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The Girl With No Skin

by Ella Ronen

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1.
Truth 03:11
I’m writing you this letter now / Since truth is on its way / I’m not going to send it / Because truth is on its way / And even if I did, you couldn’t stop it / Because truth is on its way / You’d make calls and you’d panic, but / Truth is on its way Your has-been ass is on a chair somewhere / And truth is on its way / Sipping tea and jotting down a line / While truth is on its way / You look up, smiling, unafraid / While truth is on its way / You don’t hear the glasses shake, but they do / Because truth is on its way I almost feel bad for you now / That truth is on its way Do you wake up, sweating, scared to death that truth might be on its way? / Or did you really think things won’t add up? Man, truth is on its way Better get your loved ones closer now / It’s your turn to live in fear / Here’s all that shame you gave me back Because truth Is almost Here
2.
Undercover 03:37
Field commander Ronen was our most devoted spy / As early as the sandbox she learned how to fake a cry / Always watching, studying / how children play and talk / The head tilt of their carefree laugh / The skip inside their walk Oh my love, don’t be mad, don’t be sad / But this person you see / She isn’t me. Then growing up, too, for some reason / She has always been a little far, a little / On the outside looking in / Then came the boys / She knew just what they wanted her to be / A manic pixie listener / All sweet and wild and free Oh my love, don’t be mad, don’t be sad / But this person you see / She isn’t me. And when we drafted her as spy / at the ripe age of eighteen / (Which hasn’t normally been news people have foreseen) / She just calmly listened / Then, as certain as a knife / She whispered / I’ve been undercover all my life Oh my love, don’t be mad, don’t be sad / But this person you see / She isn’t me. Field commander Ronen got so good at blending in At some point we no longer told the wall paint from her skin So it took us quite a while to discover she was gone We don’t know where she is now But I heard she’s writing songs.
3.
Howl 04:15
I don’t know how to love you appropriately / I don’t know how to love you proportionally / I don’t know how to love you in a way that would fit conveniently / to the boxes of our lives. I don’t know how to love you and still mind the gap / Stay within my lines like some country on a map / I don’t know how to love you / In a way that won’t burn everything up. But I know how to be the best thing that’s ever happened to you / I know how to make you Howl I’ll keep trying to fold myself into this mold But always, like dough / I will rise / and overflow Been stuck on this ride for so long it appears / For pleasure or pain / This will end in tears But I know how to be the best thing that’s ever happened to you / I know how to make you Howl And the stars will huddle closer / to taste cinnamon and sea / A wolf moon on the prowl / I will make you Howl.
4.
Fuck Cute 03:14
Fuck cute / I’m tired of cute / Cute has never served me. It’s too high of a rent to pay / For the little place I get / It’s too high of a risk to take / That at some point I’ll forget Fuck pretty / I’m tired of pretty / Pretty never served me It’s too high of a rent to pay / For the little place I get / It’s too high of a risk to take / That at some point I’ll forget I’ll keep shedding these layers / Day by day / Night by night / I’ll keep shedding these layers / Until all that’s left of me / is / Light You are an animal born to run its whole life, in endless fields and deserts, under an ink black, starry sky. You were not made to compete in little dirt circles someone drew for you. You will make your way by running it. Fuck sorry / I’m tired of sorry / Sorry never served me / Fuck perfect / I’m tired of perfect / Perfect never served me.
5.
Have you heard the story of the girl with no skin? She was born right here in town. A bloody mess of thoughts and feelings / The midwife dropped her almost-body down The doctor said she has to stay for observation (And secretly hoped he’ll get to name the strange affliction) And she thought: “I have no skin, who can tell / Where I end / And where I begin They covered her in seaweed to protect her from the world / Kept her as hidden as a mouse. Children walked just a little faster when they passed by her house They tried to sew on cow and human and pig skins / But none of them fit. She whispered: “I have no skin, who can tell / Where I end / And where I begin One day she scratched her cover off and walked into the square / Naked in the sun / Everyone stared / They half-expected her to melt / But she just laughed and said: I have no skin, who can tell where I end and where I begin Just look and you’ll see I am everything And everything is me. I have no skin, who can tell Where I end and Where I begin
6.
I feel it rising / I feel it rising / And once it’s up it won’t come down / I feel it rising / I feel it rising / Ignore the wave and you could drown / And even though you don’t seem to be ready I feel it rising / I feel it rising / With the certainty of tides / I feel it rising / I feel it rising / Pouring out from all my sides I used to keep it hushed / Used to hide the lush / Didn’t know I had this side / Too scared to look inside / Was blind but now I see; This body is mine / Not yours / Not His / Nothing is sacred / So everything is I feel it rising / I feel it rising / And once it’s up / It won’t come down / I feel it rising / I feel it rising / Ignore the wave / And you could drown / And even though you don’t seem to be ready I feel it rising / I feel it rising / Growing like a desert bloom / I feel it rising / I feel it rising / Brighter than an Orange Moon And even though you don’t seem to be ready This body is mine / Not yours / Not His / Nothing is sacred / So everything is.
