10000 Maniacs The Painted Desert Lyrics

The Painted Desert Lyrics

[ Jerome Augustyniak/Natalie Merchant ]

The Painted Desert can wait till summer. 
We`ve played this game of just imagine long enough. 
Wait till summer? 
When I`m sure the rains have ended, the blooms have gone, 
everyone killed by the morning frost. 
Is a cactus blooming there in every roadside stand 
where the big deal is cowboy gear won in Japan? 

The Painted Desert can wait till summer. 
We`ve played this game of just imagine long enough. 
Wait till summer? 
When I`m sure the rains have ended and the blooms have gone, 
everyone killed by the morning frost. 
Is a cactus blooming there upon the Northern rim 
or in the ruins of the Hopi mesa dens? 

You met a new friend in the Canyon, or so you wrote. 
On a blanket in the cooling sand you and your friend agreed that 
the stars were so many there they seemed to overlap. 

The Painted Desert can wait till summer. 
We`ve played this game of just imagine long enough. 
Wait till summer? 
When I am sure the rain has ended, the blooms have gone, 
everyone killed by the morning frost. 
Was a cactus blooming there as you watched the Native boy? 
In Flagstaff trailer court, you wrote the line: 
"He kicked a tumbleweed and his mother called him home where the Arizona
moon met the Arizona sun." 

I wanted to be there by May at the latest time. 
Isn`t that the plan we had or have you changed your mind? 
I haven`t read a word from you since Phoenix or Tucson. 
April is over will you tell me how long before I can be there?