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by Vickie Mapes
1 - She wanted to test her husband.
2 - She knew exactly what to do:
3 - A pseudonym to fool him.
4 - She couldn't have made a worse move. [worst?]
5 - She sent him scented letters.
6 - She was a delightful detective,
7 - Just like his wife
8 - But how she was before the tears,
9 - And how she was before the years flew by,
10 - And how she was when she was beautiful.
11 - She signs the letter
12 - "All yours,
13 - Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya!
14 - All yours,
15 - Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya!"
16 - She wanted to take it further,
17 - So she arranged a place to go,
18 - To see if he
19 - Would fall for her incognito.
20 - And when he laid eyes on her,
21 - He got the feeling that he knew her well.
22 - Uncanny how she
23 - Reminds him of his fiancee [ca. 1'26]
24 - She seems to know the way to please him,
25 - Just like his wife before she freezed on him,
26 - Just like his wife when she was beautiful.
27 - He shouted out, "I'm
28 - All yours,
29 - Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya!
30 - All yours,
31 - Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya! [to fade-out]
- line 23: this line is given in HG 2 (and 45).
the album version has: "Reminds him of his little lady."
the rhythm box demo has: "Can take him back into a piece of
past."
1 - She wanted to test her husband.
2 - She knew exactly what to do:
3 - A pseudonym to fool him.
4 - She couldn't have made a worse move. [worst?]
5 - She sent him scented letters,
6 - And he received them with a strange delight.
7 - Just like his wife
8 - But how she was before the tears,
9 - And how she was before the years flew by,
10 - And how she was when she was beautiful.
11 - She signed the letter
12 - "All yours,
13 - Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya!
14 - All yours,
15 - Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya!"
16 - She wanted to take it further,
17 - So she arranged a place to go,
18 - To see if he
19 - Would fall for her incognito.
20 - And when he laid eyes on her,
21 - He got the feeling that he knew her well.
22 - Uncanny how she
23 - Can take him back into a piece of past. [ca. 1'27]
24 - Can say the things that make him want to laugh,
25 - Just like his wife before she freezed on him,
26 - Just like his wife when she was beautiful.
27 - He shouted out, "I'm
28 - All yours,
29 - Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya!
30 - All yours,
31 - Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya! [to fade-out]
- line 23: this line is given in HG 2 (and 45).
the album version has: "Reminds him of his little lady."
the early piano demo version has: "Reminds him of his fiancee."
See also "Organic Acid"
IED has managed to find a copy of John Carder Bush's original poem, "Before the Fall". This poem formed the basis for John's spoken text on the early Kate Bush recording which bootleggers and we have mistakenly taken to calling Organic Acid. That is, of course, not the actual title. And although we still don't know what Kate's original song was called (after all, it was almost certainly not written for JCB's poem, but was simply combined with it later during performances), "Before the Fall" now seems a more legitimate (though admittedly less fun) title than Organic Acid. Here is the poem exactly as it was originally written (it includes many lines that were omitted from the recorded version, and lacks a word here and there as well):
He got her drunk very quickly:
holding hands they found the broom cupboard
where he had control as far as the fall,
the rasping descent of her tights.
When his hand covered wet hairs
she took over among furniture wax, dust,
the cloying yellow of polishing cloth.
When he was sick
she comforted him.
He couldn't do it properly: the club,
the office had left out details of delight.
Satisfied, he would collapse out,
puzzled at why she still squirmed,
held on to him, tears curling into her mouth.
This was something stories always omitted:
that her joy would seem like pain
when he focused after release.
In the third week of the relationship
she was tripping on organic acid,
would stop, pick up a rained out leaf,
would give it into his hand,
full of dead things before they reached the car.
When they drove she sat with mouth open
as though photographed on the impact
of a stomach punch, her right hand gripping
the skin of his leg: he feared her,
slapped out sideways into her face.
She touched the cut with her tongue,
gurgling gratitude for the strange taste.
He stood looking through uncleaned windows,
concentrated on the yellow of his car below.
On the uncarpeted floor, with practice,
she closed her eyes and drew on the cigarette.
Twill jacket and polo-neck made him sweat,
his nape skin red from a hair cut.
Between two smokers she smiled up at him;
as the weed approached he apologised
suddenly wanting familiar territories:
beer, to put his hand up her skirt.
