic slaves, her languid hints
 +
Of tortures transubstantiate to sky,
 +
To purity of light--of bonds that sing,
 +
And whips that trail their spectra as they fall.
 +
At weather's mercy now, I find her call
 +
At every turn, at night's foregathering.
 +
 +
I've left no sick Lisaura's fate behind.
 +
I made my last confession as I knelt,
 +
Agnostic, in the radiance of his jewel...
 +
Here, underneath my last and splintering wind,
 +
No song, no lust, no memory, no guilt:
 +
No pentacles, no cups, no holy Fool....
 +
P. 543
 +
            DOPER'S GREED
 +
 +
Doper's greed,
 +
Oh, doper's greed!
 +
It's the most disgusting' thing I ever seed!
 +
When you're out there feelin' fine,
 +
It'll turn you into swine,
 +
If you ever get a taste of DOPER'S GREED!
 +
P. 547
 +
I'll tell you it's just --out, --ray, --juss,
 +
Spirit is so --con, --tay, --juss,
 +
Nobody knows their a-ges...
 +
 +
Walkin' through bees of hon --ney,
 +
Throwin' away --that --mon, --ney,
 +
Laughin' at things so --fun --ny,
 +
Spirit's comin' through --to, --you!
 +
 +
Nev --ver, --mind, whatcha hear from your car,
 +
Take a look it just --how --keen --they are,
 +
Nev --ver, --mind, --what, your calendar say,
 +
Ev'rybody's nine months old today! Hey,
 +
 +
Pages are turnin' pages,
 +
Nobody's in --their, --ca, --ges,
 +
Spirit's just so --con, --ta, --gious--
 +
Just let the Spirit --move, --for, --you!
 +
P. 550
 +
Say a prayer for the common informer,
 +
He came out of a quim, just like yoooou--
 +
Yes be kind what you chortle,
 +
For marks are as mortal
 +
As any, Kilkenny to Kew...
 +
And the next time you sigh in your comfort,
 +
Ask yourself how he's doing, today--
 +
Is it worse being sold,
 +
For those handfuls of gold,
 +
Than to sigh all your real-life, away?
 +
P. 558
 +
And all the world's busy, this twi-light!
 +
Who knows what morning-streets, our shoes have known?
 +
Who knows, how many friends, we've left, to cry alone?
 +
We have a moment together,
 +
We'll hum this tune for a  day...
 +
Ev'ryone's dancing, in twi-light,
 +
Dancing the bad dream a-way....
 +
P. 584-5
 +
A pig is a jolly companion,
 +
Boar, sow, barrow, or gilt--
 +
A pig is a pal, who'll boost your morale,
 +
Though mountains may topple and tilt.
 +
When they've blackballed, bamboozled, and burned you,
 +
When they've turned on you, Tory and Whig,
 +
Though you may be thrown over by Tabby or Rover,
 +
You'll never go wrong with a pig, a pig,
 +
You'll never go wrong with a pig!
 +
P. 595-6
 +
There'll al-ways--be another dollar,
 +
Any way it hap-pens!
 +
If they catch ya nap-pin',
 +
Wake up-with, the dew on the grass
 +
'n' you can hand 'em their ass--
 +
You can make another dollar,
 +
Third eye up on that py-ra-mid,
 +
Oh give a listen kid,
 +
It's just winking' at you, singin', "Piss on through!"
 +
 +
There's a will, there's a way,
 +
Doesn't happen, ev'ry day,
 +
But if ya got-the-brains, those mid-night-trains
 +
'll never whistle your dreams away, hey--
 +
 +
Just flip another dollar,
 +
Heads or tails it'll be all right,
 +
You can lose the fight, but
 +
That ever-lovin' War goes on and on, ya know,
 +
Just follow that dollar and vo-dee, o-do-do!
 +
P. 604
 +
It's--
 +
Mouthtrip-ping time!
 +
Mouthtrip-ping time!
 +
Time to open up that icebox door--
 +
Oh yes it's
 +
Mouthtrip-ping time,
 +
Mouthtrip-ping time,
 +
And once you've eaten some, you'll come, for more!
 +
Ah, mouthtrip-ping time,
 +
Mouthtrip-ping time!
 +
It's something old, but also very new-w-w--
 +
Life's so sublime,
 +
In mouthtrip-ping time--
 +
We hope you're all mouth''trip''-ping, toooooo!
 +
 +
==Part 4 The Counterforce==
 +
P. 632
 +
Oh I'm the Eagle of Tooting,
 +
Bombing and shooting,
 +
And nobody can bring me down!
 +
Old Kaiser Bill, you're over the hill,
 +
Cause I'm comin' into your home town!
 +
Tell all the fräuleins and mademoiselles
 +
To keep a light in the window for me...
 +
Cause I'm the Eagle of Tooting, just root-toot-tooting.
 +
And flyin' on to victo-ree!
 +
P. 639
 +
I dream that I have found us both again,
 +
With spring so many strangers' lives away,
 +
And we, so free,
 +
Out walking by the sea,
 +
With someone else's paper words to say....
 +
 +
They took us at the gates of green return,
 +
Too lost by then to stop, and ask them why--
 +
Do children meet again?
 +
Does any trace remain,
 +
Along the superhighways of July?
 +
P. 652-3
 +
They've been sleeping on your shoulder,
 +
They've been crying in your beer,
 +
And They've sung you all Their sad lullabies,
 +
And you thought They wanted sympathy and didn't care
 +
    for souls,
 +
And They never were about to put you wise.
 +
But I'm telling you today,
