The Handsome Family - Lizard

Granny Green was stooped as a windblown branch She lived high in the Bramble forest Once a fork night if the moon shown right She came down to her little village She brought blackberries and willow bark Mandrake root and mushrooms And it was said she spoke the tongue of birds And understood the river's whispers Now several girls among our town By a golden lizard they were bitten And those sweet girls lay stiff in their beads Like frozen ice upon the branches Granny Green mixed a tonic for their ills But it was such a bitter tonic That all who drink began to dance And could not stop their dancing But none would danced one sinful step If that old crone had not bewitched us How we leaped in Princeton cackle The whole town of driving mad men And so desperate grew some to still their feet They dove into the raging river Still we danced all day and night Til our fine clothes were torn and ragged I'm crying out "Oh Lord, make us stop" We danced naked around the chapel How granny laughed to see such sin There's just water, she said, in my tonic But all cried out "she lies, she surely lies" And we chased her deep into the Bramble But like before wind she disappeared Though we searched round and round the branches Rolling in leafs and naked 'neath the trees We lost the way back to our village But I swear we were all pure of heart Til that old crone did bewitch us And I know we will all go home When the good Lord returns to save us