Destiny laughs over jack-booted thighs, sealed in the silence with a fist, written on her empty heart
mailed across the borders
her new name was tattooed to her wrist
Spread-eagled out among the stars, somewhere in this tunnel lives a light Tattoo, nothing leaves here alive
if i can survive somehow
she still had all her clothes on
still my beating heart
gave he water
Written on her empty heart, it was longer than the old one
If i can survive somehow, this night will be a cold one
what man would want me now
And her father to the right, mountains of jewelry and toys, still my beating heart
sealed in the silence with a fist
Her new name was tattooed to her wrist, breaking silence Tattoo, the other is an endless night
And her father to the right, and her father to the right, breaking silence
Gave he water, sealed in the silence with a fist Tattoo, this night will be a cold one
Somewhere in this tunnel lives a light, one side s a cold
Written on her empty heart, it was written on her heart, sealed in the silence with a fist
if i can survive somehow
Written on her empty heart, mountains of jewelry and toys
Surgeons took the mark, spread-eagled out among the stars, one side s a cold
am i still alive somehow
Work makes us free, it gets darker every night Janis, destiny laughs over jack-booted thighs
Gave he water, surgeons took the mark, breaking silence
Centuries live in her eyes, centuries live in her eyes
I cried in pain whilst listening to this song. Never heard it before. So poignant and to the point. There must have been a lot of pain felt writing and then performing this battle cry to humanity.
My hat off to this brave performance.
I happen to know that Janis loves this video. It would be the Holocaust Museum (Yad Vashem? Washington?)or wherever you got the images that might be the problem I thought.
But I'm delighted that it's back. You can imagine what this song means to some of us. Thanks for posting.
I'm delighted to see this back again. It was removed for a while - I presume you ran into copyright issues with some of the images? This is one of Janis Ian's most moving songs (which is saying something). I can hardly bear to listen to it, especially accompanied by these images of happy innocent people who were annhilated. What fragile things are human life and civilization itself!
I expected this to be like Gordon Lightfoots “Tattoo “ . When I realized the implications of the lyrics I felt punched in the gut. Thank you again Janis for making me see beyond the obvious
As I listen to this song a few times, I can hear such variation in the singer's voice - she tells the story with all parts of the song - guitar, lyrics, tone and pitch of voice, melody, drums, bass... it all comes together to paint a snapshot of part of a woman's story of a horrific event. It's a beautiful thing to be able to help people feel and understand, even in a small way, what that must have been like. Thank you Janis!
What's so poignant about this song is that, without a lot of angst-y fanfare, you can feel the depths of the subject's fear, uncertainty of her own mortality, degradation, and emptiness. A life with the life pulled out of it. All calmly written, as matter-of-fact as the subject's quiet confront of the terror she lived through so that she could live through it.