Mitchell, Joni - Otis And Marlena Lyrics






Marlena under Foster Grants
She's undercover from the dawns advance
That girl is travel-drained
And the neon mercury vapor stained
Miami sky
It's red as meat
It's a cheap pink rose
Otis in the driver's seat
Watches the street lights fade away
On louvered blocks in green sea air
In fluorescent fossil yards
Slippers are shuffling into folding chairs
Freckled hands are shuffling cards

They've come for fun and sun
While Muslims stick up Washington ...

Otis empties out the trunk
On the steps of that celebrated dump
Sleazing by the sea
Bow down to her royal travesty--
In her ballrooms heads of state--
In her bedrooms rented girls--
Always the grand parades of cellulite
Jiggling to her golden pools
Through flock and cupid colonnades
They jiggle into surgery
Hopefully beneath the blade
They dream of golden beauty ...

They've come for fun and sun
While Muslims stick up Washington ...

Marlena, white as stretcher sheet
Watches it all from her 10th floor balcony
Like it's her opera box
All those Pagliacci summer frocks
Otis is fiddling with the TV dial
All he gets are cartoons and reruns
She taps her glass with an emery file
Watching three rings in the sun
The golden dive, the fatted flake
And sizzle in the mink oil
It's all a dream
She has awake
Checked into Miami Royal
Where they've come for fun and sun
While Muslims hold up Washington ...
Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
Dream on
Dream on





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Mitchell, Joni Otis And Marlena Comments
  1. K.... R....

    Guitar? Larry Carlton?

  2. M.... O....

    the brutha' on the cover is joni, but you didn't here that from me

  3. M.... O....

    Joni+ she's a good one.

  4. E.... ....

    My favorite DJRD song, right from day one.

  5. J.... F....

    Amazing. As always where Joni is concerned. Get well soon Joni.

  6. J.... W....

    !977, and Joni mentions that "...Muslims stick up Washington" 24 years before 911. Clairvoyant, I wonder?

    J.... W....

    ah yes, that too....

    J.... W....

    @John White yesterday i (accidentally) found out what she's singing about in those lines. I could tell you but myself i always hate it when people "explain" songs. Clairvoyant is also good for me. If you want to hear it i'll you, if not i won't.

    J.... W....

    @John White in fact, you can do it yourself, just type the sentence "muslims stick up washington" in google and wikipedia will tell you all about it

    J.... W....

    when the hanafis took over the mosque, boss……. marion barry was wounded, made a hero, got addicted to crack, the rest is hissssssssstory

    J.... W....

    It's a reference to the Hanafi siege that occurred that same year... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Hanafi_Siege

  7. X.... M....

    Joni is an incredible genius.  This song is so true today but written in 1977! Nobody writes lyrics like this  or this good! She is not given enough credit for her genius.

    X.... M....

    Muslims stick up Washington

  8. P.... B....

    In answer to the question as to what this song is about.  After reading the lyrics a couple of times it sounds like a couple of older people seeking their lost youth, especially where the "under the knife" lyric comes in.  I remember the album when it was new and this particular track is quite haunting and very dark.

    P.... B....

    It really is about the "malaise" that Jimmy Carter warned of in that speech he gave to the nation that didn't go over well back then, but which is prophetic now. Shallowness, consumerism, people abdicating their responsibilities as engaged citizens. It's all their in some of her songs from this period.

  9. r.... ....

    Otis and Marlena take a vacation from reality in a place so far from it that they don't even realize they were already there :)

  10. M.... O....

    ".........while Muslims stick up Washington" And Navy Yards? Lone Wolf Mujehadeen.

  11. A.... ....

    Can anyone tell me what is this song about or what t deals with? I found Joni Mitchel's songwriting kinda stimulating