Cosy Sheridan - Song Lyrics: My Fence & My Neighbor

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Lyrics for songs on Sometimes I Feel Too Much and Pretty Bird can be found on Cosy's Bandcamp page. (At Bandcamp, hold your cursor over the song title and "lyrics" will appear to the right.) All songs ©Cosy Sheridan, Cosyng Music/BMI

MY FENCE AND MY NEIGHBOR

When the neighbors first moved in
I’m the one who built the fence
I’m the kind who can hold out her hand
if I know my line of defense

We are living in interesting time
the sky falls every day
I used to think my fence
could make the world go away

This morning all I know
is I want to fall down and cry
this morning I don’t need my fence
I need my neighbor on the other side

I’ve seen my neighbor with her children in the morning
driving them to school
I’ve seen her play a game in the driveway
she knows how to set and bend a rule

I don’t know that much about her
but I’ve dropped in and we’ve talked at her store
and each time I come away
wanting to know a little bit more

This morning all I know
is I want to fall down and cry
this morning I don’t need my fence
I need my neighbor on the other side

I’m not the first one to a protest
I’m the last one with a sign
I mostly want to be left in peace
to make my pretty designs

I don’t know from trade agreements
I don’t understand all I hear
but I wasn’t certain when the neighbors moved in
now I am glad they are here

This morning all I know
is I want to fall down and cry
this morning I don’t need my fence
I need my neighbor on the other side

DON'T WALK AWAY FROM LOVE
(CD: The Horse King)

There's a lot to be lost in this great wide world
Don't walk away from love
It might not look like you planned
your family might not understand

Don't walk away from love
We move around the wheel
Up and down how we feel
Don't walk away from love

We are darkness, we are light
we don't always do it right
Don't walk away from love

Life is often a mess
sometimes more, sometimes less
Don't walk away from love
Of course there will be fears
and problems through the years

Don't walk away from love
When you have found it
work everything around it
Don't walk away from love

Any fortune can waver
do yourself a favor
Don't walk away from love

All the ways we get sick
all the ways we get poor
Don't walk away from love

All the little tiny pieces
and we don't know what they're for
Don't walk away from love

There are things you can't imagine
waiting in store
Don't walk away from love

It's a boat across the river
to a shining shore
an open hand and an open door
let go of your heart
just a little bit more
Don't walk away from love
Don't walk away from love

DO YOU LOVE THE LIFE YOU'VE MADE
(CD: Eros)

Smash the dishes in the kitchen
the alter in the cage
why not have a life that gets up off the page
Open up your mouth
sing your most fervent hope
how much of your life will you stuff down your throat

Everything unravels
Everything will fade
Do you love the life you've made

It's a risk and a leap and then a hole in the net
It's a miracle you have not given up yet
It seems to reward arrogant fools
It blows up in your face
it doesn't follow the rules

Everything unravels
Everything will fade
Do you love the life you've made

Do you need a moment of rest?
Tension holds you upright
Tension drives this song
All you do right
meets all you do wrong
All the ways we can die
all the ways we can live
The one wrong move
it's a lot to forgive

Everything unravels
Everything will fade
Do you love the life you've made

*******

THE POMEGRANATE SEED CD :: LYRICS
words & music by Cosy Sheridan ~ ©COSY SHERIDAN / COSYNG MUSIC

THE POMEGRANATE SEED

I swallowed a seed in the dark long ago
a girl who needs her mother will do anything she's told
it was Hades, his horses', then it was my cries
the innocent losses and the breaking of the ties

CHORUS:
Mother do you follow
Mother do I lead
Mother I have swallowed
The pomegranate seed

You weep when I visit for the damage that was done
when I leave your fields in autumn,
you're not the only weeping one
for I can still hear that frightened young girl
calling out for rescue from the underworld

CHORUS

In the darkness and the heat
in that sacrificial deep
he said "Open, you are the seed.
In your mother's daylight
there is wrong and there is right
but here is just desire and need."

