The Farmer's Hotel - Silver Jews

The lights went out in New York

Then they went out in Goshen

I got stuck in Goshen and that was sad

The townsfolk stared hard

Like their minds had been marred

By life in a district so downtrodden and drab

I flagged down a stranger

In a worn wooden wheelchair

And when I asked if he knew of a hotel

He said «if I get your meaning

Then I’m definitely leaning

Towards recommending the Farmer’s Hotel»

As I left to find the place

A mother looked me in the face

And whispered «please sir, not the Farmer’s Hotel»

Once where I was headed

She swore I would regret it

Though what might happen she wouldn’t foretell

The old place it was vicious

Wicked and pernicious

«Please stay clean of that rank abbatoir»

Though her words alarmed me

I was stuck until morning

And in the end we must be who we are

With no light on the door

I wasn’t quite sure

If a night clerk was working within

From behind a red curtain

Limped a perilous person

He appeared to have some egg on his chin

This old yankee warlock

Brushed back a gray forelock

And bid me to sign in the book

With no bonhomie

He proffered the key

Never once did he give me a look

I thanked the old codger

And in my role as the lodger

I headed upstairs for to sleep

There was no air of slumber

The doors, they had no numbers

Which room was intended for me?

The passage kept on going

Like the carpet was flowing

Towards that thing at the end of the hall

My own eyed had adjusted

This account can be trusted

Because I know that I saw what I saw

I heard animal noises

And tangled up voices

Chanting more and of rumors of more

There’s no natural law

That can explain what I saw

Spread out on that straw-covered floor

Now I’ve put an ocean

Between myself and Goshen

To get away from the Farmer’s Hotel

If you get a nation

To travel to Goshen

Please stay away from the Farmer’s Hotel

The lights went out in Goshen

Just like poetry in motion

And I checked into the Farmer’s Hotel

Things to unclean

Are better left unseen

Please keep away from the Farmer’s Hotel