Joan Baez — Rexroth's Daughter lyrics

(Greg Brown)

Coldest night of the winter working up my farewell
In the middle of everything under no particular spell
I am dreaming of the mountains where the children learn the stars
Clouds roll in from nebraska dark chords on a big guitar
My restlessness is long gone I would stand here like an old jack pine
But I'm looking for rexroth's daughter the friend of a friend of mine

I can't believe your hands and mouth did all that to me
Are so daily naked for all the world to see
That thunderstorm in michigan I never will forget
We shook right with the thunder & with the pounding rain got wet
Where did you turn when you turned from me with your arms across your chest
I am looking for rexroth's daughter I saw her in the great northwest

Would she have said it was the wrong time if I had found her then
I don't want too much a field across the road and a few good friends
She used to come & see me but she was always there & gone
Even the very longest love does not last too long
She'd stand there in my doorway smoothing out her dress
& say "this life is a thump-ripe melon--so sweet and such a mess"

I wanted to get to know you but you said you were shy
I would have followed you anywhere but hello rolled into goodbye
I just stood there watching as you walked along the fence
Beware of them that look at you as an experience
You're back out on the highway with your poems of city heat
& I'm looking for rexroth's daughter here on my own side street

The murderer who lived next door seemed like such a normal guy--
If you try to follow what they shove at us you run out of tears to cry
I heard a man speak quietly I listened for a while
He spoke from his heart to my woe & then he bowed & smiled
What is real but compassion as we move from birth to death
I am looking for rexroth's daughter & I'm running out of breath

Spring will come back I know it will & it will do its best
So useful so endangered like a lion or a breast
I think about my children when I look at any child's face
& pray that we will find a way to get with all this amazing grace
It's so cold out there tonight so stormy I can hardly see
& I'm looking for rexroth's daughter & I guess I always will be