Letra Esther (alternate version) Phish

Esther (alternate version)

On a hot summer night, in a small western town, At a carnival down by the water, A young woman walked through the fairgrounds alone Esther, the archbishop's daughter She walked past the carousel down to the lake Where she spotted a wrinkled old man Who stood by the side of a broken-down hut With a bucket held firm in his hand The old man approached her and whispered his plea "Won't you please take this gift that I offer?" A beautiful puppet of violet and gold, Of velvet and satin and lace And he looked at the girl with a powerful gaze And she stared at the bucket bewildered Till he lifted the doll for the young girl to see And a giant smile grew on her face The doll was as pretty as any she'd seen And she thanked the man quickly and ran to the church And she burst through the doorway with puppet held high And a hush filled the chapel, and the people looked mean . . (same lyrics as current ones, until the last three verses:) . . As Esther stood and shook her head the joggers were approaching And she knew she had no choice left but to swim As she dove into the water she saw a flicker in the distance It was the place she got the puppet that had made her life so grim When she reached the shore she pulled her icy body from the water Saw the carnival, and then she saw the shack And she ran across the fairgrounds to the old man with the bucket And she took the puppet out and gave it back! Up from the water came thousands of souls Joggers and muggers and church-going folk And they all ran past Esther towards the old man Like a raging stampede they dissolved in a huge cloud of dust....