felixcohen

Lost in a reverie to this (Joanna Newsom – Bridges and Balloons) on the tube this morning (I don’t have to deal with the Underground that often, so I’m a heavy escapist)

We sailed away on a winter’s day
with fate as malleable as clay;
but ships are fallible, I say,
and the nautical, like all things, fades

And I can recall our caravel:
a little wicker beetle shell
with four fine maste and lateen sails,
its bearings on Cair Paravel

O my love,
O it was a funny little thing
to be the ones to’ve seen.

The sight of bridges and balloons
makes calm canaries irritable;
they caw and claw all afternoon:
“Catenaries and dirigibles
brace and buoy the living-room –
a loom of metal, warp – woof – wimble.”
And a thimbles worth of milky moon
can touch hearts larger than a thimble.

O my love,
O is was a funny little thing
to be the ones to’ve seen

That second verse being possibly my favourite lyrics ever; Caravel and Lateen, are really rather obscure and ‘old’ sailing terms that are perfect for this song.

doesn’t it just make you think of the Owl and the Pussycat too?