[Intro: music box, eerie] [Verse 1: Female vocals, sweet, innocent] Summer house on Oyster Bay Linen dry by the garden gate I keep the kettle singing, keep the table set Little girl in the doorway, best friend I've had yet Peaches cut and the sugar cold Turn the cream in the ice and salt Spoon it out to the children, watch 'em smile for me Nobody makes it sweeter, nobody but me [Verse 2: Male vocals, low, cold, half-spoken] End of August, the house goes still Doctor's coat on the windowsill Six in the beds out of eleven there And a landlord swearing on the summer air I checked the well, I checked the drains Clams from the bay, the milk, the rain Every answer comes back clean 'Cept the cook who left in between Seven houses, one name Every kitchen ends the same Fever stays when the cook moves on By the time it climbs, she's gone [Chorus: Female vocals, defensive, heavy band] My hands are clean Sick? No, whatever that means I'm just fine, I'm just fine They've clearly never eaten mine [Male vocals, low, underneath] Every plate, every spoon Every kitchen, every room [Verse 3: Female vocals, defiant] They let me out if I swore to stop Scrubbing linen for half what I got A woman's gotta eat, a woman's gotta live Only thing I know is the thing I give New name, Mary Brown Hospital kitchen across town Babies crying on the second floor Never met 'em, I don't keep score [Male vocals, low] Twenty-five down by spring Same hands, same everything [Chorus: Female vocals, defensive, heavy band] My hands are clean Sick? No, whatever that means I'm just fine, I'm just fine They've clearly never eaten mine [Male vocals, low, underneath] Every plate, every spoon Every kitchen, every room [Bridge: Female vocals, stripped down, isolated] Little house on North Brother Island River's loud but the room stays silent Plate slides in through a gap in the door Nobody eats what I make anymore [Male vocals, low] Twenty-six years, one view City lights she can't walk to [Female vocals, fragile] I scrub my hands till the skin goes thin Still can't find where the sick gets in [Final Chorus: Female vocals, cracking, heavy band] My hands are clean Sick? No, whatever that means I'm just fine, I'm just fine They should've never eaten mine [Abrupt stop] [End]
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