Pavanne

[Richard Thompson]

Linda Thompson sang Pavanne on her and Richard Thompson’s 1978 album First Light. June Tabor covered it on her CD Against the Streams.

Lyrics

Please find the lyrics for this song at Richard Thompson’s website.

Pavanne, cold steel woman Pavanne.
How do you love a woman
With eyes cold as the barrel of her gun?
Who’s never missed her mark on anyone?
Pavanne, Pavanne, Pavanne.

Casino doors swing open, the rich men raise their eyes,
They say, “Who is this beauty as elegant as ice?”
And later there’s an accident, another charge d’affaires
Is lying in a pool of blood, no witness anywhere.
And they say she was a hundred miles away,
The hotel porter saw her climb the stairs
And the maid with trembling hands knows what to say
When the judge says, “Are your sure?” “I’m sure,” she swears.

Pavanne, cold steel woman Pavanne.
How do you love a woman
With eyes cold as the barrel of her gun?
Who’s never missed her mark on anyone?
Pavanne, Pavanne, Pavanne.

At the presidential palace, a thousand people saw
His excellency leave his car and never make the door.
The blood flows from his fingers as he clutches at the stain,
He staggers like a drunken man, lies twisted in the rain.
And they say she grew up well provided for,
Her mother used to keep her boys for sure.
And father’s close attentions led to talk,
She learned to stab her food with a silver fork.

Pavanne, cold steel woman Pavanne.

And they say she didn’t do it for the money,
And they say she didn’t do it for a man.
They say that she did it for the pleasure,
The pleasure of the moment.

Pavanne, cold steel woman Pavanne.
How do you stop this woman
When everyone is moving in a trance?
Like prisoners of some slow, courtly dance?
Pavanne, Pavanne, Pavanne,
Pavanne, Pavanne, Pavanne.