And If Venice Is Sinking (Navigators) with lyrics and video

#1393: YouTube video by TheNewfoundlandMusic ©2010
~ Used with permission ~

Jesus hangs behind the glass, above venetian doors,
His window box boasts crimson flowers, fresh cut the day before;
And you couldn't find a smile if you nailed it to his face,
But Jesus Christ hangs his head with grace.

And if Venice is sinking, I'm going under;
Beauty's religion and its christened me with wonder.

They came in, bent-backed, creeping 'cross the floor, all dressed in black,
And candles thick as pillars, you can buy one off the floor;
And the ceiling's painted gold, and Mary's hair is red,
The old come here to kiss their dead.

And if Venice is sinking, I'm going under;
Beauty's religion and its christened me with wonder.

We made love on a bed that sagged down to the floor,
In a room that had a postcard on the door of Marini's little man,
With erection up on a horse - it always leaves me laughing,
Leaves me feeling that of course if....

Venice is sinking, I'm going under;
Beauty's religion and its christened me with wonder.

####.... John Mann & Geoffrey Kelly of Spirit Of The West ....####

The song is about John Mann's honeymoon in Venice with his wife, Jill Daum. Infatuated with the city, Mann expresses his desire never to leave by alluding to the sinking of the city and asserting that he'll go down with it. The song also references Marino Marini's sculpture L'angelo della città (The Angel Of The City, bronze, 1950, Peggy Guggenheim Collection ©2007 Artists Rights Society [ARS] New York/SIAE, Rome). The song proved to be Spirit Of The West's most successful single on the Canadian pop charts, reaching #30 on the RPM Top 100 singles chart the week of November 20, 1993, and #12 on the adult contemporary charts the week of January 31, 1994.

This variant was recorded by the Navigators (Sea Miner, trk#9, 2009).

See more songs by the Navigators.

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