You Happy Puppet - Blind Man's Zoo

[ music: robert buck/words: natalie merchant ] How did they teach you to be just a happy puppet dancing on a string? How did you learn everything that comes along with slavish funnery? Tell me something, if the world is so insane, Is it making you sane again to let another man tug at the […]

Trouble Me - Blind Man's Zoo

[ music: dennis drew/words: natalie merchant ] [ backing vocals: jevetta steele ] Trouble me, disturb me with all your cares and you worries. Trouble me on the days when you feel spent. Why let your shoulders bend underneath this burden when my back is sturdy and strong? Trouble me. Speak to me, don’t mislead […]

The Lion’s Share - Blind Man's Zoo

[ music: natalie merchant & dennis drew/words: natalie merchant ] Can i be unhappy? Look at what i see: a beast in furs and crowned in luxury. He’s a wealthy man in the poorest land, a self-appointed king, And there’s no complaining while he’s reigning. The lambs are bare of fleece and cold; the lion […]

The Big Parade - Blind Man's Zoo

[ music: jerome augustyniak/words: natalie merchant ] Detroit to d.c. night train, capitol, parts east. Lone young man takes a seat. And by the rhythm of the rails, reading all his mother’s mail from a city boy in a jungle town postmarked saigon. He’ll go live his mother’s dream, join the slowest parade he’ll ever […]

Poison In The Well - Blind Man's Zoo

[ music: dennis drew/words: natalie merchant ] Tell me what’s gone wrong. I tilt my head there, under the faucet, but when i turn it on — dry as paper. Call the neighbors. Who’s to blame for what’s going on? In the dark without a clue i’m just the same as you. O, they tell […]

Please Forgive Us - Blind Man's Zoo

[ music: robert buck/words: natalie merchant ] "mercy, mercy," why didn’t we hear it? "mercy, mercy," why did we read it buried on the last page of our morning papers? The plan was drafted, drafted in secret. Gunboats met the red tide, driven to the rum trade for the army that they created. But the […]

Jubilee - Blind Man's Zoo

[ music: natalie merchant/words: natalie merchant ] [ musical arrangement: jason osborn/first violin: krista bennion feeney/second violin: mitsuru tsubota/viola: louise schulman/cello: myron lutzke/bassoon: dennis godburn/harpsicord: robert wolin All belonging to the sait luke’s chamber orchestra)/classical guitar: scott kuney/double bass: frank luther (all directed by jason osborn) ] He fills the flower vases, trims the candle […]

Headstrong - Blind Man's Zoo

[ music: natalie merchant/words: natalie merchant ] To your common sense firm arguments I won’t listen to your voice of reason trying to change my mind. I mind my feelings and not your words. Didn’t you notice i’m so headstrong even when i know i’m wrong? Take this to your heart and into your head […]

Hateful Hate - Blind Man's Zoo

[ music: natalie merchant/words: natalie merchant ] In the dark night a giant slumbered untouched for centuries ’til awakened by a white man’s cry: "this is the eden i was to find." There were lands to be charted and to be claimed for a crown, When a hero was made by the length he could […]

Eat For Two - Blind Man's Zoo

[ music: natalie merchant/words: natalie merchant ] O, baby blankets and baby shoes, baby slippers, baby spoons, walls of baby blue. Dream child in my head is a nightmare born in a borrowed bed. Now i know lightning strikes again. It struck me once, then struck me dead. My folly grows inside of me. I […]