 +
That it ain't the only way,
 +
And there's shit you won't be eating any more--
 +
They've been paying you to love it,
 +
But the time has come to shove it,
 +
And it isn' t a resistance, it's a war.
 +
--
 +
Light one up before you mosey out that door,
 +
Once you cuddled 'em and kissed 'em,
 +
But we're bringin' down Their system,
 +
And it isn't a resistance, it's a war....
 +
P. 661
 +
Light-up, and-shine, you--in-cande-scent Bulb Ba-bies!
 +
Looks-like ya got rabies
 +
Just lay there foaming' and a-screamin' like a bunch
 +
    little demons,
 +
I'm deliv'rin' unto you a kingdom of roaches,
 +
And no-thin' ap-proaches
 +
That joyful feelin' when-you're up-on the celin'
 +
Lookin' down--night and day--on the kingdom your survey,
 +
They'll come out 'n' love ya till the break of dawn,
 +
But they run like hell when that light comes on!
 +
So shine on, Baby Bulbs, you're the wave of the fu-ture,
 +
And I'm here to recruit ya,
 +
In m'great crusade,
 +
Just sing along Babies--come-on-and-join-the-big-pa-rade!
 +
P. 670
 +
Pa--ra--nooooiiiia, Pa-ra-noia!
 +
Ain't it grand ta see, that good-time face, again!
 +
Pa-ra-''noi''-ya, boy oh boy, yer
 +
Just a bit of you-know-what
 +
From way back when!
 +
Even Goya, couldn't draw ya,
 +
Not the way you looked, just kicking' in that door--
 +
Call a lawyer, Paranoia,
 +
Lemme will my ass to you, for-ever-more!
 +
--
 +
Pa- ra- noi-- (clippety-clippety-clippety cl[ya,]op!)
 +
Pa- ra- noi-- (shuffle''stomp!'' shuffle''stomp!'' shuffle''stomp!''
 +
    [and] cl[ya,]op! clickety cl[Ain't]ick) it grand (clop)
 +
    ta (clop) see (clippy''clop'') yer good-time face again! etc.
 +
P. 684
 +
Just a fool-who-never-wins, at love,
 +
Though-he-plays, most-ev', ry night...
 +
A loser-to-the-Ones, Above,
 +
Who stack-the-cards, of wrong, and right....
 +
Oh the loser never bets-it-all, and-he never-plays,
 +
    to win,
 +
He knows if-once, you don't-succeed, you can al-ways
 +
    lose-again!
 +
Just a loser at-the-game, of love...
 +
Spending night after night a-lo-o-o-one!
 +
P. 690
 +
How-dy neighbor, how-dy pard!
 +
Ain't it lonely, say ain't it hard,
 +
Passin' by so silent, day-after-day, with-out, even
 +
    a smile-or, a friendly word to say? Oh, let me
 +
Tell ya bud-dy, tell ya ace,
 +
Things're fal-lin', on their face--
 +
Maybe we should stick together part o' the way, and
 +
Skies'll be brighter some day!
 +
Now ''ev'''rybody--
 +
P. 699
 +
                    MY DOPER'S CADENZA
 +
 +
If you hear, a "box" so sweet,
 +
Play-in' tunes-with, a peppy beat,
 +
That's just MY DOPER'S, CADEN-ZA-A-A-A!
 +
 +
Melo-o-dees, that getcha so,
 +
Where'd they ''come'' from? ''I'' don't know!
 +
(h-ha) It's just MY DOPER'S CADEN-ZA(A)A-A-A!
 +
 +
              | Now I know it's not as keen as old Rossini
 +
''This is''      |                        ''[snatch of'' La Gazza Ladra ''here]'',
 +
''the "ca-''      | Nor as grand as Bach, or Beethove-or Brahms
 +
''denza" part''-- | ''(bubububoo[oo] oo [sung to opening of Beethoven 5th, with full band])'',
 +
              | But I'd give away the fames, of a hundred Harry
 +
              |      James
 +
              |      ...wait, fame? of a hundred ''Jame?'' Jameses...
 +
              |      uh...fameses? Hmm...
 +
 +
[scherzoso]  I-hi-hif this little-song, can-bring, you-to-my arms!
 +
 +
              Dum de dum, de-dum de dee,
 +
              Oh, it's better than a symphony--
 +
              It's MY DOPER'S CADENZA, to yoooouuu!
 +
P. 731
 +
Oh gimme some o' that acne, à-la-mode,
 +
Eat so much-that Ah, yes' explode!
 +
Say there budd''ih'' you can chow all nite, on
 +
Toe-jam tarts 'n' Diarrhea Dee-lite...
 +
P. 754-5
 +
Last week I threw a pie at someone's Momma,
 +
Last night I threw a party for my mind,
 +
Last thing I knew that 6:02 was screaming' over my head,
 +
Or it might've been th' 11:59...
 +
 +
[Refrain]:
 +
 +
Too many chain-link fences in the evening,
 +
Too many people shivering' in the rain,
 +
They tell me that you finally got around to have your
 +
    baby,
 +
And it don't look like I'll see your face again.
 +
Sometimes I wanna go back north, to Humboldt County--
 +
Sometimes I think I'll go back east, to see my kin...
 +
There's times I think I almost could be happy,
 +
If I knew you thought about me, now and then....
 +
P. 776
 +
There is a Hand to turn the time,
 +
Though thy Glass today be run,
 +
Till the Light that hath brought the Towers low
 +
Find the last poor Pret'rite one...
 +
Till the Riders sleep by ev'ry road,
 +
All through our crippl'd Zone,
 +
With a face on ev'ry mountainside,
 +
And a Soul in ev'ry stone....
 +
 +
Now everybody--

