Ben & Lily from Stray by Bambara
Tracklist
| 7. | Ben & Lily | 3:41 |
Lyrics
It was a humid summer
Of diseased mosquitoes and heat strokes.
I was working on an assembly line until school started up
And that’s where I met Ben.
“I’m a Eunuch,” Ben said
“I was in my prime when they cut me down.
They were tired of me chasing their daughters,
Burning their precious mill to the ground.”
“They got me–”
“When I stole Mr. Beck’s corvette
His yapping Shih Tzu riding shotgun.
I parked it in the lake and learned to swim.
Then I was too worn out to run.”
“Met Lily in the Milledgeville Asylum.
They fixed her the same as me.
She’s my halfwit infertile beauty.
They cut us both down like rotten trees.”
“But we were blooming,” Ben said
“I broke us out and stole a ring.”
Still see them when I’m sleeping.
In dreams, when I’m tired and alone.
Lily’s smiling, picking bugs off of the altar.
And a rose pinned to Ben’s blood-soaked tuxedo.
Last time I saw Ben,
Blood rolled down the conveyor belt.
He was injured bad but still working
Swearing he’d send some guy to hell.
Ben said, “I don’t mind he shot me.
If I’m being honest, I deserved it.
But what he did to my sweet Lily
She don’t deserve that one bit.”
Looking in Ben’s eyes, I knew he meant it.
And I realized I was a coward.
Next day I heard those cheap apartments
Near the river had burned down.
A few people died.
And Ben was long gone.
In my dreams they watch the fire.
Their twin gold teeth gleam like polished guns.
See them on the highway, her toes tapping on a suitcase
In a new corvette Ben’s aiming at the sun.
I dream they’re on the run.
Always driving towards the sun.
I always dream they’re on the run.
They’re driving straight for the burning sun.
