(song is thus far untitled. 'Master Hunter' seems a likely choice.)
(The line: "Nothing as hard as it tries" is an approximation. I am not at all sure of the last word.)
I am a master hunter
I cured my skin
And nothing gets in
Nothing as hard as it tries
Want a woman cause you wanna be saved
Well I'll tell you that I got a little lot on my plate
If you want a woman who will follow your name
It ain't me babe.
No no no
It ain't me babe
I don't stare at water anymore
Water doesn't do what it did before
Took me in it to the edge of insane
When i only meant to swim
I nearly put a bullet in my brain
When the rhythm took me in
I am a master hunter
I cured my skin
So nothing gets in
Nothing as hard as it tries
You let men into your bed
They did not know you well
They can't get into my head
No they don't have a hope in hell
See the thing is that we're so alone
There's nothing we can share
You can get me on the telephone
But you want to keep me there
No no no, you won't keep me there
Take me somewhere I don't know
Give me something, let me go
Tell me something I can grow
I have some news
Wrestling the rope from darkness
Is no fucking life i would choose
Give me something I don't know
Take me somewhere I don't know
Give me something let me go
I have some news
Wrestling the rope from darkness
Is no fucking life i would choose
I am the master hunter
I cured my skin
Now nothin gets in
Nothing as hard as it tries
I won't stare at water anymore
Water doesn't do what it did before
Took me in it to the edge of insane
When I only meant to swim
I nearly put a bullet in my brain
When the water took me in
I am a master hunter
I am a master hunter
I cured my skin
Now nothin' gets in
Nothing as hard as it tries
Parts of the song sound like Dylan's TANGLED UP IN BLUE, though more in form than in content:
Dylan wrote: "I was standin on the side of the road
Rain fallin on my shoes
Heading out for the east coast
Lord knows I paid some dues gettin through
Tangled up in blue"
Compare to Marling's: " Took me in it to the edge of insane
When i only meant to swim
I nearly put a bullet in my brain
When the rhythm took me in"
and there is a direct quote from Dylan:
"It ain't me babe.
No no no
It ain't me babe"
though it is from ANOTHER SIDE OF BOB DYLAN which was about ten years before BLOOD ON THE TRACKS.
This is all well and good, but the image I can't make sense of is "wrestling the rope from darkness". What is this rope? There is mention of it in another Marling song, THE BEAST.
"You're okay now, i suppose
You're not pulled by the rope
I'm pulled by the pull of my throat
I'm pulled by the rope
I swing from the trees into the slope
Hold my head high,
Just by the tip of my toes
and he lies, he lies so sweet
That I choke"