Latest revision as of 14:33, 10 December 2011

Pynchon loves to embed song lyrics into the text of his stories, but why? For him the writing process does not involve only the traditional dialogue and description; music heavily colors his books too. Though present in nearly all of Pynchon's novels, more attention has been paid to the songs in Gravity's Rainbow over any other (probably as a mere consequence of the book's overwhelming clout). On this topic reference must be made to the collaborative band, The Thomas Pynchon Fake Book, who have composed and performed music to many of the songs written for GR.

An interesting discovery was made by someone in the Pynchon community that connects a song from Mason & Dixon to "Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong" (the Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes duet from An Officer and a Gentleman). Such a connection implies that Pynchon could have written the M&D song intentionally to fit with the tune and melody from "Love Lifts Us Up." This possibility opens up the opportunity for a surmountable research effort, the aim of which would be to discover which other of Pynchon's lyrics fit to existing songs (such research is par for the course when attempting to decode any Pynchon novel). With many minds serving as the eyes and ears for such a project it may be possible for other tunes to be connected.

The aim of this page is to serve as a database to which interested readers can refer in their attempts to decipher Pynchon's songs, and ultimately to better understand his novels. If a connection to an existing song is made, that song can be listed directly following the Pynchon lyric.

Below are the songs that Pynchon writes for GR, organized by the order in which they appear. The page numbers refer to the 2006 Penguin edition.

Part 1 Beyond the Zero

P. 9 

Time to gather your arse up off the floor,
          (have a bana-na)
Brush your teeth and go toddling off to war,
Wave your hand to sleepy land,
Kiss those dreams away,
Tell Miss Grable you're not able,
Not till V-E Day, oh,
Ev'rything'll be grand in Civvie Street
          (have a ban-ana)
Bubbly wine and girls wiv lips so sweet--
But there's still the German or two to fight,
So show us a smile that's shiny bright,
And then, as we may have suggested once before--
Gather yer blooming arse up off the floor!

P. 12 

It's...
Colder than the nipple on a with's tit!
Colder than a bucket of penguin shit!
Colder than the hairs of a polar bear's ass!
Colder than the frost on a champagne glass!

P. 12-3 

Yes--I'm--the--
Fellow that's having other peop-le's fantasies,
Suffering what they ought to be themselves--
No matter if Girly's on my knee--
If Kruppingham-Jones is late to tea,
I don't even get to ask for whom the bell's...
It never does seem to matter if there's daaaanger,
For Danger's a roof I fell from long ago--
I'll be out-one-day and never come back,
Forget the bitter you owe me, Jack,
Just piss on m' grave and car-ry on the show!

P. 15 

Nobody knows-where, it is-on-the-map,
Who'd ever think-it, could start-such-a-flap?
Each Montenegran, and Serbian too,
Waitin' for some-thing, right outa the blue--oh honey
Pack up my Glad-stone, 'n' brush off my suit,
And then light me up my big fat, cigar--
If ya want my address, it's
That O-ri-ent Express,
To the san-jak of No-vi Pa-zar!

P. 63 

Got a hardon in my fist,
Don't be pissed,
Re-enlist--
Snap--to, Slothrop!

Jackson, I don't give a fuck,
Just give me my "ruptured duck!"
Snap--to, Slothrop!

No one here can love or comprehend me,
They just look for someplace else to send...me...

Tap my head and mike my brain,
Stick that needle in my vein,
Slothrop, snap to!

P. 63 

Rhy-thm's got me,
Oh baby dat swing, swing, swing!
Yeah de rhythm got me
Just a-thinkin' that whole-wide-world-can-sing,
Well I never ever heard-it, sound-so-sweet,
Even down around the corner-on, Ba-sin Street,
As now dat de rhythm's got me, chillun let's
Swing, swing, swing,
Come on...chillun, let's...swing!

P. 69 

              RED RIVER VALLEY
Down this toilet they say you are flushin'--
Won'tchew light up and set fer a spell?
Cause the toilet it ain't going nowhar,
And the shit hereabouts shore is swell.

P. 70 

One little hustler in San Berdoo,
One little chink run away from the railroad
With his ass just as yellow as Fu Manchu!
One with the clap and one with a goiter,
One with the terminal lepro-see,
Cripple on the right foot, cripple on the left foot,
Crippled up both feet 'n' that makes three!
Well one little fairy, even one bull dyke,
One little nigger, one little kike,
One Red Indian with one buffalo,
And a buffalo hunter from New Mexico...

P. 110 

ic heb u liever dan ên everswîn,
al waert van finen goude ghewracht,

P. 131 

In dulci jubilo
Nun singet und seid froh!
Unsers Herzens Wonne
Leit in praesipio,
Leuchtet vor die Sonne
Matris in gremio.
Alpha es et O.

P. 166 

Knallt ab den Juden Rathenau,
Die gottverdammte Judensau...

P. 177-8 

Oh, don't let it get you,
It will if they let you, but there's
Something I'll bet you can't see--
It's big and it's nasty and it's right over there,
It's waiting to get its sticky claws in your hair!
Oh, the greengrocer's wishing on a rainbow today,
And the dustman is tying his tie...
And it all goes along to the same jolly song,
With a peppermint face in the sky!

