Is Anybody Home? (4:20)
by Laurie Anderson

[talking]
I live by the Hudson River, and a lot of boats go by
They glide by so quickly
Camouflaged against the Jersey shore

Sometimes at night when the liners are lit up
It's hard to tell which is moving, 
The boat, or the shoreline,
And it seems like all of Manhattan has come unanchored,
And is slowly drifting out to sea

I spent hours trying to film them
So I set up a camera by the window
And every time I hear a horn, I run to the window
But I usually miss them


It's a kind of rhythm
A kind of sinking that's been getting into the songs I've been writing
lately
Like walking up stairs in the dark
And you think there's one more step then there actually is,
And your foot comes pounding down
With nothing underneath


Or like the piano we got a few months ago
Only a few keys work
So we put it out in the hall near the door,
And when people come in, they rake their hands across the keyboard
playing the few notes that still work
It's kind of a doorbell now

All the sounds around were so distracting,
I was trying to concentrate on a song for a performance, but I couldn't
And my Mother called and said "Why not come out here and write your song?
It's real quiet, I've just put all new carpets down."

 [anybody home?] repeated throughout next section

When I got there, I noticed that the new carpets were so thick
that none of the doors closed.
The only door that still worked was the door to the parrot's room.
It was a swinging door, and every time someone opened it,
It whacked into the parrots cage,
And the parrot screamed, each time this happened
Totally surprised dozens of times a day

And the shriek filled the whole house,
Through all the half open doors.

[violin starts]

and this is the song, I finally wrote

[sings]
Some old birds, they never learn,
Doors have hinges and they turn
Water's wet, and fire burns,
All good things are worth their weight     
And he who hesitates is late
Some things can never be told
What you got for free can never be sold

Homes is where the heart is,
Solid gold.

Is anybody home?

Some new birds they never learn
Doors have hinges and they turn
Water is wet, and fire burns,
What turns in turns out
And what goes in goes out
All good things are worth their weight
And he who hesitates is late
All good things are worth their weight
Some things can never be told

Home is where the heart is
Solid Gold

(various other lines repeated, with what goes up comes down added during
fade out)


[thanks to Edward Jones for transcribing this]