Unreleased On Record

I remember monday rising up to pack his lunch
We kissed goodbye saying
What a foolish girl was i
Saying, what a fool was she
Near the store where i go shopping
On display there was a golden watch chain
All that week it had me stopping
What a fool was she.
Almost christmas, we were so poor
Where there was will
There were ways
I was sure

In the paper written plain
I saw an ad, i caught a train
And sold my hair to buy the chain
What a fool was she

(and he says:)

I remember monday rising with her hair
Reflected in my eyes
It caught the sun a million times
What a fool was he
In a window near the office was a comb
Of pearls and beads and tortoise
Oh, the devil'd come to court us
What a fool was he
Almost christmas, we were so poor
Where there was will
There were ways
I was sure

In the pawnshop coming home
I stopped inquiring for a loan
And sold the watch to buy the comb
What a fool was he

Christmas came up cold and glum
There were no visions of sugar plums
There were no joyous carols sung
Oh, what fools were they
He sat glaring at her bob
As she lay weeping by a chain and fob
And sadly burned the yule log
And wise men lost their way
Wisemen lose their way
Merry christmas day

Goodbye. i'm bound away
On the morning plane.
I'll fly around the world,
Then i'll fly around again.
And when i've been from egypt
To the snows of nome,
Poor sad baby, that's when
I'll be coming home.
Rose gardens in the rain
And castles in the snow,
Post cards from distant places
Are poor company i know,
But when old gay paree
Is just another town,
Poor sad baby, i'll
Come home and settle down.
When i've felt the friendship
Of a thousand hands,
When i'm drunk with the music
From a thousand bands,
A thousand bands,
I'll dance the streets by moonlight
And the fields by day.
Perchance my jeans won't jingle
But the mem'ry coins will stay.
I'll be a pauper queen,
A poorhouse millionaire.
Poor sad baby, i'll
Bring you home a dream to share

Jeremy sits in the sun and he stares at the stripes
On the floor from the bars on the door,
Thinking of rabbits he kept as a child
In a chicken wire cage; he remembers the rage
Of his father the night he made his one call;
The relative stranger who left him to fall
To the mercy of judges with no shield at all.
Now he sits and he stares at the punishing wall.
Jeremy picks up the crayon he saved and he
Writes in the dark and he thinks of the park
And the flowers he gave to the girl with the bells.
He remembers he smile; it was gone at the trial.
Hear the footsteps of night guards patrolling the halls.
There are coughers and talkers who don't sleep at all.
'midst the cursewords and worse words
That someone had scrawled
He writes her a poem on the punishing wall.
Mary, sweet mary, it's dark and it's cold;
It's all of the stories you've ever been told.
Keep the jar on the window, keep the lock on the door.
Keep your mind on the man; keep away from the store.
Oh, jeremy gentle, oh, jeremy kind
As you walk with the thieves and the killers believe
That our numbers are growin'; the change has to come.
Put resentment aside; don't turn bitter and die

Day after day
Miles and miles of railroad track
Night after night
Hummin' of the wheels
Their hummin' seems to say
He'll follow you someday
But someday seems a million miles away
Wish i could turn around
And run back home again
I've had no mercy
Since the blues got on this train

Day after day
Make a dollar, need it twice
Night after night
Lie awake and dream
Of days of auld lang syne
Moonlight through the pine
And linen table cloths all stained with wine
Wish i could turn around
And run back home again
I've been so empty
Since i caught that eastbound train

Day after day
Watch the hands move 'round the clock
Night after night
Searching for my soul
So this must be my fate
To sit and weep and wait
And pray my darlin' comes before too late
Wish i could turn around
And run back home again
I've been so lonely
Since i caught that eastbound train

Write me a royal-blue parchment poem
Draw me a royal-blue lady like me
Draw me a smile
That's a lot like my own
And make my eyes flowers
And make my mind see
I will weave melodies only for you
And color them silver and saffron and blue

Build me a window to watch everything
Leave it unshuttered so nothing slips by
No season, no sorrow, no wonderful thing
No raspberry, strawberry sun in the sky
I will bring music and marsipan bars
And live deep inside you
Wherever you are

Teach me the ways of the gemini twin
Show me the love that he says without words
Bring me his laughter again and again
The silence is singing, the quiet is heard
I will find harmonies waiting unsung
With two souls to sing them
Where once there was one

Joni's lighthearted take on "london bridge" was a crowd pleaser in her mid-sixties club show, before she signed her first recording contract. this transcription includes spoken patter
Combined with her music, enchanted audiences back in the early days when joni was playing the smaller, more intimate venues she has always enjoyed most.