With a peppermint face in the sky-y,
And a withered old dream in your heart,
You'll get hit with a piece of the pie-ie,
With the pantomime ready to start!
Oh, the Tommy is sleeping in a snowbank tonight,
And the Jerries are learning to fly--
We can fly to the moon, we'll be higher than noon,
In our polythene home in the sky...

Pretty polythene home in the sky,
Pretty platinum pins in your hand--
Oh your mother's a big fat machine gun,
And your father's a dreary young man....
   (Whispered and staccato):
Oh, the, man-a-ger's suck-ing on a corn-cob, pipe,
And the bankers are, eat-ing their, wives,
All the world's in a daze, while the orchestra plays,
So turn your pockets and get your surprise--

Turn your pockets and get-your surpri-ise,
There was nobody there after all!
And the lamps up the stairway are dying,
It's the season just after the ball...
Oh the palm-trees whisper on the beach somewhere,
And the lifesaver's heaving a sigh,
And those voices you hear, Boy and Girl of the Year,
Are of children who are learning to die...

P. 180 

Hark, the herald angels sing:
Mrs. Simpson's pinched our King...

Part 2 Un Perm' au Casino Hermann Goering

P. 184-5 

         THE ENGLISHMAN'S VERY SHY (Fox-trot)
(Bloat):      The Englishman's very shy,
              He's none of your Ca-sa-no-va,
              At bowling the ladies o-ver,
              A-mericans lead the pack--

(Tantivy):   --You see, your Englishman tends to lack
             That recklessness transatlantic,
             That women find so romantic
             Though frankly I can't see why...

 (Bloat):      The polygamous Yank with his girls galore
               Give your Brit-ish rake or carouser fits,

(Tantivy):    Though he's secretly held in re-ve-rent awe
              As a sort of e-rot-ic Clausewitz....

(Together): If only one could al-ly
            A-merican bedroom know-how
            With British good looks, then oh how
            Those lovelies would swoon and sigh,
            THough you and I know the Englishman's very shy.

P. 193-4 

         THE BALLAD OF TANTIVY MUCKER-MAFFICK
Oh Italian gin is a mother's curse,
And the beer of France is septic,
Drinking Bourbon in Spain is the lonely domain
Of the saint and the epileptic.
White lightning has fueled up many a hearse
In the mountains where ridge-runners dwell--
It's a brew begot in a poison pot,
And mulled with the hammers of Hell!

(Refrain): Oh--Tantivy's been drunk in many a place,
From here to the Uttermost Isle,
And if he should refuse any chance at the booze,
May I die with an hoary-eyed smile!

He's been ossified in oceans of grog,
In the haunts of the wobbly whale--
He's been half-seas over from Durban to Dover,
Wiv four shaky sheets to the gale.
For in London fog or Sahara's sun,
Or the icebound steeps of Zermatt,
Loaded up for a lark to 'is Plimsoll mark
He's been game to go off on a bat!

Yes, Tantivy's been drunk in many a place...&c.

P. 198 

         TOO SOON TO KNOW (Fox-trot)
It's still too soon,
It's not as if we'd kissed and kindled,
Or chased the moon
Through midnight's hush, as dancing dwindled
Into quiet dawns,
Over secret lawns..

Too soon to know
If all that breathless conversation
A sigh ago
Was more than casual flirtation
Doomed to drift away
Into misty gray...

How can we tell,
What can we see?
Love works its spells in hiding,
Quite past our own deciding...

So who's to say
If joyful love is just beginning,
Or if its day
Just turned to night, as Earth went spinning?
Darling, maybe so--
It's TOO SOON TO KNOW.

P. 205 

Oh, THE WORLD OVER THERE, it's
So hard to explain!
Just-like, a dream's-got, lost in yer brain!
Dancin' like a fool through that Forbid-den Wing,
Waitin' fer th' light to start shiver-ing--well,
Who ev-ver said ya couldn't move that way,
Who ev-ver said ya couldn't try?
If-ya find-there's-a-lit-tle-pain,
Ya can al-ways-go-back-a-gain, cause
Ya don't-ev-er-real-ly-say, good-by!

P. 216 

                   VULGAR SONG
Last night I poked the Queen of Transylvan-ia,
Tonight I'll poke the Queen of Burgundee--
I'm bordering on the State of Schizophren-ia,
But Queenie is so very nice to me....
It's pink champagne and caviar for break-fast,
A spot of Chateaubriand wiv me tea--
Ten-shilling panatelas now are all that I can smoke,
I laugh so much you'd think the world was just a silly joke,
So call me what you will, m' lads, but make way for the bloke
That's poked the love-ly little Queen of Transyl-vaayn-yaa!

P. 219 

                   THE PENIS HE THOUGHT WAS HIS OWN
(lead tenor): 'Twas the penis, he thought-was, his own--
    Just a big playful boy of a bone...
    With a stout purple head,
    Sticking up from the bed,
    Where the girlies all played Telephone--
(bass): Te-le-phone....

(inner voices): But They came through the hole in the night,
(bass): And They sweet-talked it clear out of sight--
(inner voices): Out of sight...
(tenor): Now he sighs all alone,
    With a heartbroken moan,
    For the pe-nis, he thought-was, his, owwwwn!
(inner voices): Was, his, own!

P. 232-3 

         PAVLOVIA (Beguine)
It was spring in Pavlovia-a-a,
I was lost, in a maze...
Lysol breezes perfumed the air,
I'd been searching for days.
I found you, in a cul-de-sac,
As bewildered as I--
We touched noses, and suddenly
My heart learned how to fly!

