Lyr Req: Thump Ripe Melon

Subject: Lyr Add: REXROTH'S DAUGHTER (Greg Brown)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Sep 02 - 09:25 PM

Copied from http://www.gregbrown.org/gblyricscovenant.html#Rexrothsdaughter

REXROTH'S DAUGHTER
(Greg Brown)

Coldest night of the winter, working up my farewell,
In the middle of everything, under no particular spell,
I am dreaming of the mountains where the children learn the stars.
Clouds roll in from Nebraska, dark chords on a big guitar.
My restlessness is long gone. I would stand here like an old jack pine,
But I'm looking for Rexroth's daughter, the friend of a friend of mine.

I can't believe your hands and mouth did all that to me,
Are so daily naked for all the world to see.
That thunderstorm in Michigan I never will forget.
We shook right with the thunder, and with the pounding rain got wet.
Where did you turn when you turned from me with your arms across your chest?
I am looking for Rexroth's daughter. I saw her in the great northwest.

Would she have said it was the wrong time, if I had found her then?
I don't want too much: a field across the road and a few good friends.
She used to come and see me but she was always there and gone.
Even the very longest love does not last too long.
She'd stand there in my doorway, smoothing out her dress,
And say "this life is a thump-ripe melon--so sweet and such a mess."

I wanted to get to know you but you said you were shy.
I would have followed you anywhere but hello rolled into goodbye.
I just stood there watching as you walked along the fence.
Beware of them that look at you as an experience.
You're back out on the highway with your poems of city heat,
And I'm looking for Rexroth's daughter here on my own side street.

The murderer who lived next door seemed like such a normal guy--
If you try to follow what they shove at us, you run out of tears to cry.
I heard a man speak quietly. I listened for a while.
He spoke from his heart to my woe and then he bowed and smiled.
What is real but compassion as we move from birth to death?
I am looking for Rexroth's daughter and I'm running out of breath.

Spring will come back. I know it will and it will do its best,
So useful, so endangered, like a lion or a breast.
I think about my children when I look at any child's face,
And pray that we will find a way to get with all this amazing grace.
It's so cold out there tonight, so stormy I can hardly see,
And I'm looking for Rexroth's daughter, and I guess I always will be.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thump Ripe Melon
From: Pene Azul
Date: 22 Aug 00 - 07:11 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Thump Ripe Melon
From: Pene Azul
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 04:36 AM

You can get the lyrics to Greg Brown's "Rexroth's Daughter" are here (click).
His site features many (maybe all published) of his lyrics.

PA

Subject: Thump Ripe Melon
From: GUEST,kam423
Date: 21 Aug 00 - 12:51 AM

I heard a song on PBS today that had this line - "Life is like athump ripe melon. So sweet and such a mess." There was a lot of interference but it sounded like the artist was Craig Brown. Anyone know? Or know of where to look at more lyrics of his? THanks.