The Ballad Of Sad Endings

from Two Sides Of A River by Lianne Smith

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lyrics

*** The Ballad Of Sad Endings ***
I’ll tell you a story, but first for some others
from books I have read in the past.
I’ll tell you the plots and even the endings
I’m warning you now, so you can leave if you want.

The first is from Rolvaag, a Norwegian immigrant
who set his sad tale out on the Great Plains
the story of Beret, the wife of Per Hansa,
who was caught in her brooding and longing for home
but madness descends from her dreams of the ocean
how cruel and so desolate in far North Dakota
there’s worse than cold weather out on the Great Plains.

She couldn’t go / Turn the page
She couldn’t stay / Turn the page
She never found her way.

He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope,
a writer of graces and women’s sad fates,
and two stubborn people who were caught in their battles
there’s final forgiveness, but it comes too late.
For death is most obstinate, what we cling to can kill us
Dear Reader, Dear Reader, do you think he was right?

He was right / Turn the Page
She was right / Turn the page
They never could agree.

And now for my story of two lucky people
and a packet of diamonds they found in the street
but the one who was carrying, let the packet fall open
and the diamonds were scattered far out of their reach.
They went then to live on two sides of a river
and though there’s a bridge, well they could not get over.

And now for my ending, but this I won’t tell you
‘cause it’s to sad to say, it’s too sad to say.
Yes, it's too sad to ..... say.

credits

from Two Sides Of A River, released March 15, 2012
Produced by Anton Fier
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about

Lianne Smith New York

I write songs about standing in the middle of the road and wondering which way to go, about how others cheat us and how we cheat ourselves, about free-wheeling, bicycle riding, look-ma-no-hands exhilarations, and how it feels to say goodbye to summer.

liannesmith.com

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