So, together, we found our way,
Shared a pellet, or two...
Like an evening in some café,
Wanting nothing, but you...

Autumn's come, to Pavlovia-a-a,
Once again, I'm alone--
Finding sorrow by millivolts,
Back to neurons and bone.
And I think of our moments then,
Never knowing your name--
Nothing's left in Pavlovia,
But the maze, and the game....

P. 234 

Wash me in the water
That you wash your dirty daughter,
And I shall be whiter than the whitewash on the wall....

P. 240 

    O, O, O,
To-tus flore-o!
Iam amore virginali
Totus ardeo...

P. 247 

With my face shined up-like a microphone
And uh Sta-Comb on my hair,
I'm just as suave-as, an ice-cream cone, say,
I'm Mis-ter Debo-nair....

P. 248 

         JULIA (Fox-trot)
Ju-lia,
Would you think me pe-cul-iar,
If I should fool ya,
In-to givin' me--just-a-little-kiss?

Jool-yaaahh,
No one else could love you tru-lier,
How I'd worship and bejewel ya,
If you'd on-ly give-me just-a-little-kiss!

Ahh Jool-yaaahhhh--
My poor heart grows un-ru-lier,
No one oozier or droller,
Could I be longing for--
What's more--

Ju-lia,
I would shout hallelujah,
To have my Jool-yaaahh,
In-my-arms forevermore.

P. 262-3 

              LOONIES ON LEAVE!
Here we come foax--ready or not!
Put your mask on, and plot your plot,
We're just laughing' and droolin', all-over
    the sleigh,
Like a bunch happy midgets on a holiday!

Oh we're the LOONIES ON LEAVE, and
We haven't a care--
Our brains at the cleaners, our souls at the Fair,
Just freaks on a fur-lough, away from the blues,
As daffy and sharp as--the taps on our shoes!
Hey, we're passin' the hat for--your frowns and
    your tears,
And the fears you thought'd never go 'way--
Oh take it from a loony, life's so dear and swoon,
So just hug it and kiss it to-day!
La-da-da, ya-ta ya-ta ta-ta &c...

Part 3 In the Zone

P. 288 

If you see a train this evening,
Far away against the sky,
Lie down in your wooden blanket,
Sleep, and let the train go by.

Trains have called us, every midnight,
From a thousand miles away,
Trains that pass through empty cities,
Trains that have no place to stay.

No one drives the locomotive,
No one tends the staring light,
Trains have never needed riders,
Trains belong to bitter night.

Railway stations stand deserted,
Rights-of-way lie clear and cold:
What we left them, trains inherit,
Trains go on, and we grow old.

Let them cry like cheated lovers,
Let their cries find only wind.
Trains are meant for night and ruin.
We are meant for song, and sin.

P. 293 

Well good mornin' gang, let's start it
Off with a bang, so long to
Double-u Double-u Two-o-o-o!
Now the fightin's over and we're all in clover
And I'm here ta bring sunshine to you--
Hey there Herman the German, stop yer fussin'
    and squirmin',
Don'tcha know you're join' home ta stay--
No, there's never a frown, here in Rocket,
    Sock-it Town,
Where ev'ry day's a beautiful day--
(Quit kvetchin', Gretchen!)
Go on and have a beautiful daa-aay!

P. 294 

Love never goes away,
Never completely dies,
Always some souvenir
Takes us by sad surprise.

You went away from me,
One rose was left behind--
Pressed in my Book of Hours,
That is the rose I find....

Though it's another year,
Though it's another me,
Under the rose is a drying tear,
Under my linden tree....

Love never goes away,
Not if it's really true,
It can return, by night, by day,
Tender and green and new
As the leaves from a linden tree, love,
    that I left with you.

P. 315 

Ev'ry little Nazi's shooting' pool or plain' pots
On the Mittel-werk Ex-press!
All the funny Fascists just a-twirlin' their mustaches
Where we goin'? Can't you guess?
Headin' for the country just down the tracks,
Never heard o' shortages or in-come-tax,
Gonna be good-times, for Minnie and-Max,
On the Mittel-werk Express!

P. 319 

OH...thur's...
Nazis in the woodwork,
Fascists in the walls,
Little Japs with bucktooth grins
A-gonna grab yew bah th' balls.
Whin this war is over,
How happy Ah will be,
Gearin' up fer thim Rooskies
And Go-round Number Three....

P. 324-5 

         SOLD ON SUICIDE

Well I don't care-for, th' things I eat,
Can't stand that boogie-woogie beat--
But I'm sold, on, suicide!

You can keep Der Bingle too, a-
And that darn "bu-bu-bu-boo,"
Cause I'm sold on suicide!

Oh! I'm not too keen on ration stamps,
Or Mothers who used to be baby vamps,
But I'm sold, on, suicide!

Don't like either, the Cards or Browns,
Piss on the country and piss on the town,
But I'm S.O.S...

P. 363-4 

              THE AQYN'S SONG

I have come from the edge of the world.
I have come from the lungs of the wind,
With a thing I have seen so awesome
Even Džambul could not sing it.
With a fear in my heart so sharp
It will cut the strongest of metals.

In the ancient tales it is told
In a time that is older that Qorqyt,
Who took from the wood of Šyrghaj
The first qobyz, and the first song--
It is told that a land far distant
Is the place of the Kirghiz Light.