And for all I lost I know where it all starts
the seed finds life in the dark

CHORUS

DOROTHY AND EVE

Dorothy met Eve
at a fork in the yellow brick road
she said, I'm going to see the Wizard
I hear he's great.
Eve said, I've met him
and whatever you do
just don't tell him what you ate.

Dorothy asked Eve,
Should I go left here or go right?
Eve said, listen to my story
before you take my advice
I was thrown out for an
overcurious bite

They say I have a dangerous appetite.
But what I learned from the apple I ate
is there might be innocence
but there are no mistakes
There's always a safe easy thing to believe
so question what you find
behind the curtain, Dorothy.

Dorothy said, I'm just looking for a happy ending.
Eve said, Hollywood was always good at pretending
but when the movie is over
and Dorothy you disappear
Judy Garland will be left with all of her fears.

Poor Judy her happy endings
they were riddled with doubt
she ate the wrong thing
and she got thrown out
The end of the rainbow had nowhere to hide
Judy looked behind the curtain
and she did not survive.

THE LITTLE TRAIN

The little train that could was the first book they bought me
I think I can I think I can the first words they taught me
Carry all the people where they want to go
Good little trains don't say no

I think I can all the way to the top
I think I can never says stop
I think I can makes the wheels go round
I think I can slow down

How many little trains can't remember what it's for
they climb every hill to just find one more
it's day with no ending, it's a life that won't fit
It's a list of things to do that just won't quit

CHORUS

What if God isn't watching
What if life isn't fair
What if I cannot get a gold star
from the Great Out There

The little train that could said what if I sit still
if I do not blindly rush up every hill
I'm not tied to the track, I'm not tied to the story
I'm not burning out the engine
All the way to glory

CHORUS

ALL ALONE WITH A BATHINGSUIT

All alone in the dressing room
I'm not having much fun
the only consolation
is I'm probably not the only one
wondering why I bother with the battle I am fighting
the naked truth in this fluorescent lighting
me and my affirmations, we're going to have to re-group
why did I have to come in here and try on this bathing suit

I felt ok until I came in here
This body's the right size most of the year
but now I'm looking at the picture they have on the tag
might as well cut arm and leg holes in a paper bag
like the cover of Cosmo and Diet Coke ad
makes me just a little lonesome and a little mad

I gave myself a pep talk the other night
I said it's just a bathing suit, you will be alright
all the things I like about who I have become
in this dressing room I can't remember a single one
cause I am all alone with this bathing suit

You would think that a woman of my intelligence and age
could summon up a little self-righteous shopper's rage
but as I lose the will to live in front of the mirror
all the ways they have me hooked become clearer and clearer
and if I follow my thought down to the root

it doesn't have much to do with this bathing suit

BARBIE

Dear Mattel, I'm writing you this letter
I have some ideas on how to make Barbie better
so in this envelope I have enclosed a list
on how to make Barbie more like women who really exist

So let's make a Barbie who always has to pee
with a body succumbing to gravity
let's give her some problems with water retention
and fantasies she will not mention

Some facial hair and sensible shoes
and feet big enough she could really use
you built Barbie a front end
that's really quite impressive
but it's hard to think of nursing
with something so aggressive

And while we're on the subject
who could ever pretend
there's anything natural
about Barbie rear end

The kids are going to ask
sooner or later
so let's give Barbie her own vibrator
let's be compassionate, let's be realistic
whoever made Ken was a little sadistic

Dear Mattel,
you made Barbie an impressive sight
but if those proportions were real
she couldn't walk upright
she'd be crawling on her hands and knees
is it really so demanding
to want a role model who is capable of standing.

IPHIGENIA

When I was 15, 65 pounds is all I weighed
my religion was 500 calories a day
Me and my friends we started a webpage
there's a picture you can see every bone in my ribcage

We called it the fight club
welcome to our fast
starvation the sensation that will last
we read the magazines where the teens can learn how
I wonder if they care where I am now

CHORUS:
I am Iphigenia, the daughter you lost
for all you earned, I am the cost
Ruling the world has a very high price
I am Iphigenia, the sacrifice

They say if I get better, I can go home soon
my mother reads me stories in my hospital room
about goddesses and girls who can fly
I heard her tell my father, 'What do we do if she dies?'

