Matt Waters - Rapunzel Lyrics

Well it was forty-five
Past midnight
The bouncers had just
Settled a fight
You materialize
In the stage-light
Sit at the piano
And plink That's Life

I swear you appear to be
A mirage to me
Wearing an Arabian dress
And rosary beads
With a pink guitar pick
Between your teeth
Playing like falling rain
Patient certainty

Then you spit the pick
In the palm of your hand
And stride over
To the microphone stand
Tune the house guitar
Strum This Land is Your Land
Singing your own lyrics
About Afghanistan

Hey Rapunzel
Come down
From your tower
Return to me
At this witching hour
Sing to me
Your song of tender power
I need you

You sing like a volcano
Erupting honey
Lyrics raw
Concerning blood money
Your closing line
Eurydice can judge me
You put me in tune
With my heartbeat

Well I approach the stage
After your set
You're like lightening up there
What can I expect?
I'm just a thin white man
You could see as a threat
But you're convivially curious
All you want's a drink and a friend

Well we talk until
Its thirty past three
You, the bartender, and me
A holy trinity
I ask for a date tomorrow
Please be free
Let's talk forever about
Religion, death, and comedy

Hey Rapunzel
May I have
Your address?
I didn't get your number
And I must confess
Without your voice
I am under duress
I need you

Well her eyes turned down
And she calmly explained
She lives in a tower
And can only descend for a stage
If there's no stage
She evaporates
It was the bargain she made
To reverse her fate

I ask Fred
If he slipped us some LSD
He said come on now
I'm a sud-slinger of some dignity
She left her tip
Said 'I Knew you wouldn't believe me'
I always get your admiration
I never have your sympathy

She doesn't say goodbye
Just departs immediately
And I'm still fumbling for an apology
Not thinking expediently
I'm trailing her silhouette
Shouting please, wait for me
And when I get to the sidewalk
I only see the indifferent city

Hey Rapunzel
I built a stage
In the middle of Washington Square
And now the skaters can't skate
Nor can the folkies and junkies
Congregate
Until you re-animate
I need you

She's such a knockout talent
And she actually talked to me
But now she's gone and I'm just staring
At this family of gutter leaves
Dancing and swirling
Then falling in the breeze
Performing for that moment
Before retiring for eternity

All these nights I search
But haven't found her again
Walking uptown to down
From Silvana to the Bitter End
If I could have believed
Or made myself pretend
I know she was real
The prophesized amend

All the while dreaming
About us on a fire escape
Her hair between my fingers
Upon her back a starry cape
Then we hold each other close
And simply fly away
Above the bodies and the buildings
This city of love and hate