Joanna Newsom - Emily [pt 1] (11.16.06)

(5a of 10)
Live @ the First Unitarian Church Sanctuary - Philadelphia, PA November 16th, 2006 eattapes.com

The meadowlark and the chim-choo-ree and the sparrow
Set to the sky in a flying spree, for the sport over the pharaoh
A little while later the Pharisees dragged comb through the meadow
Do you remember what they called up to you and me, in our window?

There is a rusty light on the pines tonight
Sun pouring wine, lord, or marrow
Down into the bones of the birches
And the spires of the churches
Jutting out from the shadows
The yoke, and the axe, and the old smokestacks and the bale and the barrow
And everything sloped like it was dragged from a rope
In the mouth of the south below

We've seen those mountains kneeling, felten and grey
We thought our very hearts would up and melt away
From that snow in the nighttime
Just going
And going
And the stirring of wind chimes
In the morning
In the morning
Helps me find my way back in
From the place where I have been

And, Emily - I saw you last night by the river
I dreamed you were skipping little stones across the surface of the water
Frowning at the angle where they were lost, and slipped under forever
In a mud-cloud, mica-spangled, like the sky'd been breathing on a mirror

Anyhow - I sat by your side, by the water
You taught me the names of the stars overhead that I wrote down in my ledger
Thoough all I knew of the rote universe were those Pleiades loosed in December
I promised you I'd set them to verse so I'd always remember

That the meteorite is a source of the light
And the meteor's just what we see
And the meteoroid is a stone that's devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee

And the meteorite's just what causes the light
And the meteor's how it's perceived
And the meteoroid's a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to thee

You came and lay a cold compress upon the mess I'm in
Threw the window wide and cried, "Amen! Amen! Amen!"
The whole world stopped to hear you hollering
You looked down and saw now what was happening

The lines are fading in my kingdom
(Though I have never known the way to border them in)
So the muddy mouths of baboons and sows and the grouse and the horse and the hen
Grope at the gate of the looming lake that was once a tidy pen
And the mail is late and the great estates are not lit from within
The talk in town's becoming downright sickening

In due time we will see the far butte lit by a flare
I've seen your bravery, and I will follow you there
And row through the nighttime
Gone healthy
Gone healthy all of a sudden
In search of the midwife
Who could help me
Who could help me
Help me find my way back in
There are worries where I've been

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Joanna
• Newsom
• Emily
• Ys
• First
• Unitarian
• Church

[teaClocks]

Sweet Jesus, I love this woman's music.

[therestoomuchlove]

i love this song. thanks for posting. your so lucky to have seen her!

[ISawLifeTwice]

Her music is a story.I love how she can barely contain the pain,and compassion and excitement in the songs themselves,how she lives inside of them.

Warbling,and extending the words.Beautiful.

Ys,much like a secret sunken city Like Atlantis.So much to interpret and understand by just looking at the cover of it :)

[PoetryAddict8]

my name is emily... There is no bigger honor in the world at this moment

[eire2005]

Sweet Jesus is correct.

[FUZZYisBIG]

@larcaster Good luck kissing your wife and keeping your eye.

[halcyonab]

This is a fantastic performance, she sounds so much more natural live.

I've never been a fan of her studio work because it makes her sound like a screeching child demon, but she has a great sound going here. Her music is very open, and I don't think the tight sound she gets in a studio environment does her justice.

If she could replicate this on an album, I'd buy her the fuckin' moon.

[behindtonsils]

One of her most achingly beautiful songs.

[olivepalm9]

@larcaster I'm sorry you've contracted a horrible disease called trollism. The symptoms chose to strike and left a horrible trail of comments on one of the most beautiful live performances on YouTube.

[nelson3300]

@partingofthesensory3 lol when you are a performer, seeing that kind of praise makes you laugh honestly :) She is just a lovely lady, nothing more... why do you have such an issue with attributing beauty and creativity to the human race? thats what we are at the core :)

[larcaster]

@coolpiza through conversion to judaism, i pretend to add these genes to my succesors. This isn't, of course, an enterprise you can accomplish in just one generation. As you must know, any human individual just passes half of his genes to the offspring, even so, through repetition, my genes will eventually reach a high level of similarity with those of a pure jew. This leads us to the other part, which consists in convincing the inexperienced young to continue with my intentions, for our welfare