Call Me the Witch - Nicole Atkins, Cotton Mather

It was not his idea

To leave the city after Korea

For a Chinese wedding by a circus tent

All the time at the foundry

Dying in between the boundaries

So he left his baby there to pay the rent

I see him down by the crumbling seawalls

Am I the only one who hears him when he calls?

Call me the witch

Here to paint the town that time forgot

Throwin' the switch

To illuminate the isle of forget-me-nots

She was married to a merchant marine

Who her father thought a philistine

Peddling kerosene in a surplus store

On a night so clear

Seeing that his vessel was near

She walked off the end of the pier, lo and behold

She says «Sister, can you tell my story?

I’m still waiting for some final glory»

Call me the witch

Here to paint the town that time forgot

Throwin' the switch

To illuminate the isle of forget-me-nots

And out in the rain, I saw the face of Stephen Crane

And he says to me, «Thanks for the memories»

Made a vow I can never repeat

To know the shadows on Madison Street

They all know my name and tell me hello

Never said I was their boss

I’m just livin' in the land of the lost

Where the last battalion tossed the coins in the row

You can hide in your candy museum

With the mail-order bride, but the fog is comin' in

Call me the witch

Here to paint the town that time forgot

Throwin' the switch

Here to illuminate the isle of forget-me-nots

Call me the witch

Oh, call me the witch

Ah, call me the witch