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Crazy Jane
Inspired by the collected Novels of Jean Reise
Illustrated by the photographs of George Brassai
Lexicon: Register 6 (10 Vocal Plate)
Guitar: Acoustic or electric ?
Look out the window --
Paris '39:
streetwalker in a pool of light,
light drizzle of rain,
a woman's shadow
on a stone wall,
sound of high heel shoes
clicking down the avenue.
A woman alone
going home
to a cheap hotel room
the same
as all the other
cheap hotel rooms.
People call her Crazy Jane
O Crazy, Crazy Jane! Dm
They call you crazy Jane Gm
They say you used to play
Am
all of the Glass City games. Gm
Now you don't wanta see Dm
the ones you used to know Gm
'cause you're Am
too ashamed. Gm
You got 25 different lipsticks
in your purse.
You got 3 kinds of cigarettes
& a fifth of gin.
You've got a dozen lottery tickets
that didn't win.
Oh Jane
ain't it a shame --
you never
really had a chance
for some reason
you can't quite remember
at the moment.
You were just
a little too wild --
too uncivilized,
you couldn't make it
with the tame ones,
the comfortable ones,
the bank clerks,
the real-estate agents,
the high school teachers,
the kind who always
have a little put by
for a rainy day.
O Crazy, Crazy Jane!
They call you crazy Jane
You used to play / all the mid-night games.
Now you don't wanta see
the ones you used to know
'cause you're / too ashamed.
Its late afternoon
& Jane is sitting
in a small out-of-the-way bar
uptown. An older man
approaches her table.
She thinks she's seen him
somewhere before.
She wonders
where he's been.
She wonders if
he spent the night
or a week.
She wonders if
he's a friend
or an enemy.
She's got his name
on the tip of her tongue.
She's smiling with her mouth
and calculating with her eyes.
She's got her hand
on his arm. Her lipstick
is only slightly smeared,
only slightly
the wrong colour.
Her face is still pretty, but worn.
Her eyes are a little puffy
from lack of sleep.
She's wearing cheap jet clip-ons.
She's got a butterfly tattoo
on her inner thigh she doesn't show
just anybody.
She tells the guy
that she's a reincarnation
of a Goddess from Egypt --
she can't remember which one.
Her father is sick in the hospital
& she needs the bus fare across town.
Another drink would be nice too
if he's got the time.
There's a cigarette burn
on the inner side of
her right elbow.
A seam is coming undone
on the shoulder
of her cheap cotton blouse.
O Crazy, Crazy Jane!
They call you all kinda crazy names
You used to play / all the Glass-city games
Now you don't wanta see
the ones you used to know
'cause you're
too ashamed.
Oh Jane, you had a shot
at the kind of life
you wanted to live.
But it just didn't come off.
You know there isn't really
anybody to blame.
Everything just went wrong --
just bad luck and Craziness.
Bad luck and no money.
People always said you were
just too wild, too many times
too late, too early,
couldn't pay attention to details,
bored too easily,
didn't care enough,
too emotional,
you just wanted to have fun,
didn't really have what it takes
to make a go of anything --
too easily satisfied,
not ambitious enough.
Didn't think, told lies
just too crazy to be civilized
just too crazy to be civilized
And nobody knows
better than you Jane
that one fine day
you're gonna end up dead
in a cheap hotel room,
lying across the unmade bed,
your dress hiked up,
holes in your stockings,
& the vacant look in your eyes
grown wide as the ocean.
[Solo .........................]
Streetwalker in a pool of light
Out at the edge of Glass City
city of delights.
Light drizzle of rain
& Jane peeks
in a lighted window.
She likes to see the happy ones
laugh and smile in there . . .
Crosses the street
when friends come near.
Walking home by the docks . . .
No buses after 12:00 o'clock.
She just wants to feel safe,
safe and sound --
sound of high heel shoes
clicking down the avenue.
A woman alone
A little high.
Crazy Jane.
Always the same.
Never change.
Chorus
O Crazy, Crazy Jane!
They call you Crazy Jane!
You used to play / all the Glass-city games
Now you don't wanta see
the ones you used to know
'cause you're / too ashamed.
They call you Crazy Jane
Oh Crazy, Crazy Jane!
Neon girl dancing
out in the Glass-City rain
one part guilt
two parts shame
three parts bad luck
& four parts pain.
Extend music perhaps -- let it wind down. Let Thomas make change then start
next section.)
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Mind
Fields I
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Mind Fields II
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