Slip Away Lyrics - Laurie Anderson

What's this? A little dust in my eye 

Well I'm not the type to cry 

It's four a.m. I'm standing by the bed where you lie 

Sleeping the sleep of the newborn 

I put [my] finger to your lips. Warm air. 

Five a.m. You lift your hand and open it. 

Then you slipped away. You slipped away. 

Oh death, that creep, that crooked jerk... 

He comes, he comes walking. He comes sneaking 

Down that long irreversible hallway 

Grabs you in your sleep 

I walk outside to the parking lot. 

Bright coins of water on the sidewalk. 

Big white building where your body lies 

Stands in the middle of the fields. Icy air. 

And after all the shocks the way the heart unlocks 

And ooo we slip away. We slip away. 

I'm thinking about the way that lost things always come back 

Looking like something else 

A fishing pole, a shoe, an old shirt, a lucky day 

Ooo then they slip away into the remains of the day 

Ooo they slip away. They slip away. 

I'm thinking how you taught me how to win 

And how to loose 

And how to fight the crippling blues that I was born with 

Bad dreams and nightmares 

Ooo they slip away. Ooo they slip away into the remains of the day. 

I know that sometime I'll stop looking for you. 

Stop seeing your face every day 

Bad dreams and nightmares and big bad wolves 

Ooo they slip away into the remains of the day 

Ooo they slip away into the remains of the day 

They slip away 

You told me you had no idea how to die but I saw 

The way the light left your eyes 

And after all the shocks the way the heart unlocks 

And ooo then you slipped away. You slipped away.