In a place where words are unknown,
And eyes shine like candles at night,
And the face of God is a presence
Behind the mask of the sky--
At the tall black rock in the desert,
In the time of the final days.

If the place were not so distant,
If words were known, and spoken,
Then the God might be a gold ikon,
Or a page in a paper book.
But It comes as the Kirghiz Light--
There is no other way to know It.

The roar of Its voice is deafness,
The flaw of Its light is blindness.
The floor of the desert rumbles,
And Its face cannot be borne.
And a man cannot be the same,
After seeing the Kirghiz Light.

For I tell you that I have seen It
In a place which is older than darkness,
Where even Allah cannot reach.
As you see, my beard is an ice-field,
I walk with a stick to support me,
But this light must change us to children.

And now I cannot walk far,
For a baby must learn to walk.
And my words are reaching your ears
As the meaningless sounds of a baby.
For the Kirghiz Light took my eyes,
Now I sense all Earth like a baby.

It is north, for a six-day ride,
Through the steep and death-gray canyons,
Then across the stony desert
To the mountain whose peak is a white džurt.
And if you have passed without danger,
The place of the black rock will find you.

But if you would not be born,
Then stay with your warm red fire,
And stay with your wife, in your tent,
And the Light well never find you,
And your heart will grow heavy with age,
And your eyes will shut only to sleep.

P. 375 

              THE DOPER'S DREAM

Last night I dreamed I was plugged right in
To a bubblin' hookah so high,
When al of a sudden some Arab jinni
Jump up just a-winkin' his eye.
"I'm here to obey all your wishes," he told me,
As for words I was trying to grope.
"Good buddy," I cried, "you could surely oblige me
By turnin' me on to some dope!"
With a bigfat smile he took ahold of my hand,
And we flew down the sky in a flash,
And the first thing I saw in the land where he took me
Was a whole solid mountain of hash!
All the trees was a-bloomin' with pink 'n' purple pills,
Whur the Romilar River flowed by,
To the magic mushrooms as wild as a rainbow,
So pretty that I wanted to cry.
All the girls come to greet us, so sweet in slow motion,
Morning glories woven into their hair,
Bringin' great big handfuls of snowy cocaine,
All their dope they were eager to share.
Well we dallied for days, just a-ballin' and smokin',
In the flowering Panama Red,
Just piggin' on peyote and nutmeat tea,
And those brownies so kind to your head.
Now I could've passed that good time forever,
And I really was fixing to stay,
But you know that
                            jinni turned out, t'be a narco man,
And he busted me right whur I lay.
And he took me back, to this cold, cold world,
'N' now m' prison's whurever I be...
And I dream of the days back in Doperland
And I wonder, will I ever go free?

P. 384 

Jubilee Jim, just a-peddlin' through the country,
Winkin' at the ladies from Stockbridge up to Lee--
Buy your gal a brooch for a fancy gown,
Buggy-whip rigs for just a dollar down,
Hey come along ev'rybody, headin' for the Jubi-lee!

P. 393 

Aquí me pongo a cantar
al compás de la vigüela,
que el hombre que lo desvela
una pena estrordinaria,
como la ave solitaria
con el cantar se consuela.

P. 421-2 

              VICTIM IN A VACUUM!

    Nur...ein...Op-fer!
    Sehr ins Vakuum,
("Won't somebody take advantage of me?")
    Wird niemand ausnut-zen mich, auch?
("Just a slave with nobody to slave for,")
    Nur ein Sklave, ohne Her-rin, (ya-ta ta-ta)
("A-and how th'heck wants ta be, free?")
    Wer zum Teufel die Freiheit, braucht?

Aw, the sodium lights-aren't so bright in Berlin,
I go to the bars dear, but nobody's in!
Oh, I'd much rather bee
In a Greek trage-dee,
Than be a VICTIM IN A VACUUM to-nite!

P. 456-7 

Lookin' for a little fun--
Big old bayou mosquito, oh my you
Shoulda seen what he done!
Poked his head up, under her dress,
Give a little grin and, well I guess,
Things got rough on Buf-falo  Bayou,
Skeeter turn yer meter, down,
All--right--now!
                         Ua ta, ta-ta, ya-ta-ta, ta-ta
Lookin' for a little fun,
Ev-rybody!

--And,
Things got rough on, Buf-falo Bayou,
Skeeter turn yer meter, down,
Hubba hubba--
Skeeter turn yer meter, down!

P. 470 

              WELCOME ABOARD

Welcome aboard, gee, it's a fabulous or-gy
That you just dropped in on, my friend--
We can't recall just how it star-ted,
But there's only one way it can end!
The behavior is bestial, hardly Marie-Celestial,
But you'll fit right in with the crowd,
If you jettison all of those problems,
And keep it hysterically loud!

There are mothers, with their lo-vers,
Sterling tor-ters, from their daught-ers,
Big erec-tions, predilec-tions
That you wouldn't believe,
So put your brain on your sleeve,
And come a-
          board the Titanic, things'll really be manic,
Folks'll panic the second that sunken iceberg is knocked,
Naughty 'n' noisy, and very Walpurgisnacht,
That's how the party will end,
So--welcome aboartd, welcome aboard, my friend!

P. 504 

              BRIGHT DAYS (Fox-trot)

--bright days for the black mar-ket,
That silver 'n' gold makes-it shine!
From the Cor-al Sea to, the sky, blue, Baltic,
Money's the mainspring, that makes it all tick--like a
Blinkin' beacon, there's a pricetag peekin'
From each décolletage dee-vine--
Be she green or scar-let, even Mom's a har-lot, it's the
Good Lord's grand design...
A-and it's sunny days-for, the black, black ma(a)rket,
Cause silver and gold makes it shii-iine!

