Song information On this page you can find the lyrics of the song Bay of Kotor, artist - Sun Kil Moon. Album song I Also Want to Die in New Orleans, in the genre Инди
Date of issue: 28.02.2019
Record label: Caldo Verde
Bay of Kotor |
Woke up this morning hungry, I walked along the Bay of Kotor |
There’s a market down there, past the sailboats, down the gravel road |
I went looking for the kittens that I saw last night, and their protective |
mother |
I found two short-haired cow-print kittens and the little gray one, |
they were all cuddled up |
The little gray one didn’t look up, I blew her kisses |
She never turned her head, I petted her with my index finger |
Felt her spine, she was all bones, not much flesh, she was dying |
The other two kittens each had an eye missing |
The mother sat close by and got up once to lick them |
They sat quietly in an opening of the stone wall along the water |
A rectangular shaped hole in the middle of the wall with rusty iron bars |
And as I watched, I heard another kitten cry |
From the other side of the wall, which stood about ten to twelve feet high |
There’s nothing I hate more than the sound of hungry animals crying |
There’s nothing I hate more than the sound of hungry animals crying |
There’s nothing I hate more than the sound of hungry animals crying |
There’s nothing I hate more than the sound of hungry animals crying |
Finding footing in the nook, I climb the stone wall |
The dog walkers looked at me as if I was mentally ill |
I saw another black-and-white kitten on the other side of the wall |
Meowing «please mommy, please feed me, I’m hungry» |
She was looking into my eyes from the field of purple flowers |
She was pawing at the wall, trying to get to her mother, and her sister, |
and her brother |
Stretched out from back to front paw she was maybe a foot long |
And she cried, «waaah, waaah, waaah, waaah» |
She had about five feet there, to get up to the nest |
Of her siblings, to her mother’s love, for that kitty in the purple flowers |
Her mother didn’t budge |
I could’ve hurled myself over, to rescue the little one |
But I would’ve broken my ankle like Dustin Hoffman in Papillon |
I walked further down the street to the market on the corner |
Where the locals and the tourists are gathered at 7 o’clock in the morning, |
waiting for the store to open |
When it opened, I walked up and I down its lonely lanes |
Listeneding to the customers and clerks speaking various foreign languages |
I bought oranges and water, sardines, and bananas |
Two mega-sized cans of tuna and carried the groceries past the dog walkers |
I saw the mother cat with the two kittens, but the gray one was gone |
Maybe her mother pushed her over, down to the purple flowers, to join the other |
one |
When I petted the gray one earlier her chin was leaning on the edge of the wall, |
faced down towards the flowers |
I thought of Mickey Rourke in Spun, he said, «My mom was drowning puppies in |
the bathtub. Why keep what you can’t feed?» |
I opened the cans of tuna, with the lid, and tossed them tuna over the wall |
Aiming for the spot where I’ve seen the hungry kitten trying to crawl |
And I sat the cans down near the kittens nest, two healthier cats smelled the |
tuna |
Slouched their way over, one black, one butterscotch vanilla |
Jet-lagged, a big wave hit me |
I did all I could’ve done |
I walked to the hotel breakfast room |
With a maid who seems to have taken a liking to me |
Mirjana, saw me eating my eggs like a hungry prisoner and said |
«Easy, easy!» |
I came back to my room |
A book has been on the bedside stand since I arrived here |
I’m not sure what language it’s in, but it says |
«Svetski bestseler #1, Danielle Steel» |
The four biggest words on the book were spelled like this: |
I couldn’t fall asleep, Mirjana came and knocked on my door |
«Here are some towels. Come, eat, Mark! Eat, eat, you must eat some more!» |
«Give me a few minutes», I said, «I'll be right over»; «Oh, you, Mark! |
Come down!» |
And when I walked towards the breakfast area she ordered me to get the others, |
she said, «Mark, go get them now» |
I said, «I can’t wake them», I told her, «they're sleeping and they need some |
rest» |
«Tell me», she said, «why do you look like this? So sad all the time… so sad. |
. why, Mark? Why Do you look like this?» |
«'Cause I’m jet-lagged», I told her, «and then my clock is off |
Please knock on my door around 5 p.m. to wake me and you might just see a |
happier Mark» |
«You might even see a smile!»; And she said, in her Serbian accent, «I will do that! Do you know who you remind me of, Mark?» |
«Who?», I said; «John Malkovich» |
I ate some cereal and scrambled eggs and went back to bed |
She knocked on my door an hour early, 4 p. m |
«Mark, wake up! Wake up!»; I picked up my pants from the floor |
I put on some slippers and my t-shirt and decided to swim in the Bay of Kotor |
