The Pale Green Girl

by Penelope Houston

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about

Her brilliant lyrics illustrate dark cinematic tales of lust, arson, and murder on this guitar and organ drenched, Byrdsian folk-rock CD. 11 gorgeous tracks, including songs written by or co-written with Chuck Prophet, Pat Johnson and John Cale

credits

released April 21, 2004

Penelope Houston vocals, autoharp
Pat Johnson guitar, organ, piano, tambourine, vocals, bass on track 2
Jeff Jacks, bass on tracks: 1, 9, 11
Paula O'Rourke, bass on tracks: 6, 8, 10
Katherine Chase bass, backing vocals tracks: 3 to 5, 7
Eljohn Nelson drums on tracks 2 - 8
Ricky Quisol drums on tracks 1, 9, 11

Produced by Pat Johnson, Penelope Houston, Wally Sound
Recorded and mixed at The Wally Sound, Oakland, CA.

tags

tags: alternative chuck prophet john cale pat johnson penelope houston americana chamber pop female vocalist folk rock folk-rock folkrock punk rock singer-songwriter Oakland

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Penelope Houston Oakland, California

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Track Name: Take My Hand
take my hand
lyrics by Penelope Houston / music by P. Houston and P. Johnson
Take my hand it'll be all right
take my hand it'll be all right
Nothing's going to change
nothing's going to change the way I feel

Close your eyes I'll be your very best friend
close your eyes I'll be your lover
Reach inside you for that little Huckleberry Finn
you've been keeping undercover

Take my hand it'll be all right
take my hand it'll be all right
Nothing's going to change
nothing's going to change the way I feel

If you're finding out life is not a bed of clover
just turn around and call me 'cause I'm always looking over

Take my hand it'll be all right
Nothings gonna change
nothing's gonna change the way I feel

Close your eyes I'll be your very best friend
close your eyes I'll be your lover
Reach inside you for that little satellite of love
you've been keeping undercover
Track Name: Hole
hole
lyrics by Penelope Houston, music by Penelope Houston and Chuck Prophet

You've got a hole in the shape of a bottle
Take a big thirsty swallow but you can't fill it up
You've got a hole in the shape of a needle
You spent every dollar but you never get enough

Do I have to shout, shout it out for you babe
can I cut through the blizzard of your pain?
Every night, every night I die and go to heaven
and every morning I'm born again

You got a hole in the shape of the Savior
Camped out on His doorstep but God wasn't at home
You got a hole in the shape of the Devil
You begged the Devil come over, but you're still all alone

Do I have to shout, shout it out for you babe
I can scream 'til I'm blue in the face
You're just looking to be whipped and spat on
I'm not the one to put you in your place

It's a long lonely road, and I'm not going with you
It's a hard place to be, I've already been there

I've got a hole in the shape of a daddy
got a little bitty seedling I'm going to grow my own
You've got a hole in the shape of a woman
I've got a shovel and a bucket of sand

Do I have to shout, shout it out for you babe
can I cut through the blizzard of your pain?
Every night, every night I die and go to heaven
and every morning I'm born again
Track Name: Bottom Line
bottom line
lyrics and music by Penelope Houston

I know it looks like I'm waiting for you, but I'm not
Standing here thinking of all of the luck that I've got
Without you the flowers will blossom, the blossoms will fall
Maybe I need you for one little thing, but that's all

Baby, I don't need you
and that's the bottom line
Without you the bells are going to ring,
the sun's still going to shine
Woke up this morning
I been wasting all my time
Baby, I don't need you
and that's the bottom line

I know you think that I love you, but maybe I don't
So many things I could teach you, but baby I won't
You and the boys of the summer can count your good times
But I've got the wealth of a ripe and a curious mind

Baby, I don't need you
and that's the bottom line
Without you the bells are going to ring,
the sun's still going to shine
Woke up this morning
I been wasting all my time
Baby, I don't need you
and that's the bottom line
Track Name: Pale Green Girl
pale green girl
lyrics and music by Penelope Houston
She's a pale green girl
sometime she's going to fly away
She's a pale green girl
but she might come back any day

And you cant look her in the eye
she knows a few too many things
You never look her in the eye
but wait 'til night, and then she sings

She going to burn down someone's house
you know your eyes are going to sting
She going to burn down someone's house just to dry her wings

She's a pale green girl
sometime she's going to float away
She's a pale green girl
but she might come back any day

She going to burn down someone's house
you know your eyes are going to sting
she going to burn down someone's house just to dry her wings

She's a pale green girl
sometime she's going to fly away
She's a pale green girl
but she might come back any day

She knows the way you pace the floor
she knows the way you fucked her dry
She knows you're tapping on her door
you never heard a baby cry

She going to burn down someone's house
you know your eyes are going to sting
she going to burn down someone's house just to dry her wings
Track Name: Flight 609
flight 609
lyrics by Penelope Houston, music by Pat Johnson
As I fly away from you
my rocketship aims at the moon
My ears are popping
and my head's lost in a swoon
I'm so far above you
I look down at what I missed
I promised I would love you
but, it lasted as long as a kiss

Soon they'll come round with refreshments for all
and you'll be obscured by a cloud
I'm so far above you but I'm never going to fall
like I did when you whispered out loud,

"You're my angel, light and pure"
Baby want a whole lot more.
Baby want a whole lot more.

