Lyr Add: Lily of the Net

Subject: Lyr Add: THE LILY OF THE NET (Holly Tannen)
From: clare s
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 05:58 PM

I came across this in the DT database a while ago - long before I ever posted anything, and started to annoy various people.

Looking at it again, I think it's an excellent piece.

Can anyone tell me who Holly Tannen is, or any more about the song.

Thanks.

For those who've not seen it (even though it's in the database) I think that the words are worth repeating:

THE LILY OF THE NET
(Holly Tannen)

When first I cruised the Internet
Some pleasure there to find
A damsel there from AOL
Was pleasing to my mind
Her polished prose, her flashing wit
I never will forget
The name she bore was Flora
The Lily of the Net.

When first I cruised the Internet
'Twas as a kind of joke
I posted to the Ballad List
And to rec.music.folk
The answers she wrote back to me
They do torment me yet
I fell in love with Flora
The Lily of the Net.

So I accessed her Web page
My heart's delight to see
And there I spied a dazzling girl
A-smilin' up at me
Her rosy cheeks, her ruby lips
They sore did me beset
I was bewitched by Flora
The Lily of the Net.

So next I got my courage up
And called her on the phone
She turned the television down
And said she was alone
Her voice was so melodious
I broke out in a sweat
I scarce could speak to Flora
The Lily of the Net.

For nine long months we e-mailed
Till we resolved to meet
In San Francisco in a pub
Way out on Geary Street
I used my frequent flyer miles
And swore I'd ne'er regret
My plans to meet my Flora
The Lily of the Net.

For courting of this fair maid
I greatly did prepare
I bought a suit and got a trim
Of my remaining hair.
My mother oft had told me
What you see is what you get
And what I saw was Flora
The Lily of the Net.

She wore a purple leisure suit
All stained with coffee grounds
Her hair was bleached, her skin was grey
She weighed two hundred pounds
Between her flaccid lips she held
A hand-rolled cigarette
Was this my faithless Flora?
The Lily of the Net.

And when she saw my stricken face
A sigh escaped her breast
She took my trembling hand in hers
And tearfully confessed
The picture was her daughter
A twelve-year old nymphet
I was betrayed by Flora
The Lily of the Net.

Come all you ramblin gamblin men
Who lurk both night and day
Don't trust a gal from AOL
Whatever she may say
I'd rather have my fantasies
I wish I'd never met
That false deluding Flora
The Lily of the Net.

Subject: RE: Lily of the Net
From:
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 06:55 PM

She's connected somehow (I don't know exactly how) with Sing Out Magazine, some kind of editor I think. She's on a list I'm on, but I haven't seen anything from her lately.

Subject: RE: Lily of the Net
From: Abby Sale
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 07:07 PM

Was the Song Finder column at "Sing Out." That's now Shelley Posen. Holly is folk-knowledgeable, lived in Scotland (& met up with some of my best friends) a fine singer & one of the best wits in the folk business. Her tagline is/was "Mistress of the Half-Astral Plane." Many credits.

I'd like to meet her some day.