It’s a rare day these days in California–rain is coming as we write.  Good news, even we would say.  But all we can think about this morn is Sam Baker’s song The Tattooed Woman.  Baker is one of our best lyricists, his songs telling keenly observed and eloquently articulated character studies that sail or rend your heart and mind.  The Tattooed Woman is no exception.  Taken from his superb album Say Grace (one of our Top 15 Albums of 2013), Baker sings in the song of a disconsolate woman and her uneasy lover and his foreboding forecast (of rain, trouble, something terribly tenebrous).  It gets under your skin…like a tattoo.  Watch below as Baker, Carrie Elkin and Chip Dolan performed the song last September at In The Woods in the Netherlands.

Rain is coming, that’s how it feels.

The song’s lyrics follow the video.

To see another side of Baker’s songs, watch/listen to his heartwarming song Isn’t Love Great at bottom.

t h e t a t t o o e d w o m a n

the tattooed woman
she sleeps in my bed
the ink is dry
the dogs are fed
the moon is safe
her face is red
the tattooed woman
she sleeps in my bed
her hair is black
her skin is white
she’s pulled the sheets around her tight
i wish i had the right
to comfort her as a husband might
rain is coming
that’s how it feels
now i lay me down to sleep
the lord out wandering with his sheep
there’s oh so many souls to keep
now i lay me down to sleep
rain is coming
that’s how it feels