Anais Mitchell

Down at headquarters, there’s a big database With black and white photos of the side of your beautiful face And your library record, and all your test scores And an invitation to party like it’s 1984 Baby, don’t look so nervous, they just want the facts...

Don't matter what I do, I never do right by you I only let you down I walk a hundred miles on my knees to see you smile All you do is frown Annmarie, have mercy on me Can't you see my misery is all for thee? Have mercy, Annmarie Don't matter what I sa...

In the fever of a world in flames In the season of the hurricanes The flood will get you if the fire don't Any way the wind blows And there ain't a thing that you can do When the weather takes a turn on you Except for hurry up and hit the road Any way...

I could tell you stories like the government tells lies Oh, but no one listens any more In the rooms the women come and go Talking on the mobile phones And the television talks about the war When I was a baby there was laughter in my house And my daddy s...

If I can't keep it At least let me call it by name That was called falling This is called pain It's called love, what I'm losing I know love is a stranger I know that changes come I know love is a changer I'm gonna go quietly You don't have to tell m...

I never felt so high, I never felt so high I never felt so high, I think I'm coming down I never laughed so loud, I never laughed so loud I never laughed so loud, I think I'm coming down Nothing gonna stop me now Nothing gonna stop me now Nothing gonna...

I'm a live wire I'm a short-wave radio Do you copy? I'm a flash of light From the radar tower to the runway If I leave you Gonna do it semi-automatically Do you blame me? And you are so far Out there in the static Hey baby, am I coming through? I'm...

You and I were walking on the avenue It was cold and we were old friends then Talking at each other You asked me how I’d been and I could not complain I just put one foot before the other We got where we were going And we drank a little wine And I forgo...

[ORPHEUS & THE FATES] Doubt comes in And strips the paint Doubt comes in And turns the wine Doubt comes in and leaves a trace Of vinegar and turpentine Where are you? Where are you now? Doubt comes in And kills the lights Doubt comes in And chil...

Be it work or be it rite? Father, tell me Brings us to the mountainside, every day, a dying day Be it work or be it rite, oh, my sweet babe We come to make a sacrifice, every day, a dying day Be it ox or be it ram? Father, tell me Please the God of Abrah...

[ORPHEUS] King of diamonds, king of spades Hades was king of the kingdom of dirt Miners of mines, diggers of graves They bowed down to Hades who gave them work And they bowed down to Hades who made them sweat Who paid them their wages and set them about...

[ORPHEUS] Heavy and hard is the heart of the king King of iron, king of steel The heart of the king loves everything Like the hammer loves the nail But the heart of a man is a simple one Small and soft, flesh and blood And all that it loves is a woman...

[EURYDICE] What I wanted was to fall asleep Close my eyes and disappear Like a petal on a stream, a feather on the air Lily white and poppy red I trembled when he laid me out You won’t feel a thing, he said, when you go down Nothing gonna wake you now...

[EURYDICE] Orpheus, my heart is yours Always was and will be It’s my gut I can’t ignore Orpheus, I’m hungry Oh, my heart, it aches to stay But the flesh will have its way Oh, the way is dark and long I’m already gone, I’m gone [THE FATES] Go ahead a...

PERSEPHONE Hades, my husband, Hades, my light Hades, my darkness If you had heard how he sang tonight You'd pity poor Orpheus! All of his sorrow won't fit in his chest It just burns like a fire in the pit of his chest And his heart is a bird on a spit...

Love you, love you, love you, he did, he did, he did He stood high above you, you were just a little kid Your daddy was a farmer, his back was burnished red and gold And every time he closed his eyes a rooster crowed He sowed a hundred rows of corn, the s...

Hey, little songbird, give me a song I’m a busy man and I can’t stay long I got clients to call, I got orders to fill I got walls to build, I got riots to quell And they’re giving me hell back in Hades Hey, little songbird, cat got your tongue? Always a...

[HADES] The devil take this Orpheus And his belladonna kiss Beautiful and poisonous Lovely! Deadly! Now it thickens on my tongue Now it quickens in my lung Now I’m stricken! Now I’m stung! It’s done already! Dangerous, this jack of hearts With his...

Oh, go to sleep, you weary hobo Lay back, lay back and close your eyes I know you’ve seen a lot of sorrow I know you’ve heard a lot of lies They said, “Work hard and save your money” You were a worker all your life And in the end who got the honey But...

