Lyrics Passion Play - Janis Ian

Passion Play

She came from Dakota
Though some say she hailed from the South
He tried to believe but each time she would leave
With the venom that dripped from her mouth
Like some angel of old
Bent on saving the soul
Drugged to the knees he would pray
To some rude Russian icon
That twined like a python
And blinded the sun, night, and day
He’d say
Please bring me peace
You say you’ll stay
Just to leave me whole
All of my soul your passion play
Though she lies to amuse
She lies to confuse
Passion with vision and pain
He lies for possession and time
Though there’s no time to gain
Squandering feeling
Constantly stealing away
From the sound of her name
Is like thunder and lightning
Hiding the sound of the rain
And he’d say
So he searches for truth
In the beauty that once was her name
Senselessly trusting in time to remind her
Blind, she came
Suddenly rootless
Fashionably useless
Magically fruitless and time
Like some Sunday scholar
Who lives off the squalor
Of yesterday’s knowledge and fame
And he’d say
Well some overdose
And some wrap like a rose
'Round the slick perfumed nose
Of high noon
Burning their lips
As they stoop low to kiss
Some rich man’s excuse for the moon
I must have been lucky --
Got out with my body intact
And tomorrow in tune
But it’s this sense of time
That wraps like a vine
'Round the neck of the sun and the moon