From the recording Seven

Lyrics

I Do Not Follow (Long Version)
Words and Music by Elizabeth Pugh

I was stopped by Ganesh on Crosby Street
A new regime has confiscated sanity
Take me to the water
Let me wash away
Wash away the grime
Cause
I don't wanna dance
No
I don't wanna dance
With sorrow

I saw a Stones tee shirt in a vintage store on Ludlow Street
“How much?" I asked the girl thinking I’m gonna buy something cool
She said, “It's a 150 dollars."
Like I couldn't afford the air I breathe and didn't deserve to share hers
“150 dollars,” I said
"Yeah it could be more, maybe $175.
It's an original
Single stitched
From 1991."

Well, it's yellow and stained
With some teenagers disdain
But I didn't want anyone hating me any more in this world than I felt Already did.
And just like all things
I should have left alone
I got sucked in deeper.

A beautiful Japanese kimono caught my eye
Dangling in front of me the promise of buying another place and time
Dancing around my living room
As the sun is setting
And I’m
I am
I am wanted
I am sensual
I am free

Cause I don’t want to dance
No
I don’t want to dance
With sorrow

I took it into the dressing room
Because I needed some privacy
A place to collect my shattered soul
And then I thought you know what
I’m gonna turn this around
I’m gonna turn this around
I came out of the dressing room
I was so excited
I thought you know
You know what
Maybe
Someday
Someone is going to spend a 150 dollars for a Janis shirt!

And I waited for the solidarity
And her face fell
She looked at me blankly
And I realized
She didn’t know
She didn’t know
Who I was talking about

But I don’t wanna dance
No
I don’t wanna dance
With sorrow

I ran into Beckett on Bleecker Street
On the holiest of nights
And The Bells of Pompeii
Oh they landed at our feet
And we stood there face to face
With nothing to say
Oh but you know
You know
When fate is at play
He said his head was cold and he needed a hat and
Was tired of junkies taking care of his cat
And he’s tired of waiting
Oh he’s tired of waiting
For sorrow

I walked by West 3rd
I could see myself
It’s 1995
I’m coming out of the subway
I’ve made it
I’m here.
And Robert is selling records
I almost pass out from the wave of incense
I pass a table of all the books that I read
I couldn’t believe
I was gonna dream of a place to be with them and there they are set up
All these people
I thought were dead
Cause how can anyone alive
Write
Something
So magnificent!

And I find the place in the soul of the girl

Who is a dreamer
Who is a warrior

She does not follow
She does not follow
I do not follow

I see myself on 7th Avenue
Dancing in the golden light
It’s 2050 and
People are flying by
Literally.
And I’m dancing
Oh maybe with a dog and
I’ll be conspiring with children
Maybe I’ll have a silly hat
Maybe wI’ll have lipstick on my teeth
But I won’t be dancing with sorrow

I’ll be dancing
With the dreamers
And
the warriors
Cause
We do not follow
We do not follow

Cause
We are the warriors
We are the dreamers
We do not follow

© 2018 by Elizabeth Pugh
Published by Jones St. Records
BMI.