(spoken words are in italics)

London bridge is falling down
See the people in my town
They're the ones who bring it down
(it's true they've been for centuries,
Walking by it and saying, you know,
London bridge really is falling down, poor thing,
It just fell down in shame)
My fair lady-o


London bridge is falling up
Save the tea leaves in my cup
Guess the cup is cracking up
My fair lady-o
(i'll have to get a pyrex one)

London bridge is up for sale
Booze heads put my friend in jail
Spent my bridge money on bail
My fair lady-o
(sure would've like to have bought that bridge)
(couldn't let him go to jail)


If the bridge belonged to me
I would serve you tarts and tea
Smiles, that's all the tolls would be
(don't grant you people would be getting across at all)
My fair lady-o

On the bridge there stands a car
Painted with peculiar flowers
It's the beatles' it's not ours
(guess they're looking at the bridge)
(hope they buy it)
My fair lady-o

London bridge is falling down
(something like that)
London bridge is coming down
Coming down on london bridge
Ice cubes melting in my fridge

(they always, do you know those fridges are terrible, they're always melting things and ice cubes are dripping all over the floor)
(and the vegetables are all rotten and your friend turns to you in her very british way and she says: "you know i paid two bob for this. it smells a bit peculiar doesn't it, but don't you t
.. well, we can serve it anyway" and she does)

Coming down on london bridge
Mutton rotting in my fridge
Coming dow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Coming-ming-ming-ming-ming-ming
(a little electronic music there for your pleasure)
Coming down on london bridge
My fair lady-o

Dr. junk the dentist man
Fills your teeth with what he can
Airplane wings and corset stays
And when he's done he'll let you pay
In paper clips or inner tubes
Or anything that's slightly used
He's not really crazy
Only nuts ... and bolts
And rusty rings make him do
The strangest things

Dr. junk the dentist has
An office full of colored glass
A garden with a paddle wheel
And funny plants for eye appeal
And though he watches them with care
I've never seen them growing there
He's not really crazy
Only nuts ... and bolts
And rusty rings make him do
Eccentric things

Dr. junk the dentist built
A junky castle up on stilts
Junk within and junk throughout
And tv in the chimney spout
And fourteen levels to each floor
And now he's adding fourteen more
He's not really crazy
Only nuts ... and bolts
And rusty rings make him do
The strangest things

I was alone and sickly
It was a quarter of a moonlit night
I heard him cry through my window shade
And it filled me so full of fright
But i could not turn my back on him
I put on the back porch light
"can i help you," said the good samaritan
"can i help you," said the good samaritan

I brought him bread and a blanket
But i told him, "you can't come in"
You can sleep outside in the tool shed
Though a little rain comes in
Oh, i don't know you, you're a stranger
I don't know where you've been
"you can't come in here," said the keeper of the inn
"i don't want you in here," said the keeper of the inn.

But i couldn't sleep for the thinking
You know my night got so insane
I thought, maybe he was an angel
And i left him out in the rain
And what if he was the devil
He'd be coming after me again
But when i woke in the weary morning he was gone
When i woke in the weary morning he was gone

I thought maybe he was an angel
And i left him out in the rain
And what if he was the devil
He'd be coming after me again
When i woke in the weary morning he was gone
When i woke in the weary morning, lord, he was gone

If you hear a politician
Or a singer making song
Do you just refuse to listen
Knowing that he must be wrong
That's the way it is, you know,
You just see what you want to see
Who am i to tell you how to think
Or tell you who to be

I will show you what i know
Sometimes we will disagree
If we learn at all to grow
Then i have done my small duty
That's the way it is, you know,
You just see what you want to see
Who am i to tell you how to think
Or tell you who to be

I could bring my favorite flower
Maybe yours would be the same
Maybe we would argue hours
Over the fair flower's name
That's the way it is, you know,
You just see what you want to see
Who am i to tell you how to think
Or tell you who to be

If i brought my good friends home
And set a welcome table place
Could you see them past their clothing
Or past the color of their face
That's the way it is, you know,
You just see what you want to see
Who am i to tell you how to think
Or tell you who to be

That's the way it is, you know
You just see what you want to see
Who am i to tell you how to think

Come and take me by the hand
There's so much to be seen
The fields are dancing daisy bright
Hills are dappled green

Winter wind has ceased her labor
Giving birth to blossom rain as sweet as rain
And maybe you will fall in love
And maybe you'll be mine

Daisy summer pipers come to town
Piping people out of doors
To see the magic all around
Listen now you'll hear his sound

Stare into a mirror pool
And laugh so princely vain
The skies become kaleidoscopes
With no two turns the same

And pebbles send them dancing off
In ripple rings of sun burnt cloud and windy blues
And maybe we will fall in love
Before the day is through

Daisy summer pipers come to town
Piping people out of doors
To see the magic all around
Listen now you'll hear his sound

I was in an all night movie
When i heard the usher say
Here comes the midnight cowboy
Got his gun hired out for pay;
You were walking kind of faded
From the netherlands hotel
With your hat tipped off to ladies
Really looking well.

Aw joe, why don't you go back home?
Really hate to see you falling down
Get out of town.