Hold on to Everything While you’re holding onto my hand Like the bones of your face that are holding your smile While the bones of your feet hold the land That is holding this city we lived in As it readies itself for the fall As it follows the planet ba...

[PERSEPHONE] Hades, my husband, Hades, my light Hades, my darkness If you had heard how he sang tonight You’d pity poor Orpheus! All of his sorrow won’t fit in his chest It just burns like a fire in the pit of his chest And his heart is a bird on a spit...

One two three four five six seven The word came down to him from heaven And naked as an animal he knew Everything of flesh and bone He could call it all his own If he could name it He could lay claim to it too But after all the word was spoken You sent...

[EURYDICE] Pour the wine and raise a cup Drink up, brothers, you know how And spill a drop for Orpheus Wherever he is now [PERSEPHONE] Some birds sing when the sun shines bright My praise is not for them But the one who sings in the dead of night I r...

This is just to tell you That I wear your dress sometimes The one you made with the gold brocade And the empire waist line You fit it to your figure When it looked just like my own That was Jersey in the fifties When the women stayed at home So you lai...

If it's true what they say If my love is gone for good You can take this heart away And can take this flesh and blood Take my mouth that kissed a mouth Take my tongue that sung a phrase Take my arms that used to reach out In the dark where she lay If...

It was a bad summer you said You worked as a butcher in a yuppie store And you’d go home to cheap beer and say You didn’t know what you stayed in the city for And we were hog-tied to our demons We just followed them around in a lonely haze All through th...

Hush you little baby Don't you say a word Here comes the devil All dressed up like a mockingbird And if that mockingbird should try to Steal you off the ground Momma's gonna grab on tight And hold you down Down Down Momma can you tell me Where did...

I've worn out all of your records I've torn out page after page I have lain with the shadows you threw When you danced with the bright colored lights of the stage Hey and aren't you grateful? Say and ain't you got fun? Being so good at what you do Doing...

[THE FATES] Why the struggle? Why the strain? Why make trouble? Why make scenes? Why go against the grain? Why swim upstream? It ain’t It ain’t It ain’t no use You’re bound You’re bound You’re bound to lose What’s done What’s done What’s done is d...

When I think about dying I think about children And when I think about children I think about you And when I think about you I feel like crying Crying for my youth And when I think of my youth I think of my freedom And when I think of my freedom I f...

Just across from the hospital, still inside of the red lines, a couple blocks from the orthodox church, that's where the old poet lives. And his eyeglasses and his necktie at the window looking down on the young man passing by on the fullness of the tow...

Summer went the way of spring Winter's waiting in the wings And we haven't saved anything But that's alright Cause we already paid the rent There's still some money we haven't spent Go put on something different We're going out tonight I have loved yo...

Turn that TV off now baby I'm so low I don't even sing Tell me something bout my country Tell me one good thing Cash and Elvis, Cain and Abel Down in Memphis trading hands Big girls dancing on the tables Dancing for the band Put that paper down now b...

You were dead when they found you On the floor of your apartment You were dead, and your drum set stood there Shining in the dark Shining like stage lights Shining like your eyes Shining like Orion in the night You were small time back in Austin Where...

Riding on a sea of brass And colored beads and broken glass Behind a painted china mask She might be looking at you She’s got her shade up to her chin A dirty little bourbon grin And all the saints go marching in To try and get her number Orleanna Orl...

[PERSEPHONE] I don’t know about you, boys But if you’re like me, then hanging around This old manhole is bringing you down Six-feet-under getting under your skin Cabin fever is a-setting in You’re stir crazy! You’re stuck in a rut! Or you could use a li...

Hey uncle louie, I wrote you a song I'm glad you got your heart out of pawn I'm glad you got your king out of check At least that's how things stood when I saw you last It was New Orleans before the flood You had just met a girl! you were falling in love...

Oh love, where are we going Where are you taking me Why do our eyes play tricks on us A stranger where your body was And nothing where a mountain used to be I will follow you there I will follow you there To wherever it is that you’ve gone Where there...

It was late in July At the Quecreek coal mine When the water came rolling down As black as bad blood To where nine good men stood Shuddering, shivering And shouting for deliverance Sure they would drown And safe above ground The boss paced around Su...

If it should happen If you should wake up in the night There in the city of faith Where your true love lies Asleep like a baby With her hands at her head And the moon in your window Sheds her light on the bed If it should happen If you should rise al...

