We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

a benny hymn

from desperate songs by great friend of mine

/

lyrics

“Save me: my bleeding eyes, my hollow skull!

“Heal me: my aching teeth, my weeping soul!

“A man fell from the sky a month ago. They tell me he has hooves for feet, talons for hands, the eyes of a fly, and the snout of a rat. They tell me he is still a man.

“He looked tall on his soapbox and I couldn’t make out his features from where I stood, but his words were dripping, falling, crawling right up into my ears. They tickled those tiny hairs:

‘My knees are raw, close to bone!
But what a great thing I have been shown!
For God gave me a great gift!
I will take your problems, blow them away,
and let the drift!’

“O my god, I laughed—I thought of a solar eclipse I saw as a boy; eyes pressed to that cardboard box. Mercury shining red—alive. A sun-flare in a textbook I came across—I laughed while the ground resisted my feet and the wind blew against my face.

“I will never forget my place—my father was a sailor, rough hands and wind swept hair. My mother was a whore; she knew that life was sometimes too hard to bear. I am their son—a calm, a whisper of wind, a storm of passion, a calculated whim—when the earth sways I do not run, I walk with adjusting feet and quarter bent knees, picking a path down a narrow street.

“I laughed until I saw the surgeon’s kit—a child with his hands sewn together, mumbling, ‘I will live forever.’ With removed brain, eyes, and tongue—with broken legs, so he couldn’t run.

“I wailed and screamed, cursed that man who let death define his name: ‘A shame to life you are—I see that gold wrapped around your fingers: The bondage of kings! The envy of men! Pilfered from the poor to pay for a wreck! Cure the mind with the wave of a hand, but let the body still, fester, and rot!’

“They still tell me he is a man. I weep for the lot, the ostrich.”

credits

from desperate songs, released March 7, 2009

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

great friend of mine Orlando

contact / help

Contact great friend of mine

Report this track or account

If you like great friend of mine, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Fabiana Palladino stops by to talk about her mesmeric debut LP.
listen now