The Bed Song
Amanda Palmer
Exhibit A
We are friends in a sleeping bag
Splitting the heat
We have one filthy pillow to share
And your lips are in my hair
Someone upstairs has a rat that we laughed at
And people are drinking and singing
That Scarborough Fair on a ukulele tear
Exhibit B
Oh, we found an apartment
It's not much to look at
A futon on a floor
Torn off desktop for a door
All the decors made of milk crates
And duct tape, and if we have sex
They can hear us through the floor
But we don't do that anymore
And I lay there wondering what is the matter
Is this some matter of worse or of better?
You took the blanket, so I took the bed sheet
But I would have held you if you'd only let me
Exhibit C
Look how quaint and how quiet and private
Our paychecks have bought us a condo in town
It's the nicest flat around
You picked a mattress and had it delivered
And I walked upstairs
And the sight of it made my heart pound
And I wrapped my arms around me
And I stood there wondering what is the matter
Is this some matter of worse or of better?
You walked right past me and straightened the covers
And I would still love you if you wanted a lover
And you said
All the money in the world
Won't buy a bed so big and wide
To guarantee that you won't accidentally
Touch me in the night
Exhibit D
Now we're both mostly paralyzed
Don't know how long
We've been lying here in fear
Too afraid to even feel
I find my glasses, and you turn the light out
Roll off on your side
Like you've rolled away for years
Holding back those king-sized tears
And I still don't ask you what is the matter
Is it a matter of worse or of better?
You take the heart-failure, I'll take the cancer
I've long stopped wondering why you don't answer
Exhibit E
You can certainly see
How fulfilling a life from the cost
And size of stone
Of our final resting home
We got some nice ones right under a cherry tree
You and me lying the only way we know
Side by side and still and cold
And I finally ask you what was the matter
Was it some matter of worse or of better?
You stretch your arms out and finally face me
And said: I would have told you if you'd only asked me
If you'd only asked me
If you'd only asked me