We read about the Trojan War last night
Iphigenia, killed by her father so his army would fight
she died so they could sail off to his war
another girl who learned what her country wanted her for

CHORUS

She died so the big boys could win
sacrificed for a good westerly wind
someone got rich telling me to get thin
just looks like a different war from this bed I'm in

CHORUS

CORDELIA

I was Cordelia, before I died
I was the apple of my father's eye
The jewel of his kingdom
damn my truth and my pride
I was Cordelia, if only I'd lied.

I was Cordelia, the daughter of the King
if I'd done what he wanted, I'd still have everything
but love was very black and white
in my innocence of youth
I was a loaded weapon in the service of truth.

I was Cordelia, I thought I did right
but I sent my father off into a long dark night
If I'd been the good daughter, if I'd played the right part
you can bring down a kingdom with one honest heart.

If only the future held nothing to fear
if only love was always kind
and the truth was always clear
if only we could tell them just what they want to hear
I was Cordelia, the daughter of Lear.

THE LOSING GAME

I was raised with the tv on
on young long lean and blonde
beauty queens with high heels
you've come a long way baby, how does it feel
are you proud to be living in the USA
nothing beats a great pair of legs
Be all you can be, don't be more than an 8
stretch yourself out, you're not the right shape

You're a little bit bigger, you could be smaller,
you could be thinner if you could get taller
just a little less, make you a little more
give you that little look they're looking for
if you go out where they say go in
it's a losing game you don't want to win

Little girls counting calories
want to look like the ladies they see on tv
you never know what your nature intended
your natural shape has been suspended
by diet soda and Dexatrim
makes your hair fall out but at least you're thin
what ever happened to a feminine line
came between you and your Calvin Klein’s

CHORUS

So say goodbye to the hourglass shape
full figure girls you're all out of shape
I have learned not to care what the pictures say
I was born with this body it won't go away
I don't need a diet, I would need a machine
to look like the women in those magazines
no one ever called me skin and bones
I'm not a frame, I'm a finished home

DEMETER'S LOST DAUGHTER

Follow me down to the River Styx
Look deep into the water
when Persephone appears on the riverbank
tell her, I am another lost daughter.

Tell her, my life never looked anything like my mother's
I never fit into the tribe
I have come down to ask the underworld
how to be more alive

CHORUS:
I think I found the answer
it's a bit of a surprise
we are blessed when we are fallen
we don't always have to rise

I'll be the queen of the bump in the road
of the heroes who never win
I'll be proud to be called a woman with a belly
she is not holding in

There's a certain sense of freedom
in a total loss of hope
you can miss a lot when you tie a knot
in the end of every rope.

CHORUS

THE UNDERWORLD

It's a long way in, a long way down
there's a lot of loss, before the found
There's a softest side to the hardest part
there's a reason the world cuts a hole in your heart

CHORUS:
The heroes have always been wounded
and the wounded have always known
we are always arriving
and always leaving home

At the bottom of the wheel
on the floor of the world
is the place where pain
is made into pearl

It's a long way in, a long way down
there's a lot of loss, before the found
There's a softest side to the hardest part
there's a reason the world cuts a hole in your heart

SHARP OBJECTS

I got something I don't think I deserve
it came up from behind in the big wide world
little girls are made of sugar and spice
and other things that aren't very nice

It's got me frightened can you hear I'm scared
I wonder if God's out to get me
I'd believe the world is a random thing
but whoever's in charge won't let me

CHORUS:
And the damage is done, mama won't you cry
tell your little girl it's gonna be all right
put a good word in God's ear
He left a lot of sharp objects down here

I found a little pink rock in the desert last year
it looked like nothing else out there
I thought that it might be a very good sign
little pink rocks don't chase off what sneaks up from behind

We need a childproof cap on the big wide world
don't sell it to minors, or nice little girls
should be a very hard place to get in
step on a mine, you can't go home again

There are moments I've waged, those I've won
I fight my own battles if I know they've begun
I didn't think I slept on a battle ground
candy from strangers, mama, look what I found
and if little girls are made of sugar and spice
I'm made of other things now they aren't very nice

CHORUS

BAD CLICHÉ

I have an uncle, he's a dirty old man
I grew up with a bad cliché
I have learned to find other things to do
on family holidays.

