Lillian Egypt
Josh Ritter Lyrics
I remember back in Illinois I found her
The lily of the valley the lily of the
West was a rose The daughter of the biggest big town banker
He kept her like a princess I stole her like the Fort Knox gold
She used to pour Four Roses like it was going down the chimney
Like the bottle was on fire or the boiler was about to blow
She was up on the table when we hit Missouri
Dancing with a movie man he was holding her a little too close
He made her the star of the silent movies
But all she did was mouth the words all she did was mouth the words, "Oh no!"
And he cast me as the villain as the sheriff's worst enemy
I practiced falling off of buildings and out windows
La didi da da da da da da da!
The last time I saw she was tied to the train tracks
I was back there with the extras riding on a tiger roan
The villain on the left with the studio mustache
Winking at Lillian blowing kisses from the second row
La didi da da da da da da da!
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: JOSH RITTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them
Josh Ritter (born in Moscow, Idaho on October 21, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and author who performs and records with The Royal City Band (as Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band). Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006 he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine.
Born to two neuroscientists, Ritter bought his first guitar from the local K-MART after hearing the Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash classic Girl From The North Country. Read Full BioJosh Ritter (born in Moscow, Idaho on October 21, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and author who performs and records with The Royal City Band (as Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band). Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006 he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine.
Born to two neuroscientists, Ritter bought his first guitar from the local K-MART after hearing the Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash classic Girl From The North Country. He started at Oberlin College with the intent to follow in his parents' scientist footsteps, but instead discovered songwriting, and the music of artists like Gillian Welch, Townes Van Zandt, and Leonard Cohen. He graduated and then moved east, favoring its close proximity to historic folk clubs such as "Club Passim" in Boston. On a shoestring budget he recorded his critically acclaimed breakthrough album Golden Age of Radio in 2002 at various tiny, one-room studios on the East Coast. He has continued to grow from there, further developing his sound on subsequent albums.
Josh has recorded several records and E.P.s. In chronological order, they are:
Josh Ritter (Self Titled) (2000)
Golden Age of Radio (2001)
Come and Find Me EP (2003)
Hello Starling (2003)
4 Songs Live E.P. (2005)
The Animal Years (2006)
Girl In The War E.P. (2006)
Good Man E.P. (2006)
In The Dark: Live At Vicar Street (2006)
The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter (2007)
Live at the Record Exchange EP (2008)
So Runs the World Away (2010)
To the Yet Unknowing World (2011)
Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band, Live at The Iveagh Gardens (April 2011)
The Beast In Its Tracks (2013)
Acoustic Live, Vol.1 (2015)
Sermon on the Rocks (2015)
Born to two neuroscientists, Ritter bought his first guitar from the local K-MART after hearing the Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash classic Girl From The North Country. Read Full BioJosh Ritter (born in Moscow, Idaho on October 21, 1976) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and author who performs and records with The Royal City Band (as Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band). Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006 he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine.
Born to two neuroscientists, Ritter bought his first guitar from the local K-MART after hearing the Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash classic Girl From The North Country. He started at Oberlin College with the intent to follow in his parents' scientist footsteps, but instead discovered songwriting, and the music of artists like Gillian Welch, Townes Van Zandt, and Leonard Cohen. He graduated and then moved east, favoring its close proximity to historic folk clubs such as "Club Passim" in Boston. On a shoestring budget he recorded his critically acclaimed breakthrough album Golden Age of Radio in 2002 at various tiny, one-room studios on the East Coast. He has continued to grow from there, further developing his sound on subsequent albums.
Josh has recorded several records and E.P.s. In chronological order, they are:
Josh Ritter (Self Titled) (2000)
Golden Age of Radio (2001)
Come and Find Me EP (2003)
Hello Starling (2003)
4 Songs Live E.P. (2005)
The Animal Years (2006)
Girl In The War E.P. (2006)
Good Man E.P. (2006)
In The Dark: Live At Vicar Street (2006)
The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter (2007)
Live at the Record Exchange EP (2008)
So Runs the World Away (2010)
To the Yet Unknowing World (2011)
Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band, Live at The Iveagh Gardens (April 2011)
The Beast In Its Tracks (2013)
Acoustic Live, Vol.1 (2015)
Sermon on the Rocks (2015)
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
Blondiegrrl
Great video! I downloaded Josh's newest album off of iTunes a couple weeks ago. It's fantastic. Best album I've heard in a long time.
asdfasdfsafdsfasdf
I listen to a lot of music and there are many awesome pieces of songs that stick it out in my mind but there are 2 that can never leave. 1 is the harmonica on peter pumpkinhead from the crash test dummies, and the 2nd is this piano solo going on in lillian,egypt". It's like the there is something so extremely pure happening here its hard to describe, but who knows I'm probably wrong.
Matthew Flanagan
I saw Josh live not too long ago, he was fantastic. Both live and in this video, he just comes across as this honest guy who wants to go up there and have fun doing amazing stuff
Héctor Torres
i met my gf in a high school event her names lillian and in this event i was known as egypt because it was the country i was representing... i love her... shes my soulmate
Jon Schlosser
Are you still together; the people must know
queny2
Endearingly jaunty little ballad, and the video is a perfect companion (much like the actual Lilian).
Barbara Blond
I just saw him on PBS last night and couldn't beleive I hadn't heard of him before either. Great...kind of like Dylan. The songs actually have decent words and meaning.
leftcoastpunk
This sounds slightly different from the album version....I like it.
theturtlesmasher
In fact..now that I think about it...I believe the entire album is an Ode To Lilith. Monster Ballads and In The Dark also draw from the theme of Lilith, and I'm guessing some of the songs may be centered around Lilith/Lilitu as well. Very interesting.
SombreroJack619
I love this video :)