The same shirt I’ve been wearing for the last three days |
And I walked down the path of oleanders, wisteria, and agave |
And the palm trees to the bay; my stomach growled with hunger so I kept walking |
past the boats and the sunbathers |
The dog walkers with their dogs on their collars, and the stray dogs, |
and the skinny cats, to a restaurant called «Ellas» |
A waitress named Sandra came and took my order |
«Fish soup with Greek salad, please, and a large bottle of sparkling water» |
I looked across the Aquafresh-Crest-toothpaste-colored water |
At the town of Muo with the little stucco houses with the Spanish roofs |
I asked Sandra what the orange things were, floating in the water |
She said, «They're called 'bova' and they have nets and they harvest black |
mussels» |
On my walk back to the hotel I jumped into the Bay of Kotor |
As I walked along the mossy rocks the moss soothed the bottom of my feet |
I was wading out in the seaweed looking at the girls layin' out in their bikinis |
I never wrote a song about girls in bikinis; if I did, maybe I’d have a hit |
like The Beach Boys |
I saw a bandmate walking down the road |
He noticed me out in the water and said, «Hey, Mark, soundcheck' s pretty soon, |
we better go» |
While we were rehearsing, Mirjana heard the music echoing around the tile floor |
She knocked on the door and asked if she could come listen, and we said, «Yeah, |
sure!» |
She heard two songs, we said, «What do you think?; she said, «Sounds like |
Steely Dan, but crazy!» |
Sea Rock Festival, July 21 |
From the start my guitar was out of tune |
So I sat it on the stand and walked towards the front of the stage |
Howled to the castles up in the mountains and sang tunefully to the moon |
Ramon on guitar, Chris on Piano, they held their end stoically and steadily |
A nice, receptive, family-oriented crowd; I didn’t make adjustments for them |
I gave them the good, the bad, the ugly |
I sang Mother’s Love, and 666 Post, and I encouraged them to cheer |
For Andrew Golota, though I doubt many there heard of him in Montenegro |
It was a fun night, cathartic and exhilarating |
The next day at lunch a stray dog kept me company over at Ellas |
The waiter came by and had the check in his hand in an oblong folder |
He was asking me in Serbian if I was ready for the check |
(I thought that’s what he was asking) |
And when I nodded, «Yes», he smacked the dog on the butt |
The dog let out a high-pitched «Woof!» and ran off |
I stood up and said, «Why did you do that!?»; he said «Dogs are problem here» |
I went and found the dog and petted his head |
Lured him back to my table with a piece of French bread, he sat next to my table |
I told the waiter, «Don't ever do that again |
It’s ok. I like the dog near me» |
The dog was picky and didn’t like the bread |
So I put a piece of penne pasta up to his nose instead |
And he bit my hand, finicky stray |
«That's OK», I told him. «Bite my hand all you want |
Keep me company awhile. Your bites are nothing compared to the sick feeling I |
suffer |
Every time I turn on American TV news channels» |
I paid the check and left with my large bottle of sparking water |
And when I got up, Mirjana had just been seated at a nearby table with another |
maid |
She said, «Mark, I must tell you. You are like a machine |
You Sleep, you eat, you shit, you make music. You are a machine» |
I said «I guess so» and I went back to my room |
At about 9 p.m. Chris knocked on my door and woke me |
Chris and Ramon and I took a cab into the old part of town for dinner |
But before we left, three maids, including Mirjana, who are always sitting down |
the cement walkway from me |
Drinking wine, coffee, and smoking cigarettes |
Observing the coming and goings of passersby, started talking to us |
…Chris and Ramon, with me standing right there, «I told Mark today |
He is a machine. He eats, sleeps, shits, and plays music. This man is a machine» |
Then she introduced us to Ljiljana, whom I already met a bunch of times |
And the other maid who has never spoken a word to me, Milica |
Mirjana pointed to Milica and said, «Mark, Milica has something to tell you |
She wants to marry you», I took a step back |
Then I smiled and said «Her and I have never spoken a word |
But, yeah, If I lived in Kotor, sure… why not… I would marry her» |
Then Milica corrected Mirjana in Serbian |
Mirjana then said to me, «Oh, I misunderstood |
Milica said she wants to fuck you» |
Ramon and Chris and I let out an awkward giggle, then we were speechless |
I then politely asked Mirjana what her friend’s name was again |
«It's Milica, you crazy man! You are crazy!» |
Ramon saved me, «Hey you guys, I want to get going, I just wanna get a cab» |
That was our segue and Chris and I followed along |
But not before I told the maids, «Hey, you all have a nice life here |
Drinking wine among friends, looking out at the bay |