I have tried to love the sinner
and only hate the sin.
But whoever wrote that never got caught
in a dark corner with him.

I keep a baseball bat under my bed
and I always leave on a light
The same time each year
I get up and check the locks
sometimes three times at night.

And if God helps those who help themselves
where was God in my formative years
Why give me a voice to call out with
and then deafen so many ears?

I have tried to forget his breath
I have tried to forget his hands
The mechanics don't confuse me like they used to
But I still don't understand

The 9 year old she was frightened
the 12 year old learned not to care
stick a sharp thin knife long into her heart
she could not even feel it was there

and there's a patch of skin between my shoulder blades
it's still just a little bit numb
it seems to be there to remind me
of the destruction I have undone

I try to love the sinner
but it's more than the sin will allow
I look a long time into the dark
hoping the truth will show me how

SURVIVOR

I called myself survivor
I stitched it on my sleeve
my shield against those
who did not believe

it was my trumpet and my standard
my battle cry
as I led the army of truth
against the army of the lie

I called myself survivor
my first and last name
from the sharper edge of history
I was Abel coming back for Cain

I called myself survivor
but I did more than just not die
maybe the ashes made the phoenix
maybe the fall brings the rise

I have seen stars at midnight
I have heard the birds at dawn
in all of our surviving
beauty goes on and on.

A FLOWER FROM INSIDE EDEN

Send me a flower from inside Eden
I once walked that happy field
my life is nothing like I intended
who knows what the seed will yield
a flower from Eden's field

If you'd asked the child I once was
what she would not become
she would tell you the tale of all the things
that since that day I have done
what the seed has become

Young maiden they'll tell you
to build your nest
at the top of a very tall tree
but the wind will blow
and you'll fall below
to live in the roots like me
in the dark, where the blind can see

Send me a flower from inside Eden
I once walked that happy field.

MY MOTHER’S HOUSE

In my mother's house
there are flowers
fountains and gold
In my mother's house
there is every
fairytale ever told

In my mother's house
there is beauty
in the sudden summer storm
In my mother's house
there is love in all its wonder taking form.

In my mother's house
are fields of plenty
in the fall it's like they're all on fire
In my mother's house
there are soft beds
to rest on when you're tired

In my mother's house
the winters are quiet
in the silence hear the falling snow
In my mother's house
there's a time to arrive
and a time to go.

In my mother's house
are ancient trees
and baby birds in the nest
In my mother's house
there's a time to gather
and a time to rest

In my mother's house
are hunters and hurricanes
and everything can die
In my mother's house
there is heartbreak waiting
and no one really knows why.

In my mother's house
there is beauty
breaking in the storm
In my mother's house
there is love in all its wonder taking form.

YOU CAN ALWAYS GO HOME

I went down to the roots of a tree
where I have lately gone searching for home
Down a spiraling stair, a dark cave at the bottom
where the truth is sometimes shown.
The room was filled with raging women
ten feet tall with snakes in their hair
unconscious, unlovely, unholy,
the Furies, the goddesses of nightmare.

I remembered them from the fortune cards
that were a gift from my sister Athene
Long ago I let someone else
tell me what my life means.
The Furies they came to torment me
for the hope I let die
Your fate is just your destiny when you do not try.

So I look into the Furies fiery eyes
and I ask them "What are your demands?"
that's when I notice they're just puppets on strings
held by a woman's two hands
She'd been standing there waiting
in her dress that glittered and her silver crown that shined
I said "What are you doing here?"
she said "I've been here, behind the Furies all the time.

And the lions, the tigers and the bears,
they don't always look the same.
And there's more ways over the rainbow
than just sorrow, loss and pain.
I'm just here to remind you of what you've always known
Remember what I told Dorothy:
You can always go home."