Well you came to new york city with a calendar full of gold
Now they locked it up in the bedroom
And they kicked you out in the cold;
Now you can't afford a little blanket
You can get one from a friend
You can trick one off the corner
You can even keep the change - to spend.

Hey joe, why don't you go back home?
Really hate to see you come falling down
Get out of town.

There's a soldier in the depot
He's a fighting nightingale
Wearing western boots and buckskin on
Reading fortunes from the penny scale;
Now today he's got a a quarter
For the photograph machine
But tomorrow he'll be lonely lonely
That's the way it's always been.

Poor joe, why don't you go back home?
Really hate to see you falling down
Get out of town.

I was in an all night movie
When i heard the usher say
Here comes the midnight cowboy again
Got his gun hired out for pay;
You were walking kind of faded
From the netherlands hotel
Hat tipped off to ladies
Tipped off to gentlemen as well.

Well joe, why don't you go back home?
Find yourself a girl and settle down
Get out of town
Get out of town
Find yourself a girl, go and settle down
Hey joe, looking more lost than found
Get out of town.

Midsummer rain, you and i together
I'm only dreaming again and i will forever it seems
Midsummer dawn, kisses in a doorway
I can't believe they are gone so i live our story in dreams

But baby i always wake up lonely
Mornings don't comfort me
Sometimes i think you're only
A midsummer's night's dream

I should have know, friends gave me warning
You had a dream of your own, now our midsummer mornings are through
Follow your star, it will lead you somewhere
Love is not really so far if in dream i can come there to you

But baby i always wake up lonely
Mornings don't comfort me
Sometimes i think you're only
A midsummer's night's dream

Now comes the morning
Wet with the kiss of midnight
Shadows stayed sulking in the way
Sunshine for dreaming
Blackest magic to believe in
Spectrums and rainbows and days
I never saw a sky so free
Never so blue
Morning with mystic pagaentry
Unveils a time for sharing love with you

Come to the sunshine
Share in the quiet of knowing
No need for telling you sometimes
When all the answers are
So plainly showing

Teach me to tell you
All the feelings i've been learning
Tell me to teach you my heart
New words are crazy
Old love words keep returning
All words seem wrong from the start
So i will tell with my eyes
Say it with a kiss
Silence that asks and looks so wise
And needs no answer on a day like this

Come to the sunshine
Share in the quiet of knowing
No need for telling you sometimes
When all the answers are
So plainly showing

Moon in the mirror,
Won't you stay a while tonight?
All things of beauty
Are too soon out of sight.
I know it's a selfish plea;
You must light the hearts of more than me.
There's a girl at her window;
Now she's trying to catch your eye.
But oh, pretty stranger,
You must keep on passing by.
Moon in the mirror, i don't know you;
Just a reflection of kisses
And whispers and indigo skies.
Moon in the mirror, look below you.
Moon's looking back and they're loving
And longing and telling no lies.
Moon in the mirror,
I will ask you one more time,
Not for a reason and not for a rhyme,
But please tell me if you can,
Have you seen a moonlit man?
He's so very like you,
You could see him from afar.
Perhaps he's a misplaced moonbeam
Or a banished star.
Moon in the mirror, he's so like you.
Light up the room for an hour;
A smile or the beat of my heart.
Oh, how my heart tried to fight him,
Fight against mirrors of moonlight
Or lovelight. you lost from the start,
From the start

Twinkle, twinkle what a pity
All alone on such a pretty night
With enchantment on your side.
Popcorn, popcorn, cotton candy,
Soft voice whispers,
"this can all be right
If you'll come and share a ride."
Carnival in kenora!
I let him take me for a ride
On a giant ferris wheel.
Up in the neon sky
Or far from the barker's cry
One kiss can sometimes
Make you feel like a
Spinning ferris wheel.

All the tents are taken down now;
All that's left is scuffled ground now;
Still the magic echoes in the sand.
Popcorn, popcorn, cotton candy,
Now a stranger takes my hand,
We smile and the magic understands.
Carnival in kenora!
I let him take me for a ride
On a giant ferris wheel.
Up in the neon sky
Or far from the barker's cry
One kiss can sometimes
Make you feel like a
Spinning ferris wheel

For our first time together i wanted everything to be just right
I prayed for good weather
For we were going to a concert in the park that night
I wanted violins and sweet romantic melodies

But when the band began to play
It didn't turn out quite that way
For there were trumpets and trombones making sad sounds and glad tones
And notes that i will never understand
And there were tin horns and oboes and saxophone solos
Now you know and i know love is like a big brass band

We wasted no time now, we planned a wedding for the first of june
Hear the wedding bells chime now
And see the folks all watching for the bridge and groom
Waiting for violins and sweet romantic melodies

But when we started down the aisle
You should have seen the preacher smile
For there were trumpets and trombones making sad sounds and glad tones
And notes that i will never understand
And there were tin horns and oboes and saxophone solos
Now i know and you know love is like a big brass band