Dar Williams
"Calamity John"


Come lovers, come loners, remember yourselves
As lusty tempestuous fools
When to dream was to conjure an ocean
From your small secretarial pools

When you stood at the gulf of unknowing
When you saw the great tundra of time
And you cried for the winds to come blowing
And you called a monsoon
From the tides of the moon
'cause the roads were all dusty and dry

Come lame dancing lonely tonight
When what should appear in the distance
Blown hither and yon its Calamity John
And he's coming to sweep you away
Aye Aye Aye Ayy

He'll tear through the homefront
He'll lift you up laughing
LyricsHe'll blow every signpost away
As the weather report says high drama
With a five percent chance that he'll stay

Now the floor starts to rock and the roof floats
And your friends say he's bad for your health
And they've warned you about him on talk shows
So you told him to pack
Hit the road, don't come back
And he said "Hey, don't flatter yourself" . . . and you say:

I am closing my door to the storm
I am saving myself from its freedom
I've put the chain on, oh Calamity John
I don't want you to dance me away
Aye Aye Aye Ayy

So it's seven months later you've bolted your hair back
You're almost immune to the moon
And at parties you stay in the kitchen
Common sense with a big wooden spoon
All at once you can feel the storm coming
As you burst out into the old refrain
To the sound of America drumming

Call it pain, call it art
Call it open your heart
Let it go, let it fly, let it rain

He smiles and the clouds turn to black
With the wind through the flowers come blowing
The warning bell's on
What's your name? Oh, it's John
That's such an unusual name
Aye Aye Aye Ayy