The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter

[Andy Balham]

The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter by The Miasmatics

Verse I:
Gabriel was from the Tea-time band
Famed for that finger-style banjo
But times were hard and children need food
So that instrument had to go

Verse II:
Madeleine was from the farming life
That the dustbowl had swept aside
Now she came to sell her furniture
But what value do you put on pride

Chorus:
And Emily always asked him
Why the people brought things around
And he'd always use that same white lie
And say they'd been lost and found
But Emily knew he was lying
And it's sometimes better not to say
For her stepdad's business was in sadness
But Emily loved him anyway

Verse III:
Augustus Barclay entered the shop
A professor short on gold
For who wants teaching with no prospects
So the bookends had to be sold

Verse IV:
Charlie and Janie gave it a final heave
And then the organ was on display
It delighted the family for many a year
But it couldn't keep hunger at bay

Chorus

Bridge:
Now there is no Father Christmas
And no tooth fairy too
There's lies that we tell ourselves
And some that we wish were true
Ignorance is bliss they say
And if you can fool yourself
Just keep telling the stories
For the sake of your mental health

Chorus

[feldspar]

The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter
by Feldspar

I'm in love with the pawnbroker's stepdaughter
making his living posessing things that aren't his
and I want you to know who I am
if I ever find out who I am

I'm in love with the pawnbroker's stepdaughter
Everything's sacred to someone with nothing to lose
and I'd like to be totally lost for a while
if I'm stuck then I swear that I'll find you again

I don't want to be known as the guy with the skeleton grin
but I'm all right by myself if you're never gonna let me back in
then I'm okay

I'm in love with the pawnbroker's stepdaughter
making his living posessing things that aren't his
like his daughter, the virtuous queen of denial
and her virtues aren't actually his

I'm in love with the pawnbroker's daughter
(her) majesty, royal apocalypse eyes shining on
And I'd like to be less than you want me to be
and I hope that you'll stop staring bullets at me
and I'd like to be totally lost for awhile
if I'm stuck then I swear that I'll find you again

I don't want to get stuck in a dead conversation
with a wide-eyed spokesmodel for the new libertine lifestyle
and I'm okay

I'm in love with the pawnbroker's stepdaughter
making his living posessing things that aren't his
like his daughter, the virtuous queen of denial
and her virtues aren't actually his
I'm in love with the pawnbroker's stepdaughter
Everything's sacred to someone with nothing to lose
And I'd like to be less than you want me to be
and I hope that you'll stop staring bullets at me
and I'd like to be totally lost for awhile
if I'm stuck then I swear that I'll find you again

I'm okay
Everything's okay

[stephen_b]

The PawnBrokers Stepdaughter
by Stephen bellinski

when my mother died she told me
that the girl i choose should love me
in the way, showed me how to love.

my father found the same true,
when he met a woman with eyes sooo blue
it was like looking at the sky

and her daughter at the time,
about the same age as mine
well, she had her mothers eyes
and i can't lie,
i wished that I'd met her first,
before my dad fell in love with the lady i'd call mom

well, i decided that its not right,
to see my new sister in that light
so i never said, and she never knew

the years round her were aching
she didnt know my heart was breaking
with every time i looked at her

so i moved so far away
didn't talk until the day
her mother called and said,
that my poor dad
had passed away,
left all he had,
to the girl that i'd been in love with all these years

whats worse is that his shop
the local Pawn and swap,
had been put up for sale,
by the girl that i had failed
to get to know, I wish i'd known... and now my legacy is gone

[Kamakura]

Kamakura - The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter

I knew her well for many years
She meant a lot to me
We met when we were children
These things can to seldom 'be'
It's obvious now in hindsight
I loved her more than she
More than she loved me

She was the Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter

The streets we walked were paved with gold
Or so I thought back then
Child's eyes crave daily suprises
And life provided them
It's obvious now with hindsight
I built my dreams on air
Built my dreams on air

She was the Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter

The last thing that she said
Before she left me late last year
Was 'If I'd tried we could have been
the happiest souls in years'
What I said is what I feel
'It's not all down to one
it takes two to play the game.'

She was the Pawnbrokers Stepdaughter

PS - Here endeth 2004

[Duncan, of Level Nivelo]

The Pawnbroker’s Stepdaughter
by Level Nivelo

The pawnbroker’s stepdaughter wanted to know
If everything that she believed
Was chosen and wrapped up for her with a bow
A simple gift to be received

Was it her father who taught her to cry?
Her mother who gave her her laugh?
I know for certain that it wasn’t I
Who fucked her a day and a half.

Where do we come from?
And why are we here?
The answers are muddy and icky and strange
Why am I struck dumb
By ridiculous fear?
Why is it my job to make my life change?

The pawnbroker’s stepdaughter wanted to see
If she could be happy for fun
She asked her stepfather for money to be
A straight-shooting son of a gun

If you don’t know what your talents become
Are they your talents at all?
Your parents the cookies, and you are the crumb
That into the milk glass does fall

Where do we come from?
And why are we here?
The answers are muddy and icky and strange
Why am I struck dumb
By ridiculous fear?
Why is it my job to make my life change?

