MARCIE
Joni Mitchell - 1968


Marcie in a coat of
flowers
Steps inside a
candy store
Reds are sweet and
greens are sour
Still no letter at
her door
So she'll wash her
flower curtains
Hang them in the
wind to dry
Dust her tables
with his shirt and
Wave another day
goodbye

Marcie's faucet
needs a plumber
Marcie's sorrow
needs a man
Red is autumn green
is summer
Greens are turning
and the sand
All along the ocean
beaches
Stares up empty at
the sky
Marcie buys a bag
of peaches
Stops a postman
passing by
And summer goes
Falls to the
sidewalk like string and brown paper
Winter blows
Up from the river
there's no one to take her
To the sea

Marcie dresses warm
its snowing
Takes a yellow cab
uptown
Red is stop and
green's for going
Sees a show and
rides back down
Down along the
Hudson River
Past the shipyards
in the cold
Still no letter's
been delivered
Still the winter
days unfold
Like magazines
Fading in dusty
grey attics and cellars
Make a dream
Dream back to
summer and hear how
he tells her
Wait for me

Marcie leaves and
doesn't tell us
Where or why she
moved away
Red is angry green
is jealous
That was all she
had to say
Someone thought
they saw her Sunday
Window shopping in
the rain
Someone heard she
bought a one-way ticket
And went west again