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Mecca Normal LYRICS by Jean SmithThe Observer Kill Rock Stars, April 2006 David Lester: guitar Jean Smith: vocals, piano, keyboard, synth, percussion, sax, guitar 1. I'm Not Into Being the Woman You're With While You're Looking for the Woman You Want 2. Attraction is Ephemeral 3. I'll Call You 4. Quick Shuttle 5. 1922 6. Fallen Skier 7. His Own Madness 8. The Dark Side of Maria 9. Arsenal 10. The Caribou & the Oil Pipeline 11. The Message 12. The Observer I'll Call You I want cold and impersonal sex during which I'll be pretending I'm with someone else I only care about my satisfaction I will jerk you around to get as much for myself as I can If you object -- I'll be on my way If you dare to communicate with me after I've let you know where you stand I will belittle you I will disrespect you with comments that I call 'joking' -- if you don't get it you need to lighten up You will play by my rules and I'm not into telling you what my rules are I'll call you I'll call you I'm very highly evolved I'm very attractive I have a lot of options that I am keeping open so don't expect me to treat you as if you're someone special -- you're not I'll call you I'll call you I'll let you know when it's your turn again until then, let's be friends I'll call you I'll call you Attraction is Ephemeral "I'm intrigued by you," he says. "You're beautiful. Beautiful." "Thank-you," I say, wondering if this is just another line. Just another game. Wondering how much recent deception informs my reaction. We connected right from the start. You can't make this happen. You can't make this happen. Can you? Someone wouldn't be able to make this happen. It gets chilly. We step inside. I make more tea, plain tea. Cheap tea. He says, "I love a woman who adorns herself with jewelry. I like a woman who has lots of variation in her wardrobe. I love good shoes on a woman and beautiful lingerie." He suggests I visit a website of Austrian designed underwear. "It's expensive, but it's beautiful, it's beautiful," he says. I stand there by the stove, in my slutty outfit, the total of which probably cost me $15, including my $1 panties and my Value Village bra. "What do you wear during the day, when you're working here alone?" he asks. "Old levis cords, a t-shirt, paint splattered hush puppies with holes in the soles." I guess I could have said, "Prada, darling." Adornment. He's an architect of many things. He's going to bring his grand piano out of storage. In bed he tires to put the condom on. He curses. I try to see what he's doing, but I'm pinned under him. I hear him stretching the condom like he's making a balloon animal. He gives up and I lie there under him. Two hundred and thirty pounds. He says, "Am I crushing you?" "Sort of," I say. He gets off of me. In his deep, sexy voice he says, "I want to please you." "You do please me," I say, as one does. "I mean really please you," he says. "OK," I say, and then we both laugh, me 'til I cry. He says, "We have time. Don't warn me. Don't warn me. Don't warn me about yourself." "OK," I say. Does that include not telling him that I'm too cheap to take the bus so I walk twenty minutes to get to the store and that I carry my groceries home in my packsack -- which is fine with me -- and I don't buy crackers and cheese and pickles and cookies because they are too expensive. I know the prices on almost everything in the little shops -- if oranges are 59 cents a pound here and the same ones 49 cents a pound across the street. I will cross the street to save whatever it is on my 2 oranges -- and brag about. He says, "We have time. He's going to bring his grand piano out of storage. We have time and you're beautiful and you're intriguing." And I say, "Thank you." Wondering if this is just another really long line, another really long and complicated line. He's the architect of another really long line. Another really long line. The Observer I close one eye to lose my depth of field I am so limited to the infinite unravel of the universe hinged to meaning in patterns and code I am thirsty -- so thirsty someone near the front of the bus says, "Thirsty." The woman in the shawl teal and sepia shawl stands up to exit the bus she slings a cloth bag over her shoulder knitting needles poking out The little boy behind me says, "Why sideways?" The boy's father says, "Do you mean what is sideways?" "No," the boy says. "Why is it called sideways anyway?" I am so limited to the infinite unravel of the universe hinged to meaning in pattern and code cold cold code Young drunk guys with wrap-around sunglasses sit near me at the back of the bus stinking of booze speaking maybe Greek I look out the window water so blue I close one eye to lose my depth of field I am so limited so limited to the infinite unravel of the universe hinged to meaning in pattern and code -- cold cold cold code I am thirsty -- so thirsty someone near the front of the bus says, "Thirsty." During World War II men wrote home to women waiting One man's elegant hand on paper wrote, "What I miss most is talking with you about the beauty of everything." Everyone gets off the bus before I do I am so limited so limited to the infinite unravel ravel, unravel of the universe hinged to meaning in pattern and code -- cold cold code Everyone gets off the bus before I do The Caribou and the Oil Pipeline You're in your car You're running out of gas You pull in to get the gas 3000 miles north of here 100,000 caribou are heading for the sea Bears and ravens follow This is where the US wants to build an oil pipeline It will disrupt the caribou migration You see it on TV -- there's nothing you can do You can't change the world so you change the channel but in your mind, one fact stands alone: A 6 month supply of oil versus 20,000 years of migration In a dream you see the caribou crossing an icy river, exhaling steam they dream themselves up and over steep and barren hills I didn't think I could write a hit about the caribou and the oil pipeline, but I had to try You're in your car You're running out of gas You pull in to get the gas What if? What if? I'm Not Into Being the Woman You're With While You're Looking For the Woman You Want I forget I forget if his eyes are green or grey or blue or brown So we get together get together He tells me a woman he used to be with was really funny He looks at me to reiterate, "I mean really funny." Haven't heard him laugh yet Says he hasn't found what he's looking for yet So we get together get together I'm not into being the woman you're with while you're looking for the woman you want Says he's looking for a like-minded woman after he's met me I need to figure out how to get his CDs back to him I'm not into being the woman you're with while you're looking for the woman you want Crass and insincere The Message Mother Africa walking along with Stephen Lewis the dancers are dancing towards the camera hips moving real fast A young woman in a school uniform is singing in front of the choir singing a song perhaps she wrote for this occasion this television opportunity make no mistake it's directed at you and me. She sings, "Why me, why him, why her? Why me, why him, why her?" But the real question underlies the theme. We know you have the drugs you keep them under lock and key in the west away from us. And you choose who lives and dies. Why him, why her, why me? Why her, why him, and why do you choose?" Mother Africa takes off her large lens glasses and wipes her eyes Stephen Lewis doesn't look he's going to cry. He takes the message back back to where it's heard. Why me, why him, why her? You choose who lives and dies. Why do you choose who lives, who dies? Who dies? Mecca Normal NEWSLETTER |
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