P. 506 

                          SEA CHANTY

I'm the Pirate Queen of the Baltic Run, and nobody fucks
    with me--
And those who've tried are bones and skulls, and lie beneath
    the sea.
And the little fish like messengers swim in and out their eyes,
Singing, "Fuck ye not with Gory Gnahb and her desperate
    enterprise!"

I'll tangle with a battleship, I'll massacre a sloop,
I've sent a hundred souls to hell in one relentless swoop--
I've seen the Flying Dutchman, and each time we pass, he cries,
"Oh, steer me clear of GOry Gnahb, and her desperate
    enterprise!"

P. 530 

Just a daredevil Desox-yephedrine Daddy
With m'pockets full o' happee daze,
Zoomin' through the Zone, where the wild dogs roam,
Givin' all m'dreams away...
Took the tubes outa my radio-yo,
Don't mean a thing to me--
Wouldn't spend a nickel on the Stars 'n' Stripes, cause I'm coin' my own few free....

Mouth keeps goin', nobody listenin',
Gabbin' at a terrible pace--
Aw, you're so sly, but I wave good-by,
With a shit-eatin' grin on m'face!

Don'tcha ephedrine of me, my honey,
Swoon just to hear my name--
In the curfew cells when all the lights are gone, oh,
Ev'ry thing'll be the same
(Just light the candles)
Ev-rything'll be the same....

P. 541 

Where is the Pope whose staff will bloom for me?
Her mountain vamps me back, with silks and scents,
Her oiled, athletic slaves, her languid hints
Of tortures transubstantiate to sky,
To purity of light--of bonds that sing,
And whips that trail their spectra as they fall.
At weather's mercy now, I find her call
At every turn, at night's foregathering.

I've left no sick Lisaura's fate behind.
I made my last confession as I knelt,
Agnostic, in the radiance of his jewel...
Here, underneath my last and splintering wind,
No song, no lust, no memory, no guilt:
No pentacles, no cups, no holy Fool....

P. 543 

           DOPER'S GREED

Doper's greed,
Oh, doper's greed!
It's the most disgusting' thing I ever seed!
When you're out there feelin' fine,
It'll turn you into swine,
If you ever get a taste of DOPER'S GREED!

P. 547 

I'll tell you it's just --out, --ray, --juss,
Spirit is so --con, --tay, --juss,
Nobody knows their a-ges...

Walkin' through bees of hon --ney,
Throwin' away --that --mon, --ney,
Laughin' at things so --fun --ny,
Spirit's comin' through --to, --you!

Nev --ver, --mind, whatcha hear from your car,
Take a look it just --how --keen --they are,
Nev --ver, --mind, --what, your calendar say,
Ev'rybody's nine months old today! Hey,

Pages are turnin' pages,
Nobody's in --their, --ca, --ges,
Spirit's just so --con, --ta, --gious--
Just let the Spirit --move, --for, --you!

P. 550 

Say a prayer for the common informer,
He came out of a quim, just like yoooou--
Yes be kind what you chortle,
For marks are as mortal
As any, Kilkenny to Kew...
And the next time you sigh in your comfort,
Ask yourself how he's doing, today--
Is it worse being sold,
For those handfuls of gold,
Than to sigh all your real-life, away?

P. 558 

And all the world's busy, this twi-light!
Who knows what morning-streets, our shoes have known?
Who knows, how many friends, we've left, to cry alone?
We have a moment together,
We'll hum this tune for a  day...
Ev'ryone's dancing, in twi-light,
Dancing the bad dream a-way....

P. 584-5 

A pig is a jolly companion,
Boar, sow, barrow, or gilt--
A pig is a pal, who'll boost your morale,
Though mountains may topple and tilt.
When they've blackballed, bamboozled, and burned you,
When they've turned on you, Tory and Whig,
Though you may be thrown over by Tabby or Rover,
You'll never go wrong with a pig, a pig,
You'll never go wrong with a pig!

P. 595-6 

There'll al-ways--be another dollar,
Any way it hap-pens!
If they catch ya nap-pin',
Wake up-with, the dew on the grass
'n' you can hand 'em their ass--
You can make another dollar,
Third eye up on that py-ra-mid,
Oh give a listen kid,
It's just winking' at you, singin', "Piss on through!"

There's a will, there's a way,
Doesn't happen, ev'ry day,
But if ya got-the-brains, those mid-night-trains
'll never whistle your dreams away, hey--

Just flip another dollar,
Heads or tails it'll be all right,
You can lose the fight, but
That ever-lovin' War goes on and on, ya know,
Just follow that dollar and vo-dee, o-do-do!

P. 604 

It's--
Mouthtrip-ping time!
Mouthtrip-ping time!
Time to open up that icebox door--
Oh yes it's
Mouthtrip-ping time,
Mouthtrip-ping time,
And once you've eaten some, you'll come, for more!
Ah, mouthtrip-ping time,
Mouthtrip-ping time!
It's something old, but also very new-w-w--
Life's so sublime,
In mouthtrip-ping time--
We hope you're all mouthtrip-ping, toooooo!

