Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander Songtext
von Over the Rhine

You are a gardener
You cultivate my soul
You water thirsty vines
That snake along my spine
In case I forget to shiver
You are a carpenter
You build a scaffolding
Replace the windowpane
I see the sky again
As if I′ve been delivered You are a fisherman
By weather lists you know
Where I'm in at sea
Your hook′s inside the bait
I'm weary, but I swallow
You are a messenger
You bring the other me
The kind that never lies
It's written in my eyes
You beckon and it follows

I get to be guilty
I


You are a singer too
You carry me like a tune
Like a newborn child
Wrapped up for a while
You sway like a hobo
You are a circus clown
I′ve never laughed before
Beneath your canopy
Oh, say a prayer for me
I want this in a photo
So be a photographer
I′m dancing naked now
Across the maple floor
While the lions roar
Your pictures will protect me
You must be a scientist by now
With a clump of midnight hair
You study every pore
And every follicle in my blue leather body

I get to be guilty
I

Yours is a different light
I like my face that way
The canvas of my skin
Serene and strange but true