The Bed Song

Exhibit A

We are friends in a sleeping bag

Splitting the heat

We have one filthy pillow to share

And your lips are in my hair

Someone upstairs has a rat that we laughed at

And people are drinking and singing

That Scarborough Fair on a ukulele tear

Exhibit B

Oh, we found an apartment

It's not much to look at

A futon on a floor

Torn off desktop for a door

All the decors made of milk crates

And duct tape, and if we have sex

They can hear us through the floor

But we don't do that anymore

And I lay there wondering what is the matter

Is this some matter of worse or of better?

You took the blanket, so I took the bed sheet

But I would have held you if you'd only let me

Exhibit C

Look how quaint and how quiet and private

Our paychecks have bought us a condo in town

It's the nicest flat around

You picked a mattress and had it delivered

And I walked upstairs

And the sight of it made my heart pound

And I wrapped my arms around me

And I stood there wondering what is the matter

Is this some matter of worse or of better?

You walked right past me and straightened the covers

And I would still love you if you wanted a lover

And you said

All the money in the world

Won't buy a bed so big and wide

To guarantee that you won't accidentally

Touch me in the night

Exhibit D

Now we're both mostly paralyzed

Don't know how long

We've been lying here in fear

Too afraid to even feel

I find my glasses, and you turn the light out

Roll off on your side

Like you've rolled away for years

Holding back those king-sized tears

And I still don't ask you what is the matter

Is it a matter of worse or of better?

You take the heart-failure, I'll take the cancer

I've long stopped wondering why you don't answer

Exhibit E

You can certainly see

How fulfilling a life from the cost

And size of stone

Of our final resting home

We got some nice ones right under a cherry tree

You and me lying the only way we know

Side by side and still and cold

And I finally ask you what was the matter

Was it some matter of worse or of better?

You stretch your arms out and finally face me

And said: I would have told you if you'd only asked me

If you'd only asked me

If you'd only asked me