Pieces and Parts - Laurie Anderson

They say that in 1842 on a plantation in Alabama

The slaves unearthed a huge skeleton

The bones of a giant whale

A leviathan

From the time when all the world was covered with water

From the Andes to the Himalayas

And even Alabama was deep down under

And the slaves looked at the huge bones and they said:

These must be the bones of a fallen angel

These must be the bones of a fallen angel

Out on the ocean, out of the water

We look for signs of him

He looks like a giant snow hill, a fountain

Then he disappears.

He’s a speck on the horizon

We see him only in parts

The flash of a tail, his beating heart

He’s in pieces and parts

It’s easier for a camel to slide through the eye of a needle

Than to find a whale who hides at the bottom of the ocean

It’s easier to sail around the world in a coffee cup

Than to see a whale when he comes rising up

We see him only in parts

A fountain, fins, a speck on the horizon

Giant teeth, an open mouth

Look out, look out, look out, look out

So hit an elephant with a dart

And he just reaches around and pulls it out with his trunk

But hit a whale in the hear and the whole ocean turns red

It turns red

We see him only in parts

The flash of a tail, his beating heart

He’s in pieces and parts

So get hit in your head

And there may be a few things you can’t recall at all

But you get hit in your heart

And you’re in pieces and parts

Pieces and parts