Thanks to Ed (dancin' Ed) for sponsoring Valeri.

The original drowning girl song, and another that has not seen a studio recording with ilyAIMY.

About the Song

"Valeree was a wonderful summer romance. She moved back to Florida and we wrote back and forth to one another in our almost identical tiny black-inked handwriting for over a year afterwards. The letters stopped suddenly and I had always wondered why. Years later she wrote to me on a whim, wondering who I was. She'd been dancing in a club and a big steel moon thing fell from the ceiling and struck her on the head. It totally wiped out years of her Life and her only memory of me was the letters and photographs we'd been sending. She used the money from the settlement to build her own art gallery."

-rob

Lyrics

the flesh on my bones
is not quite as lush as it used to be
and some days
I think that the ridges on the tips of my fingers have been worn away
I load my back with 16 tonnes
I'm listening hard for the camel crack.

when Fear brought the church to me
I thought I had touched stained glass for far too long
my fingers yellowed my fingers stained
you died in glass that was stained that colour

I found you soft in a cold dark place
eye so wide I could barely
see the white
in a cold dark place
I could not find the softest part
in your eyes

the flesh on my limbs
is not quite as lush as I thought it was
now I find I'm as soft as a cat
I load my head with 16 tonnes
I'm listening hard for that
that I hope is there

I have been told what to do what to be what I cannot be
I have been many things I don't even know what I want to be
I hope I am much stronger for these things
that I have been

a thing too dear too clear too cold I fear
I fear I see the bottom of the sea
a thing too clear
she was ice green clouded over
she faded fast as she faded fast
as the sun came clear

I hunt this photograph that binds you to me
i hunt the dream that I thought was part of you and me
I burn the locket I collect this ash
I hold the dust I hold it dear
until the sun came clear
You know I held you so dear

like Mary in the sky a small blonde skull
turned to me, "it's time for me to leave"
nothing left but the creature in the corner
nothing left but the beast behind the door

I let loose I screamed at the storm
"I could have saved her I could've saved her!
I could have saved her I could've saved her!
If I only had the time
If I'd only took the time"

the flesh on her bones
is no longer on her bones
it has seeped been stripped
it has found and wound its way
only the eyes lie alive at the bottom of the sea
they lie accusing me
of everything that I wish I could be
in her eyes.
in her eyes.

© rob hinkal