PHISH - Esther lyrics

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It was late one fall night at a fairground near town

When Esther first saw the Armenian man

Who groveled toward her and stood by her side

With a bucket that swung in his hand

His grin stretched the folds of his pasty white cheeks

And his lips hurled a dollop of murk on the curb

And the lights from the rides showed a mischievous sparkle

That flashed in his hollow eyed stare

He said, "Little girl, you can chop off my legs

And then peel off my socks if you want to

But I'd rather you took this old puppet from me

That I hold in my pail as we speak"

And he stood looking down at the innocent girl

And she stared at the bucket bewildered

Then he lifted the doll for the young girl to see

And a giant smile grew on his face

She saw the doll's eyes and she couldn't resist

And she thanked the man quickly and ran to the church

And she burst through the door with puppet held high

And a hush filled the chapel and the people looked mean

Esther tried in vain to pacify the mob

Quibble grew to spat, to wrangle, then to brawl

The frenzied congregation struggled desperately to fetch

The pretty puppet snugly nestled deep in Esther's leather sack

Through the window of the church, a storm began to rage

And Esther knew the time had come to flee

She scurried down the aisle toward the doorway in the distance

And out into the rainstorm where she felt she would be free

But the wind was blowing harder

And her skirt began to billow, until finally her feet began to lift

And she rose above the houses and the people and the chimneys

And Esther and the doll were set adrift

Floating higher over the hills

And the valleys and treetops they'd flutter and glide

Soaring and turning suspended on air

With the earth far below them they'd tumble

And dive through the clouds

And she began to plummet earthward

Till she landed in the nasty part of town

She glanced about the village sure to find the evil men

Who rob and pillage in the darkest hour of night

Nervously she fumbled for the pouch that held the puppet on her rump

Feeling quite outnumbered Esther hid behind

A nearby pile of lumber, where she waited till the dawn

'Cause it would have been a blunder

To succumb to a hoodlum on the prowl

When the morning came, she wandered through the streets

Along the chilly lake that lay beside the town

At last a peaceful moment, but she thought she heard a sound

It was an angry mob of joggers coming up to knock her down

As Esther stood and shook her head the joggers were approaching

And she knew she had no choice left but to swim

As the frosty water sank its bitter teeth into her hide

She tried to slide the heavy clothing from her skin

Naked now she made her way toward the shore

When suddenly she felt a tiny tugging at her toe

And the puppet she'd forgotten wrapped its tiny

Little arms around her ankle and wouldn't let her go

The waves seemed to open and swallow her whole

As the doll pulled her down through the eerie green deep

And the sound of the laughing old man filled her ears

As she drifted away to a tranquil and motionless sleep