7.
I don’t want to be your mother I don’t want to be your muse I don’t want to take your freedom I don’t want to make you choose I just want to see you. I don’t want to be your daddy I want you on my same peg I’m willing to swing a hammer I can’t always win the bread, but I just want to see you. The space between two people might as well be galaxies, And oh, I know this to be true. But I’ll shine a light, a sign of life, And try to get to you, Because in all this space and nothingness - What else is there left to do? I don’t want to keep you still I don’t want to bend your will I don’t want to disappear I just want to have you near Yes, I just want to see you.
8.
The Mall 04:46
The day the mall had opened was a local holiday / “The biggest in the Middle East”, the ads would proudly say / The lines ran from the entrance / Spilled onto the highway / We wanted to feel special / But were happy just to pay A suburb In a country that’s a suburb in itself / we cut class and bought whatever had been laid upon the shelf / We felt like Donna Martin / Shopping bags bursting with stuff / And that / That was enough And now the mall is empty / Clothes scattered on the floor / The dream was never ours / And it was broken to begin with / Still we all just wanted More. Around a sticky food court table like kids at story time / We listened to some boy rate us by beauty and behind / Fourteen and insecure / We listened to it all / A little under average / I still recall I stuffed my bra with cotton balls / As much as I could fit / I might have overdone it / I just wanted to exist Some boys were pointing at me / they were on to my trick / I went home and told my parents / think I might be getting sick And now the mall is empty / Clothes scattered on the floor / The dream was never ours / And it was broken to begin with / Still we all just wanted More. I worked there after high school / A sad, musty pastry stand / Was saving up to go and find America I used to see them coming in with purpose in their eyes / Then watch as they succumb to all these shining lies And now the mall is empty / Clothes scattered on the floor / The dream was never ours / And it was broken to begin with / But we’d give everything we have just to buy into it Once more.
9.
Tightrope 03:38
What if I stop now, halfway through this rope / and hope for my mom to come get me? Up in the air, between starshine and pain / I’ll remain. I’ll remain. I’m too far to turn back / But still can’t see the end / I’d call my brother if I could / He said never look down / but he never said where I should. What are they chanting down there in the mud? Do they hope for redemption or blood? (You must not fall. You must not force yourself to stay steady. The essential thing is to etch movements in the sky.) I’m too far to turn back / But still can’t see the end / I’d call my brother if I could / He said never look down / but he never said where I should.
10.
Rearview 03:04
My mama was a witch / In the guise of a beautician / The town’s women filled the house / The men never paid attention / and she would teach them spells, Paint their nails and mend their wings / When the men would start to ask / It was time to pack our things She looked at me in the rearview mirror / As she started the ignition / she said “Ask for forgiveness. Not permission” / “Ask for forgiveness. Not permission” My grandma made it through the camps / Tricking guards and telling lies / Her three best friends and her / made sure they all come out alive My great-grandma made corsets / With tiny knives hidden inside / When the younger girls would ask / She said “it’s better to survive” They look at me in the rearview mirror / As I’m starting the ignition, they say “Ask for forgiveness. Not permission” “Ask for forgiveness. Not permission” I trust this secret onto you / My dearest, wild daughter / Born to a bloodline of dissent / Half fire half water And when the stakes will rise / towards a future inquisition / I trust you to decide / if you’re with them or against them. I look at you in the rearview mirror / As I’m starting the ignition / I say “Ask for forgiveness, not permission. If you must, then ask for forgiveness, not permission. If they catch you ask for forgiveness. Don’t ask for their permission.”

about

The story of Ella Ronen, like her songs, reads like a work of magical realism. A cosmic hybrid child of a lot of drama, belonging everywhere and nowhere. A silent choir child, turned immigrant, turned activist and poet. She reportedly began singing in the womb and penned long, detailed stories before she could write, by dictating them to adults. The details of her life are woven into her songs.

credits

released March 8, 2024

All songs by Ella Ronen. Publ. by Irascible Publishing.

PERSONNEL:
Ella Ronen: vocals, piano
Sam Cohen: guitars, drums, vocals, bass, piano
Jared Samuel: piano, Wurlitzer, keyboards, vocoder, bass
David Christian: drums, percussion
Elizabeth Pupo-Walker: percussion
Dave Nelson: brass
Stuart Bogie: woodwinds

Produced, recorded and mixed by Sam Cohen at Slow Fawn Studio, New York.
Mastered by D. James Goodwin at The Isokon.

Photography Alessandra Leimer. Design: Yael Keshales Yael’ke Studio

(c)+(p) 2004, BB*ISLAND, under exclusive license from Irascible

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