The Czech Philologist

from The Duck Hunter by Bill Foreman

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lyrics

I landed a lecture when they opened back up Olomuc
Although I'd done my degree out in Mainz with the Germans in jackboots.
In the 23 times my sad case has come up for review
Each year the cold verdict came down there was writing I needed to do.
So when my eyes came across that old vellum in a convent near Warsaw,
How my heart palpitated and I tingled from my toes to my jaw.
In that lone, musty room it slipped into my satchel to hide.
With the footsteps of my colleagues from Prague in the hallway outside.

My heart arrested at the sight
Of that page full of claws and a cat bite.
I called the culprit's name out as the night,
Like my future, grew blacker.
With that bottle in my sweating hand,
I was living the literature of the banned.
With the wind rushing in through my window
Like sounds like some firecrackers.

With leaflets left out on the streets rushing over the sidewalks,
I heard the fast, unintelligible blur of a Muscovite's talk.
Underneath the cold streetlamp, I stumbled to speak to the pair
And inquired if they'd seen a lost cat, and if so, would they please tell me where?
He put up his cold, metal pistol to the tip of my ear,
His hairy hand steady, though his breath smelled of vodka and East German beer.
His wrist turned to the right and I felt a breeze blow by my neck
And the world now shot at me in silence, like a slow-motion train wreck.

My vision blurred in the rising heat.
Nová Ulíce gave beneath my feet.
And with only the sound of my thundering heartbeat
To guide me
In a moment when I caught my breath,
I thought of that feline and death,
While the shards of my bottle shot out
In a circle beside me.

I'll find me a pistol and lay lead in that cat's ugly skull
And parade with his head on a stake through the province's capital.
My mind will careen down a stream and jot themes on my notecards
While Kalashnikovs gleam in the lights on the squares and the boulevards.

credits

from The Duck Hunter, released January 1, 1998

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about

Bill Foreman Los Angeles, California

Bill began developing his approach to song and recording in 1986. Bill recorded his first solo album, "The Bathroom Mirror," in 1997 on a portable Walkman recorder. In December, 2015, Bill released “Funeral Hymns and Outlaw Ballads,” a compilation of his work. Bill’s most recent record, “The Bliss-Chasers,” came out in August, 2016. ... more

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