Vienna Teng: "Pontchartrain"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I simply adore Vienna Teng. She's an incredible singer-songwriter with one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. This is "Pontchartrain" -- from her latest album, Dreaming Through the Noise -- performed live at The Independent in San Francisco on December 23, 2006 (recorded by Klaorman and posted to YouTube, which Vienna seems to embrace).

For more, see Vienna's website. Here are the lyrics to this deeply haunting song:

Sunday: dark water draining north, the heat swells and bursts like plague. Sunday: ever-so-faint slow tambourine glides onward toward the grave. who drew the line? who drew the line between you and me? who drew the line that everyone sees? darling, Lake Pontchartrain is haunted: bones without names, photographs framed in reeds. darling, what blood our veins are holding. the overpass frozen, fires ablaze at sea. who drew the line? who drew the line that cuts to the skin, buries me in? tell me who drew the line. darling don't close your eyes. (lie as darkness hardens. lie of our reunion. o lie if God is sleeping. o I believe you now.) darling, Lake Pontchartrain will cradle me, and all you left behind. listen: ever-so-faint slow tambourine is marching back through time.