Tattoo Lyrics

Janis Ian Tattoo

Her new name was tattooed to her wrist
It was longer than the old one
Sealed in the silence with a fist
This night will be a cold one
Centuries live in her eyes
Destiny laughs over jack-booted thighs
“Work makes us free” says the sign
Nothing leaves here alive
Tattoo

She steps out of line to the left
And her father to the right
One sides a cold, clean death
The other is an endless night
Gold from a grandmother's tooth
Mountains of jewelry and toys
Piled in the corners, mailed across the borders
Presents for the girls and boys
Presents for the girls and boys
Tattoo

And it gets darker every night
Spread-eagled out among the stars, she says
“Somewhere in this tunnel lives a light
Still my beating heart
I have never known a man
What man will want me now?
Am I still alive, somehow?
If I can survive, somehow
Tattooed”

Soldiers from the other side
Liberated them at dawn
Gave her water, gave her life
She still had all her clothes on
She lived until she died
Empty as the autumn leaves that fly
Surgeons took the mark
But they could not take it far
It was written on her heart
Written on her empty heart
Tattooed