I’ve seen you all at the restaurant down the street and laying out on the beach |
This is a nice life you have, ending your days this way |
It’s beautiful here — the smell of the salt water and the Italian pines» |
«Fuck you, crazy man! You join us in the kitchen tomorrow! |
Work with us and see how good this life is, you fuck!» |
«Hey», I told her, «We all have to go to work |
You think this life is glamourous? It took me 30 hours to get here |
And I’m gonna spend 30 hours in airports and on airplanes to get home» |
She said, «I know, I know, you work hard, Mark, It’s true, I know |
You know something? You look like John Malkovich» |
I said, «I know, you told me that earlier» |
I’ll never forget Mirjana |
I think I’ll send her a postcard when I get back to San Francisco |
After having dinner in the old part of town, Ramon stayed to see some jazz |
And Chris and I came back with a plan to meet in five minutes down by the gate |
and go for a walk along the bay |
I walked down to my room and Milica appeared with a large empty water bottle |
«Water?», she asked; I think it was Freudian, to see if I wanted to fill the |
bottle |
I said that I’d be ok, but for her to please wait, and that I’d bring her a CD |
(Mirjana said that Milica wanted a copy of my music) |
I gave her Mark Kozelek Night Talks and she shyly walked off towards their |
little smoking area |
And that’s the last I’ve seen of her before the night |
I know the loneliness of the road but in that moment I knew the loneliness of |
the live-in maid |
Chris and I then walked along the bay and to my usual spot, Ellas |
The same place where the waitress explained the orange things that harvested |
mussels |
And where the guy whacked the dog on the butt |
We had sparkling water and ice cream |
Howe Gelb stopped by and said hi |
I’m back in my room now |
I’ve not turned on this TV since I’ve been here… bliss |
It’s 3:29 a. m |
Goodnight from my hotel room |
Kotor, Montenegro, 7/23/2018 |
Today I awoke at 6:55 a. m, in time for breakfast |
Mirjana said to me, «This thing you say last night… about how we have a good |
life… why… why did you say that to us?» |
I think she thought I was being patronizing but I wasn’t |
I said, «I told you that because I grew up in the middle of a bunch of |
cornfields, nowhere near the Adriatic Sea or the Bay of Kotor» |
«You seem to have a nice bond with your co-workers and it seems like a nice |
place to relax |
And at the end of the day to look up at the stars |
But this is my weekend trip and this is your everyday, so I understand if |
you’re upset by what I said» |
She said, «My friends only think of themselves. Never mind all of this beauty |
you see. It’s inside of here!», pointing to her chest |
Inside of here, Mark, is shit. They tell me, 'Do this! Do that!' This life is |
shit!" |
I got up and hugged her and told her that I meant no harm, that I meant well |
That I understood she works very hard, and we hugged for a long time, |
no nervous pats on the back |
She said «What will you do now, after breakfast?»; I said «The same thing I |
always do — go back to my room and get some sleep» |
She told me, «Please, come back before 10 o’clock in the morning and eat some |
more», and I said I’d try |
She wrote her name on a piece of paper; I told her I’d send her a postcard if I |
didn’t get a chance to say goodbye |
I went back to bed and woke up at 12:25 p. m |
I’m gonna walk along the road to Ellas, past the stray cats, and dogs, |
and oleanders, and agave, and palm trees, and sailboats, and sunbathers again |
Taking a towel and plan to wade around in the Bay of Kotor one last time |
3 a.m. call for our flight back to San Francisco from some place in Croatia |
tonight |
I’m back in my room; it was overcast and I skipped swimming |
I just shadow boxed four three-minute rounds with a bottle of water in each of |
my hands |
3:12 p. m, Kotor, Montenegro, 7/23/2018 |
I wrote those words then back in July, but just sang them today, August 15th, |
It’s day 6 of the six-day recording session, we’re wrapping up this record that |
I recorded with Donny and Jim |
Last night I told Nathan, «Man, my ears are burned out, I’m so fucking tired. |
Let’s go to Colombo tomorrow, the town they discovered gold |
Back on January 24th, my birthday, but, you know, 1848»; Nathan said, «Sure, ok. |
We’ll go» |
So we drove out there this morning and got in the water and I swam from one |
side of the American river to the other, and back |
I picked some blackberries and put them in my bottle of water, and planted a |
cactus that was getting too big for my appartment |
It was nice to see all of the apple orchards and cows along the way; |
we talked about what guys have been to Vacaville, what guys have been to |
Folsom Prison |
I need to go out there and do all that to be able to do what I just did |
Goodnight |
9:55 p. m, August 15th, 2018 |
San Francisco |