Gillian Welch
Mamah Borthwick (A Sketch)
Just because you got it
You don't have to flaunt it
With an endless stream of famous men
Pretty as a portrait
Look like Mamah Borthwick
On that Shining Brow of Taliesin
Someone might try and burn it down
So you'll have to put the fire out
A fortune spent but that's irrelevant to build something that's sacred till the end
It costs twenty dollars to visit Fallingwater
It's a perfect house where no one lives
Maybe someone once did but they got evicted by a busload full of greedy tourists
And it would take a time machine
To fulfill all of my fantasies
'Cause a hidden dream can be embarrassing
And the only thing that's sacred till the end
Every time I tempt fate
There's a major earthquake
Heard the people scream as the ceiling fell
Every building damaged
Only one left standing
It was Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel
A rumination in my mind
Winding like the ramp at the Guggenheim
I'm not content
But I'm feeling hesitant to build something that's sacred till the end