A Verbal Fig Leaf · Track 1 · opener
Give Someone a Green Gown
Give Someone a Green Gown (1350s) — Tumbling her in the grass till the dress stains — the stain is the evidence and the whole euphemism. VOLUME: I. THE COURT, 1350–1599. THE DODGE THIS ERA: The dodge is REVERENCE. You do not say it because it is holy, or because He is listening, or because she is a lady. Courtly, careful, and only just getting away with it. Sing the AVOIDANCE, never the anatomy.
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Lyrics
[Intro] The morning sits heavy on the abbey lawn. Keep your gaze on the path. [Verse 1] Nine ells of Flemish white, gathered in the folds, Carried past the cloisters where the morning air is cold. The bishop has a window, and the dowager can hear, So we speak about the weather and the turning of the year. But the earth is very damp today, the slope is rather steep, And a sudden loss of footing is a secret we can keep. [Chorus] If the meadow makes a tailor of the ground, And the clover presses heavy on the hem, We will say I only meant to give you a green gown, A sudden shift of color in the stem. Let the gossips see the fabric, let them never look within, We are only talking dye, my love, we are not talking sin. [Verse 2] In the hall they watch you enter, and they look toward the floor, Where the meadow grass has painted what it pleases, nothing more. The mind stalls for a fraction, pulling back the honest noun, Finding safety in the threadwork of a pale and ruined gown. I declare you slipped upon a root of ancient English oak. It is holy to be careful, it is chivalry to choke. [Chorus] If the meadow makes a tailor of the ground, And the clover presses heavy on the hem, We will say I only meant to give you a green gown, A sudden shift of color in the stem. Let the gossips see the fabric, let them never look within, We are only talking dye, my love, we are not talking sin. [Bridge] Because heaven hears the whisper, but it mostly reads the room, So I focus on the collar in the safety of the gloom. What is given in the pasture is a private sort of grace, But the stain is public record on the linen and the lace. [Outro] It will never wash away. But the alibi will hold. Just a stumble in the valley where the morning grass was cold. We just gave you a green gown. Keep your gaze upon the path.