Monkey And Bear Lyrics - Ys - Joanna Newsom

Monkey And Bear 

Down in the green hay 

Where monkey and bear usually lay 

They woke from a stable-boy's cry 

He said; someone come quick! 

The horses got loose, got grass-sick! 

They'll founder! Fain, they'll die 

What is now known by the sorrel and the roan? 

By the chestnut, and the bay, and the gelding grey? 

It is: stay by the gate you are given 

And remain in your place, for your season 

And had the overfed dead but listened 

To that high-fence, horse-sense, wisdom... 

Did you hear that, Bear? Said monkey 

We'll get out of here, fair and square 

They've left the gate open wide! 

So 

My bride 

Here is my hand, where is your paw? 

Try and understand my plan, Ursala 

My heart is a furnace 

Full of love that's just, and earnest 

Now; you know that we must unlearn this 

Allegiance to a life of service 

And no longer answer to that heartless 

Hay-monger, nor be his accomplice 

(that charlatan, with artless hustling!) 

But; Ursala, we've got to eat something 

And earn our keep, while still within 

The borders of the land that man has girded 

(all double-bolted and tight-fisted!) 

Until we reach the open country 

A-steeped in milk and honey 

Will you keep your fancy clothes on, for me? 

Can you bear a little longer to wear that leash? 

My love, I swear by the air I breathe: 

Sooner or later, you'll bare your teeth 

But for now, just dance, darling 

C'mon, will you dance, my darling? 

Darling, there's a place for us 

Can we go, before I turn to dust? 

Oh my darling, there's a place for us 

Oh darling 

C'mon will you dance, my darling? 

Oh, the hills are groaning with excess 

Like a table ceaselessly being set 

Oh my darling, we will get there yet 

They trooped past the guards, 

Past the coops, and the fields, and the farmyards 

All night, till finally: 

The space they gained grew 

Much farther than the stone that bear threw 

To mark where they'd stop for tea 

But walk a little faster 

And don't look backwards 

Your feast is to the East, which lies a little past the pasture 

When the blackbirds hear tea whistling, they rise and clap 

And their applause caws the kettle black 

And we can't have none of that! 

Move along, Bear; there, there; that's that 

Though cast in plaster 

Our Ursala's heart beat faster 

Than monkey's ever will 

But still; 

They have got to pay the bills 

Hadn't they? 

That is what the monkey'd say 

So, with the courage of a clown, or a cur 

Or a kite, jerking tight at its tether 

In her dun-brown gown of fur 

And her jerkin' of swansdown and leather 

Bear would sway on her hind legs; 

The organ would grind dregs of song, for the pleasure 

Of the children, who'd shriek 

Throwing coins at her feet 

Then recoiling in terror 

Sing, dance, darling 

C'mon, will you dance, my darling? 

Oh darling, there's a place for us 

Can we go, before I turn to dust? 

Oh my darling, there's a place for us 

Oh darling 

C'mon, will you dance, my darling? 

You keep your eyes fixed on the highest hill 

Where you'll ever-after eat your fill 

Oh my darling, dear, mine 

If you dance 

Dance, darling, and I love you still 

Deep in the night 

Shone a weak and miserly light 

Where the monkey shouldered his lamp 

Someone had told him 

The bear had been wandering 

A fair piece away from where they were camped 

Someone had told him 

The bear'd been sneaking away 

To the seaside caverns, to bathe 

And the thought troubled the monkey 

For he was afraid of spelunking down in those caves 

Also afraid what the village people would say 

If they saw the bear in that state; 

Lolling and splashing obscenely 

Well, it seemed irrational, really; washing that face 

Washing that matted and flea-bit pelt 

In some sea-spit-shine, old kelp dripping with brine 

But monkey just laughed, and he muttered; 

When she comes back, Ursala will be bursting with pride 

Till I jump up! 

Saying: you've been rolling in muck! 

Saying: you smell of garbage and grime! 

But far out 

Far out 

By now 

By now 

Far out, by now, Bear ploughed 

'Cause she would not drown: 

First the outside-legs of the bear 

Up and fell down, in the water, like knobby garters 

Then the outside-arms of the bear 

Fell off, as easy as if sloughed from boiled tomatoes 

Low'red in a genteel curtsy 

Bear shed the mantle of her diluvian shoulders; 

And, with a sigh, 

She allowed the burden of belly to drop like an apron full of boulders 

If you could hold up her threadbare 

Coat to the light where it's worn translucent in places 

You'd see spots where 

Almost every night of the year Bear had been mending suspending that baseness 

Now her coat drags through the water 

Bagging, with a life's-worth of hunger, limitless minnows; 

In the magnetic embrace 

Balletic and glacial of Bear's insatiable shadow; 

Left there! 

Left there! 

When Bear left Bear 

Left there! 

Left there! 

When Bear stepped clear of Bear 

Sooner or later you'll bury your teeth