Red Cotton

Album: The Secret The Profane And Sugarcane (2009)
Play Video
  • I'm cutting up her pure white dress
    That I dyed red
    That I dyed red
    I'm putting scraps in cheap tin lockets
    What time erases and memory mocks
    I'll send them over the ocean foam
    Right into those gentle European homes

    The slave ship "Blessing" slipped from Liverpool
    Over the waves the Royal Navy rules
    To go and plunder the Kingdom of Benin
    Where certain history ends and shame begins

    Dahomey traders paid in powder and shot
    Line up their prisoners and they sell them in lots
    They packed them tight inside those coffin ships
    And took them to the brand new world of auction blocks and whips

    So I'm cutting up her pure white dress
    That I dyed red
    That I dyed red
    I'm putting scraps in cheap tin lockets
    What time erases and memory mocks
    I'll send them over the ocean foam
    Right into those gentle European homes

    White is the sheet on your fine linen bed
    The blood stained red on each cotton thread
    The merchants gather at St. George's Hall
    To unveil the kneeling slave who is carved upon the wall

    So picture the scene on the old Salt House docks
    Where they loaded the iron shackles and locks
    Between a sandstone crocodile, a barrel and a bale
    You will see the nameless faces they were offering for sale

    So, I sing the praises of God's glory
    As a blue cetacean floats in the basement
    An elephant on the second story
    They queue all day to see him
    In my American Museum

    But the Lord will judge us, with fire and thunder
    As man continues with all his blunders
    It's only money
    It's only numbers
    Maybe it is time to put aside these fictitious wonders

    And man is feeble
    Man is puny
    And if it should divide the Union
    There is no man who should own another
    When he can't even recognize his sister and his brother Writer/s: ELVIS COSTELLO
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Supertramp founder Roger Hodgson

Supertramp founder Roger HodgsonSongwriter Interviews

Roger tells the stories behind some of his biggest hits, including "Give a Little Bit," "Take the Long Way Home" and "The Logical Song."

Yacht Rock!

Yacht Rock!Song Writing

A scholarly analysis of yacht rock favorites ("Steal Away," "Baker Street"...) with a member of the leading YR cover band.

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater RevivalFact or Fiction

Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

Famous Singers' First Films

Famous Singers' First FilmsSong Writing

A look at the good (Diana Ross, Eminem), the bad (Madonna, Bob Dylan) and the peculiar (David Bowie, Michael Jackson) film debuts of superstar singers.

dUg Pinnick of King's X

dUg Pinnick of King's XSongwriter Interviews

dUg dIgs into his King's X metal classics and his many side projects, including the one with Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam.