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Story behind the song
Rag-and-bone men used to travel from village to village collecting rags, bones (to make glue), and other discarded items (e.g. of iron or steel). I liked the notion of applying that image to human behaviour, and how we so often make inappropriate choices from among alternatives. Or step back from choosing at all, our hearts beating 'betwixt and between'.
Lyrics
Rag-and-Bone Man
V1
I’m here to retrieve
All the times you’ve wasted
Every precious moment
[That] You’ve never tasted
V2
[The] vows that you broke
Will become my treasure
Chances you squandered
I'll cherish at leisure
Chorus
I'm a rag-and-bone man
[And] I scavenge in hearts
Ones that beat betwixt and between
A rag-and-bone man
In a beat-up cart
I haul your remnants of love
To my scrap heap of dreams
V3
A dealer in junk
I'm in all your tomorrows
Waiting while you forfeit
The life that you've borrowed
I'm a rag-and-bone man
[And] I scavenge in hearts
Ones that beat betwixt and between
A rag-and-bone man
In a beat-up cart
I haul your remnants of love
To my scrap heap of dreams
Bridge
I’m doing you a favour
Taking what you don't need
But I leave enough behind
So your loneliness can feed
I'm a rag-and-bone man
[And] I scavenge in hearts
Ones that beat betwixt and between
A rag-and-bone man
In a beat-up cart
I haul your remnants of love
To my scrap heap of dreams
© 2011-2015 Donna Devine