[joshw]

The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter by Josh Woodward

The pawnbroker's stepdaughter
Fought away the cold December air

On a park bench sitting by a fallen pine
She folds her bloody hands and sees the sign

Saying
All we are we are we are is
All we are we are we are is sin
All we are we are we are is
All we are we are we are is sin

On the corner of North Main and High
The trains would shake the walls as they passed by

The clamor of the steel rails would
Drown her voice as she screamed in the night

A smile would cross his empty face
As he put that girl in her place again

She shut down her last defenses
She turned off her tattered senses
And looked up to the sky with glassy eyes

The pawnbroker's stepdaughter
Floats above the ground where she had stood
The pawnbroker's stepdaughter
Made it right the one way she could

She lift up her trembling hands
The room was spinning like a carousel

She felt her body spin around
With crimson running to the ground before her

The room turned silent, the train was gone
The melting snow, the the crack of dawn was here

This is how the story ends
The same way that it all begins
Cuz no one here forgives our sins on this world

The pawnbroker's stepdaughter
Floats above the ground where she had stood
The pawnbroker's stepdaughter
Made it right the one way she could

All we are we are we are is
All we are we are we are is sin
All we are we are we are is
All we are we are we are is sin
All we are we are we are is
All we are we are we are is
All we are is sin

[bwell]

The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter (The BeWells)

Living in a small town ain't that easy
Seems everybody knows where you've been
For those with a past like mine and momma's
No question of trouble, only when

A handsome soldier she was to marry
On her hand she proudly wore his ring
But only bad news when war was over
She was left with shattered broken dreams

Many a man tried to console her
But her heart was not theirs to win
Took what they could and went their way
'Til she was showing for all to see her sin

Tried her best to raise her little girl right
But memories of those nights still sting
Eventually the men stopped coming 'round
She cried the night she pawned that ring

It's hard growing up without your daddy's name
Harder still seeing your momma live in shame
Watching those around us play their games
Easy when someone else takes the blame

One day a man asked about my mother
Said he owned the old pawn shop on Main
Kindness was a rare thing in this town
All too used to whispers, frowns, and pain

I told him the stories she'd told me
He said he needed help down at the store
Soon momma took the job and we were getting by
With a little joy I'd not known before

It's hard growing up without your daddy's name
Harder still seeing your momma live in shame
Watching those around us play their games
Easy when someone else takes the blame

After a year he pulled out that old ring
Momma said yes and a family we became
Most folks still shake their heads and look away
But now I know my daddy's name
Now I know my daddy's name

[Adam!]

The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter
by Puce

When she was five a 50's fire cut her life in two,
When she was nine a 60's wife found room for someone new,

His hands are shaped like money clips,
Dirty bills are clenched between his fists,
His fingers pinch a pound of flesh,
And stolen words slip from his lips

(oh yeah) He'll steal from the tired feet that walk into his shop
(oh yeah) He'll steal from in her eyes the one thing he ought not

His hands are shaped like money clips,
Dirty bills are clenched between his fists,
His fingers pinch a pound of flesh,
And stolen words slip from his lips

(oh) But there's one thing he forgot,
The .22 that no one bought,
That she hid underneath her bed,
Aimed at the door that has no lock

It was the last thing he forgot,
The .22 that no one bought,
That she hid underneath her bed,
In case tonight he didn't knock

[EightLeggedOedipus]

The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter
by Eight Legged Oedipus
Copyright 2004 Pure Greed Records

You'll never believe it
But I found the cure for my seizures
In her gamely gait, her gamely gait


She took up a book of catch phrase,
Craft of witch's ways and fuckin'
Watched her weight, she watched her weight


So I pulled a pack of positive automotive
Gopher cigarettes and
Slipped it in, I slipped one in


Cause the pawnbroker's stepdaughter's
Hotter than a hot shot top model motherfucker hopped up on
Ritalin, on Ritalin


La da da da da da da
Da da, da da, da da, ha ah


Now a supplementary something-or-other
Somethinged my assumptions of
Consignment cash, consignment cash


No particular perpendicular
Pawn shop pop got a shotgun, shotgun
Up my ass, it's up my ass


She was making pancakes
In the kitchen, finder licking
When she collapsed, when she collapsed


I threw my hands up in the air
And waved them like I didn't care
Or gave a crap, or gave a crap

[king_arthur]

The Pawnbroker's Stepdaughter by Beowulf Kingsley
(posting lyric because I'm doing a cover and the lyric wasn't in here yet)

When I first met her she glanced through the cage
The dark reading glasses belying her age
She said that the goods that I had weren't worth much
But the look in her eyes told me I'd be in touch

As the weeks passed we started to fall
And I found that those brass balls weren't hers, Not at all
Last night she informed me my credit was good
And that all that we wished for was all that we should

The Pawnbrokers stepdaughter smiling at me
And I know my guitar is safe as can be
The Pawnbroker's stepdaughter, she's who I need
Holds the tickets to my things and my heart.

(instrumental)

Now that I'm better and back on my feet
She's all that I need to make my life complete
I know I'm a guy whose sister found all his luck
And I've got her to thank for getting me out of hock.

(chorus) Holds the tickets... Has the tickets...