Lord have mercy on my mind Mercy on my memory I'm lying 'neath the same Virginia sky Where she lay beside me, biding time Trying to abide me Every night when the night was long She was clinging to me Told me twice that her love was strong Stronger than...

Said the shepherd to his wife The crop of hay is cut and dried I'll bale it up and bring it in Before the coming storm begins "Go", she said, "And beat the storm And then there is another chore Today the baby will be born You'll take me to the hospital...

Down at the docks, you and me walking Watching you watching the ships Coming into the harbor You told me again of your voyages grand I loved you most when you spoke Of the seven wonders And you reached in your coat For your telescope See what you cou...

When we came We came through the cold We came bearing gifts of gold And frankincense and myrrh And there were trumpets playing There were angels looking down On a west bank town And he so loved the world! Wore we then our warmest capes Wore we then o...

When he said When he said that he liked my cut of hair I became a barber When he said When he said that my scent was Eau de Fleur I became a perfumer When he said When he said that he liked the clothes I wore I became a tailor And I sewed a party d...

I, in my longing, lie out in the night Unveiled and irreverently dressed I'm lip-stuck and liquored up Picking a fight I'm the wicked wicked witch of the west Over the alley ways, backward and blind And the sad and insatiable sprawl Over the market plac...

I am I am I am calling I am calling you out I am I am calling I am calling you I am calling you out I am I am calling I am calling you I am calling you out I am I am calling I am calling you I am calling you I am calling you out I saw you fir...

This is what we do when we go to your place Drink two beers in the kitchen and talk about work Listen to AFAX and act like we don’t know what we’re missing This is what we do when we go to my place Eat leftovers in my room, listen to folk Talk about last...

Bring it on I’ll be waiting with my baby and the curtains drawn No evening news Just our bodies and a record playing Delta blues But he got a smile as wide as the road to hell Wide as the road we’re on And he wrote the song they sang when Rome fell It g...

My daddy's house is the safest of houses He sealed up the windows so no air gets in And there's plenty of Campbell's, and beers in the basement In case we can't get to the store or something And my daddy told me some people hate us They even hate me. I'm...

I've seen Venus, Venus coming She come down in a cloud machine And I believe I believe that she is the only woman I ever seen She came curving, soft and hard Carved out of marble, tall and fair Her heart is a temple and Lover you better kneel if you ev...

HERMES How to get to Hadestown You'll have to take the long way down Through the underground, under cover of night Laying low, staying out of sight Ain't no compass, brother, there ain't no map Just a telephone wire and the railroad track Keep on walkin...

[HERMES] Follow that dollar for a long way down Far away from the poorhouse door Either get to hell or to Hadestown Ain’t no difference anymore! Way down Hadestown Way down under the ground Hound dog howl and the whistle blow Train comes a-rollin, clic...

Lover tell me if you can't Whose gonna buy the wedding band? With times being what they are Hard and getting harder all the time Lover when I sing my song All the rivers sing along And they're gonna break their banks for me To lay their gold around my...

[THE FATES] Life ain’t easy, life ain’t fair A girl’s gotta fight for a rightful share What you gonna do when the chips are down Now that the chips are down What you gonna do when the chips are down Now that the chips are down Help yourself, to hell wit...

HADES Why do we build the wall? My children, my children Why do we build the wall? CERBERUS Why do we build the wall? We build the wall to keep us free That's why we build the wall We build the wall to keep us free HADES How does the wall keep us f...

Oh, mother shelter, a mother is a shelterer Oh, mother shelter, mother, shelter us From the wild winds howling, ooh Oh, father shepherd, a father is a shepherder Oh, father shepherd, father, shepherd us From the wild wolves howling, ooh Your cities are...

The bedroom window view of chestnuts says it’s morning It’s still dark and it’s snowing The floor is cold and the bed is warm It’s almost time I was going I put my wet boots on and walk on down To the diner at the edge of Chinatown The guys in hardhats w...

Every lump inside your throat Every crumpled little note Every idle dial tone Every hook you hung it on Everything you should have said Everything you said instead On the stairs and in the halls Everywhere but where he was Anything you tried to do A...

my mother gave a mighty shout opened her legs and let me out hungry as a prairie dog young man in america young man in america hungry, hungry, running every which way young man in americay i come out like a cannonball come of age of alcohol raven in...

Come out, come on, come outside Don't you hide your handsome face from me I want to see you half-lit in the half-light Laughing with the whites of your dark eyes Shining darkly Way over yonder, I'm waiting and wondering Wither your fonder heart lies C...