Language   

Tattoo

Janis Ian
Language: English


Janis Ian

Related Songs

His Hands
(Janis Ian)
Fossoli 1944
(New Cherry)


[1993]
Parole e musica di Janis Ian
Nell’album “Breaking Silence”

Breaking Silence
Her new name was tattooed to her wrist
It was longer than the old one
Sealed in the silence with a fist
This night will be a cold one
Centuries live in her eyes
Destiny laughs over jack-booted thighs
"Work makes us free" says the sign
Nothing leaves here alive
Tattoo

She steps out of line to the left,
and her father to the right
One sides a cold, clean death
The other is an endless night
Gold from a grandmother's tooth
Mountains of jewelry and toys
piled in the corners, mailed across the borders
Presents for the girls and boys
Presents for the girls and boys
Tattoo

It gets darker every night
Spread-eagled out among the stars, she says
Somewhere in this tunnel lives a light
Still my beating heart
I have never known a man
What man will want me now?
Am I still alive, somehow?
If I can survive, somehow
Tattooed

Soldiers from the other side
liberated them at dawn
Gave her water, gave her life
She still had all her clothes on
She lived until she died
Empty as the autumn leaves that fly
Surgeons took the mark
but they could not take it far
It was written on her heart
Written on her empty heart
Tattooed

Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2017/11/29 - 09:38




Main Page

Please report any error in lyrics or commentaries to antiwarsongs@gmail.com

Note for non-Italian users: Sorry, though the interface of this website is translated into English, most commentaries and biographies are in Italian and/or in other languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian etc.




hosted by inventati.org