Ophelia Lyrics

Natalie Merchant

Ophelia was a bride of God
A novice Carmelite
In sister cells
The cloister bells tolled on her wedding night
Ophelia was the rebel girl
A blue stocking suffragette
Who remedied society between her cigarettes
And Ophelia was the sweetheart
To a nation overnight
Curvaceous thighs
Vivacious eyes
Love was at first sight
Love was at first sight
Ophelia was a demigoddess in pre-war Babylon
So statuesque a silhouette in black satin evening gowns
Ophelia was the mistress
To a Vegas gambling man
Signora Ophelia Maraschina
Mafia courtesan
Ophelia was the circus queen
The female cannonball
Projected through five flaming hoops
To wild and shocked applause
To wild and shocked applause
Ophelia was a tempest cyclone
A goddamn hurricane
Your common sense, your best defense
Lay wasted and in vain
For Ophelia'd know your every woe
And every pain you'd ever had
She'd sympathize and dry your eyes
And help you to forget
Help you to forget
And help you to forget
Ophelia's mind went wandering
You'd wonder where she'd gone
Through secret doors down corridors
She wanders them alone
All alone
fade to different spoken languages