The Decemberists – The Gymnast, High Above The Ground lyrics

The gymnast, high above the ground,
Limbers up and falls timber town.
Ankles splayed and all tied.
The gymnast long has arrived.
Lanky, your long sister lays
Waiting out this long light brigade.
Prayed for snow a long time.
And lanky, it long has arrived.

Through the tarlatan holes
You've been slipping, been slipping away
And the weather will hold
It's been ever, ever so gray.

But here as we're coming down
And we're calling out: it's a terrible, terrible tide
As it lights upon your eye.

But there on the motorway, reeks of marmalade,
It's a chemical, chemical kind
As it lights upon your eye
Lights upon your eye.

The bosun calls upon the quay.
Compass gone, he long has lost his way
To lighthouse shine, to calm tide.
The bosun long has arrived.

Chorus