wound so tight

So this was totally not the direction I was expecting this song to take. It is a jazz number, with lots of show-offy spots for runs and trills and stuff. (But no guitar part as yet. I've been working on finger-picking but the voice part is hard enough by itself.) My voice at seventeen maybe could have really taken it places, but I can give it a decent treatment even now. The chorus is a couple months old, so I suppose my song-making parts had time to give it a good "three points and a prayer" treatment. Meaning, it comes back to the same image from a different angle each time. And has a happy ending, for a wonder!


panic rises up so subtly within me
crease my brows and purse my lips, and I look old
I'm like an origami spider up a chimney
I will fall into the fire if I unfold

wound so tight
wound so tight
because everything else is unraveling

we gather up the things we own
the books, the clothes, the telephone
devices we use every day
and statues we cannot display

but like a camel full of water
knowing I'm my father's daughter
swells my back, makes it seem muscular and strong
how can I carry all this gear
I'm just a snarl of love and fear
and will, suspended from a filament of song

wound so tight
wound so tight
because everything else is unraveling

when the harness breaks
you grab the rope
and when the rope breaks
you clutch the stone
though we must leave this place
we see our loved ones' faces
here so that we won't have to leave this place
alone

for we all weave our hands together
trying all our best to never
let one of us go to tumble to the ground
so whatever else we're losing
we are rich because we're choosing
to love, be loved, to cherish and be bound

wound so tight
wound so tight
because everything else is unraveling