At the bottom of the limbed stairs
he booted the cat, a drop kick in their twenty-five
as he imagined her sylph laugh
gathering chuckles around the room.
There was no premonition of the wet Hog's Back,
sports car slumped snout into a beach,
their corpses giving the vehicle arms,
petrol and blood at last dripping together
but quick flashes of a planned lunch,
cold red beef and a cherry wood fire,
game pie and for him two pints of colder beer,
the winter air tucking under their eye lids,
spinning on the gravel at Clandon:
the hand steaming from quick moisture,
the aromatic finger drawn back into his nose.
Dazed after mutual masturbation
they slewed into a conservative end.
-- John Carder Bush
1 - Come closer to me, babe,
2 - And the night will come much closer, too.
3 - Can't you see the light
4 - Drawing pictures nearer in the skies?
5 - What is it that you whisper
6 - When you close your eyes?
7 - Come closer to me, babe.
8 - Is it me it's all about?
9 - And who is it that you're always
10 - Calling in your sleep?
11 - Who is Sylvia?
12 - Goodnight, baby. Please
13 - Come on home,
14 - Come on home,
15 - Come on home soon.
16 - Goodnight, baby,
17 - Goodnight, baby,
18 - Goodnight, baby,
19 - Goodnight, baby.
20 - Come closer to me now,
21 - For I know there's something you must tell me.
22 - When slumber slips between your lips
23 - Will the secrets ooze out easily?
24 - What is it that you whisper
25 - When you close your eyes?
26 - Come closer to me, babe.
27 - Is it me it's all about?
28 - And who is it that you're always
29 - Calling in your sleep?
30 - Who is Sylvia?
31 - Goodnight, baby. Please
32 - Come on home,
33 - Come on home,
34 - Come on home soon.
35 - Goodnight, baby,
36 - Goodnight, baby,
37 - Goodnight, baby,
38 - Goodnight, baby.
1 - I tried to study it for just a while:
2 - All of the potions, from oysters to seducing smiles.
3 - But I've found it's already inside me:
4 - A big round bubble of sensuality,
5 - Dared to be burst,
6 - But worried about getting hurt.
7 - I know how you like to kiss.
8 - I'll ask you what you're thinking.
9 - Silvers in our dark hair. [ca. 0'48]
10 - The sheets are soaked by your tiny fish.
11 - The craft of life,
12 - The craft of life,
13 - The craft of life,
14 - The craft of life,
15 - Oo-ooh...
16 - Tears spring to mind when I go back in time.
17 - All those lost bodies just seeking security.
18 - Jittering strangers with smutting hands,
19 - Heavy and clever and full of demands.
20 - Well I'm similar to you:
21 - We're familiar with what to do.
22 - I know how you like to kiss.
23 - I'll ask you what you're thinking.
24 - Silvers in our dark hair. [ca. 2'08]
25 - The sheets are soaked by your tiny fish.
26 - The craft of life,
27 - The craft of life,
28 - The craft of life,
29 - The craft of life,
30 - Oo-ooh...
- line 9 and 24: uncertain, can be also: "Soul burns", "Sobers"...
- line 18: "smutting" might be "sweating"
- line 11-14 and 26-29: It's not clear if she sings "life"
or "love", maybe both.
1 - High,
2 - And can't see you.
3 - Lives Senora Dali
4 - Alone
5 - And higher still
6 - She keeps her gallery.
7 - Distance means nothing
8 - To me.
9 - A-ee-aha-ee-aha-oo,
10 - A-ee-aha-ee-aha-oo...
11 - Debris everywhere,
12 - Gazing. It's amazing.
13 - Ferry me over,
14 - Ferry me over,
15 - Ferry me over
16 - The music, Dali.
17 - Deeper here
18 - Lies hidden
19 - Answers and treasures for him.
20 - "Oh, I prefer absence," said she,
21 - "My heart grows fonder
22 - Alone."
23 - A-ee-aha-ee-aha-oo,
24 - A-ee-aha-ee-aha-oo...
25 - Debris everywhere,
26 - Gazing. It's amazing.
27 - Ferry me over,
28 - Ferry me over,
29 - Ferry me over
30 - The music, Dali.
- line 3: uncertain
- Punctuation and lineage of the first verse depend on the
interpretation.
- this song yells for an interpretation.
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