Part 4 The Counterforce

P. 632 

Oh I'm the Eagle of Tooting,
Bombing and shooting,
And nobody can bring me down!
Old Kaiser Bill, you're over the hill,
Cause I'm comin' into your home town!
Tell all the fräuleins and mademoiselles
To keep a light in the window for me...
Cause I'm the Eagle of Tooting, just root-toot-tooting.
And flyin' on to victo-ree!

P. 639 

I dream that I have found us both again,
With spring so many strangers' lives away,
And we, so free,
Out walking by the sea,
With someone else's paper words to say....

They took us at the gates of green return,
Too lost by then to stop, and ask them why--
Do children meet again?
Does any trace remain,
Along the superhighways of July?

P. 652-3 

They've been sleeping on your shoulder,
They've been crying in your beer,
And They've sung you all Their sad lullabies,
And you thought They wanted sympathy and didn't care
    for souls,
And They never were about to put you wise.
But I'm telling you today,
That it ain't the only way,
And there's shit you won't be eating any more--
They've been paying you to love it,
But the time has come to shove it,
And it isn' t a resistance, it's a war.

-- 

Light one up before you mosey out that door,
Once you cuddled 'em and kissed 'em,
But we're bringin' down Their system,
And it isn't a resistance, it's a war....

P. 661 

Light-up, and-shine, you--in-cande-scent Bulb Ba-bies!
Looks-like ya got rabies
Just lay there foaming' and a-screamin' like a bunch
    little demons,
I'm deliv'rin' unto you a kingdom of roaches,
And no-thin' ap-proaches
That joyful feelin' when-you're up-on the celin'
Lookin' down--night and day--on the kingdom your survey,
They'll come out 'n' love ya till the break of dawn,
But they run like hell when that light comes on!
So shine on, Baby Bulbs, you're the wave of the fu-ture,
And I'm here to recruit ya,
In m'great crusade,
Just sing along Babies--come-on-and-join-the-big-pa-rade!

P. 670 

Pa--ra--nooooiiiia, Pa-ra-noia!
Ain't it grand ta see, that good-time face, again!
Pa-ra-noi-ya, boy oh boy, yer
Just a bit of you-know-what
From way back when!
Even Goya, couldn't draw ya,
Not the way you looked, just kicking' in that door--
Call a lawyer, Paranoia,
Lemme will my ass to you, for-ever-more!

-- 

Pa- ra- noi-- (clippety-clippety-clippety cl[ya,]op!)
Pa- ra- noi-- (shufflestomp! shufflestomp! shufflestomp!
    [and] cl[ya,]op! clickety cl[Ain't]ick) it grand (clop)
    ta (clop) see (clippyclop) yer good-time face again! etc.

P. 684 

Just a fool-who-never-wins, at love,
Though-he-plays, most-ev', ry night...
A loser-to-the-Ones, Above,
Who stack-the-cards, of wrong, and right....
Oh the loser never bets-it-all, and-he never-plays,
    to win,
He knows if-once, you don't-succeed, you can al-ways
    lose-again!
Just a loser at-the-game, of love...
Spending night after night a-lo-o-o-one!

P. 690 

How-dy neighbor, how-dy pard!
Ain't it lonely, say ain't it hard,
Passin' by so silent, day-after-day, with-out, even
    a smile-or, a friendly word to say? Oh, let me
Tell ya bud-dy, tell ya ace,
Things're fal-lin', on their face--
Maybe we should stick together part o' the way, and
Skies'll be brighter some day!
Now ev'rybody--

P. 699 

                   MY DOPER'S CADENZA

If you hear, a "box" so sweet,
Play-in' tunes-with, a peppy beat,
That's just MY DOPER'S, CADEN-ZA-A-A-A!

Melo-o-dees, that getcha so,
Where'd they come from? I don't know!
(h-ha) It's just MY DOPER'S CADEN-ZA(A)A-A-A!

              | Now I know it's not as keen as old Rossini
This is       |                        [snatch of La Gazza Ladra here],
the "ca-      | Nor as grand as Bach, or Beethove-or Brahms
denza" part-- | (bubububoo[oo] oo [sung to opening of Beethoven 5th, with full band]),
              | But I'd give away the fames, of a hundred Harry
              |      James
              |      ...wait, fame? of a hundred Jame? Jameses...
              |      uh...fameses? Hmm...

[scherzoso]   I-hi-hif this little-song, can-bring, you-to-my arms!

              Dum de dum, de-dum de dee,
              Oh, it's better than a symphony--
              It's MY DOPER'S CADENZA, to yoooouuu!

P. 731 

Oh gimme some o' that acne, à-la-mode,
Eat so much-that Ah, yes' explode!
Say there buddih you can chow all nite, on
Toe-jam tarts 'n' Diarrhea Dee-lite...

P. 754-5 

Last week I threw a pie at someone's Momma,
Last night I threw a party for my mind,
Last thing I knew that 6:02 was screaming' over my head,
Or it might've been th' 11:59...

[Refrain]:

Too many chain-link fences in the evening,
Too many people shivering' in the rain,
They tell me that you finally got around to have your
    baby,
And it don't look like I'll see your face again.
Sometimes I wanna go back north, to Humboldt County--
Sometimes I think I'll go back east, to see my kin...
There's times I think I almost could be happy,
If I knew you thought about me, now and then....

P. 776 

There is a Hand to turn the time,
Though thy Glass today be run,
Till the Light that hath brought the Towers low
Find the last poor Pret'rite one...
Till the Riders sleep by ev'ry road,
All through our crippl'd Zone,
With a face on ev'ry mountainside,
And a Soul in ev'ry stone....

Now everybody--
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