Norton's Anthology

I guess it's a bit of a nerdish confession, but my favorite book for many years was my 1984 edition of the Norton Anthology of Poetry. I got it for a poetry class at TCU my freshman year in 1985 and glanced at it often enough to wear off its outer cover by the end of the decade.

One of my favorite poems in the anthology was "Suzanne Takes You Down" by Leonard Cohen. I liked it so much that in the early 90s I decided to write a song and use the poem for the lyrics. I did not know at the time that Cohen had already set it to music way back in the 60s.

When I found out, I wrote my own words and gave the original music a Bo Diddly beat. The name of the song comes from Mike, who gave a number of my songs non-sensical names that somehow stuck.

Lady Breaks Bread

I walked in the wake of the sad and the lonely.
I recall how my boots clicked against the paving stones
and echoed out loudly, and sharply, and clearly,
then faded away in the cold Polish dawn.

At the edge of the town where the trains were all waiting,
the brazen, exceptional strumpet appeared.
She said, "Well, well done, my good and faithful servant."
and the whistles screamed out in the grey morning air.

Well, I remember wine and roses
and I can still recall the cool, electric thrill
of the first time I ever saw you--
you were so seductive and invitational.

We rode through the night in the pine woods of Georgia,
so ghostly, so pale, immaculately clean.
The new moon hung low like a white shard of dresden,
and the earth thundered out beneath our horses' feet.

We hid in the dark at the edge of the clearing,
all eyes on the house, make sure everyone's asleep,
and Bobby Lee went up with our notice of eviction--
a homemade wooden cross and a jar of gasoline.

Well, I remember wine and roses
and I can still recall the cool, electric thrill
of the first time I ever saw you--
you were so seductive and invitational.