Seat me by a window now
I'll take an empty row
No stranger there to beg me
to tell everything I know
beneath me is a crazy quilt
of fields and plans and dreams
I can barely see your passion
in the flames along the seams

Soon they'll come round with refreshments for all
and you'll be exposed by a cloud
I'm so far above...

You've shrunk down to a tiny speck
right before my eyes
just a dozen miles between us
my giddiness on the rise
I'm so far above you
I look down at what I missed
I promised I would love you
but it lasted as long as a kiss

Soon they'll come round ...
Track Name: Privilege + Gold
privilege and gold
lyrics by Penelope Houston / music by P. Houston and P. Johnson
I sleep by the river
I rise with the sun
I follow the harvest
'Til season is done
The bread on your table
the sweat from my brow
will darken the furrows
in fields that I plow

I've lived with your promise
of fortune foretold
Like sand through my fingers
there's nothing to hold
I've buried your children
in privilege and gold

I tattoo a flower
with ink and a pin
Its there to remind me
the damage within
I'll put on my finest dress
in my finest hour
and search for the sweetness
and search for the power

I've followed with your promise
of fortune foretold
It slips through my fingers
there's nothing to hold
I've buried your children
in privilege and gold

We live in your heartland
on your fruited plain
Sleep by the highways
We work through the rain
The smell of your richness
the gleam of your cars
and I could have swallowed
the poison you are

We've lived with your promise
of fortune foretold
Like sand through my fingers
there's nothing to hold
We've buried your children
in privilege and gold
Track Name: Walnut
walnut
lyrics and music by Penelope Houston
Now my heart is a small black hard
shrivelled rotten little walnut
Should I crack it and chop it
and roll it with nougat into a nut log?
Would you eat it?

Forgiveness, that's my deficiency
Kindness, sounds pretty good to me
Frustration, you wrote the recipe
Resentment, the special today

All my life I've been waiting to
break out of the kitchen into the ether
So take my hand pull me up, wake me up
out of this fever, into the dreamer

Forgiveness, that's my deficiency
Kindness, sounds pretty good to me
Frustration, you wrote the recipe
Resentment, the special today

Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby
You sure can dish it up
Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby
You sure can dish it up
Put it on the table, I'm hungry
What's for lunch?

Now my heart is a small black hard
shrivelled rotten little walnut
Should I crack it and chop it
and roll it with nougat into a nut log?
Would you eat it?

Forgiveness, that's my deficiency
Kindness, sounds pretty good to me
Frustration, you wrote the recipe
Resentment, the special today

Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby
You sure can dish it up
Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby
You sure can dish it up
Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby
You sure can dish it up
Put it on the table, I'm hungry
What's for lunch?
Put it on the table
I'm hungry, What's for lunch?
Track Name: Snow
snow
lyrics by Penelope Houston / music by P. Houston and P. Johnson

Nothing that the snow won't cover white
Nothing that the crow won't feast upon
Nothing that the wind won't testify
Nothing that the sun won't bleach to bone
Nothing that the snow oh-oh
Nothing that the snow oh-oh

Nothing that the snow won't cover white
Nothing that the crow won't feast upon
Nothing that the wind won't testify
Nothing that the sun won't bleach to bone
Nothing that the snow oh-oh
Nothing that the snow oh-oh

All the words that you never should have spoken
All the shame that you brought down on your name
All the pain that you've spread around this world
What is it now and what are you?

Nothing that the snow won't cover white
Nothing that the crow won't feast upon
Nothing that the wind won't testify
Nothing that the sun won't bleach to bone
Nothing that the snow oh-oh
Nothing that the snow oh-oh
Track Name: Soul Redeemer
soul redeemer
lyrics by Penelope Houston, music by Penelope Houston and Chuck Prophet

(Bang Bang)
Soul Redeemer, cash me in
I didn’t mean to be that bad
Don’t remember how that day went down
the last freedom that I ever had

He was a bigger man, dressed in blue
pushed me into the back
His hands were hurting, grabbing, choking
I felt his body go slack

(Bang Bang.)
Soul Redeemer, Soul Redeemer
Why did you take me, strip me, rape me
and why am I the one who’s punished here?
You locked my soul forever in a prison of prayer

(Bang Bang.)
You took my mother, you took my flower
never gave anything back I wanted to love you,
I wanted to kill you I felt your body go slack

I’ve been so bad, my sweet lord Jesus
in every man I see your face
my whole life has been a living hell
why should I struggle from your sweet embrace?

(Bang Bang.)
Soul Redeemer, Soul Redeemer
Why did you take me, strip me, rape me
and why am I the one who’s punished here?
You locked my soul forever in a prison of prayer

(Bang Bang.)
Soul Redeemer, cash me in
wash away my only sin
For me there is no justice, give me peace at last
One injection, and they say it comes fast
Just one injection, and they say it comes fast

Soul Redeemer, cash me in
Gimme, gimme, gimme, Daddy man Jesus God...
Track Name: Buffalo Ballet
Words and music by John Cale