FRESHMAN COMPOSITION, RHETORIC, GRAMMAR II

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INTRO. TO LITERARY RESEARCH & WRITING

INSTRUCTOR: James Maxfield

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Passion Play
 

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Use this poem as one of 3 for Ex. #4

Passion Play

(When All the Slaves Are Free)

(by Joni Mitchell)

Magdalene is trembling

Like a washing on a line

Trembling and gleaming

Never before was a man so kind

Never so redeeming

Chorus:

Enter the multitudes

In Exxon blue

In radiation rose

Ecstasy

Now you tell me

Who you gonna get to do the dirty work

When all the slaves are free?

(Who're you gonna get)

 

I am up a sycamore

Looking through the leaves

A sinner of some position

Who in the world can this heart healer be

This magical physician

Chorus:

Enter the multitudes

In Exxon blue

In radiation rose

Misery

Now you tell me

Who you gonna get to do the dirty work

When all the slaves are free?

(Who're you gonna get)

 

Enter the multitudes

The walking wounded

They come to this diver of the heart

Of the multitudes

Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done

Oh, climb down, climb down he says to me

From the middle of unrest

They think its light is squandered

But he sees a stray in the wilderness

And I see how far I've wandered

Chorus:

Enter the multitudes

In Exxon blue

In radiation rose

Apathy

Now you tell me

Who you gonna get to do the dirty work

When all the slaves are free?

(Who're you gonna get)

Enter the multitudes

The walking wounded

They come to this diver of the heart

Of the multitudes

Thy kingdom come

Thy will be done

 

Oh, all around the marketplace

The buzzing of the flies

The buzzing and the stinging

Divinely barren

And wickedly wise

The carillon bells are ringing

Chorus:

Enter the multitudes

In Exxon blue

In radiation rose

Tragedy

Now you tell me

Who you gonna get to do the dirty work

When all the slaves are free?

(Who're you gonna get) (1991)

 

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Last modified: 04/30/06