The Hissing of Summer Lawns Lyrics
He bought her a diamond for her throat
He put her in a ranch house on a hill
She could see the valley barbecues
From her window sill
See the blue pools in the squinting sun
Hear the hissing of summer lawns
[Verse 2]
He put up a barbed wire fence
To keep out the unknown
And on every metal thorn
Just a little blood of his own
She patrols that fence of his to a Latin drum
And the hissing of summer lawns
[Chorus]
Darkness, wonder makes it easy
Darkness, with a joyful mask
Darkness, tube's gone, darkness, darkness, darkness
No color, no contrast
[Verse 3]
A diamond dog carrying a cup and a cane
Looking through a double glass
Looking at too much pride and too much shame
There's a black fly buzzing
There's a heat wave burning in her master's voice
Hissing summer lawns
He gave her his darkness to regret
And good reason to quit him
He gave her a roomful of Chippendale that nobody sits in
Still she stays with a love of some kind
It's the lady's choice
The hissing of summer lawns
[Outro]
Darkness
Darkness
Darkness
Darkness
About
“The Hissing of Summer Lawns” is about a woman who is treated as part of her husband’s portfolio, with a central image of the lawn sprinklers hissing their disapproval of the materialistic culture of the houses.
The song was sampled into Hoodie Allen’s “Chasing My Dream” (2009) and Afront’s “Czas Się Zastanowić” (2004).
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
According to Chaka Khan in March 2012, she explained the genesis of the song during a live cover of the song:
“This is a song, by the way, that Joni wrote – she’s a friend of mine, so she told me – this is a song that she wrote when she went to visit Jose Feliciano ‘a hundred years ago’ when he got married. And he and his wife invited her to their new home in The Valley in L.A. And Tthis is what she saw, this is her interpretation of their marriage, the house…”
- 6.The Hissing of Summer Lawns
- 9.Sweet Bird
