Touch Deprivation Lyrics

They did an experiment with babies

Back in world war II

And the babies all were orphans

So no one cared or knew

They called it touch deprivation

And this is what they did:

If a baby started crying

Put a hand out from its crib



The nurses glid on by

As if they'd seen nothing at all

The nurses glid on by

And checked the chart off on the wall

Writing: "Nothing unusual here

Subjects continue rocking

Back and forth

As if they sense a

Thunderstorm is coming,"



And that flock of springtime babies

Nesting quiet in the lab

Were just fistfuls of feathers

Stuffing pillows after that

And those second world war nurses

Who had killed the orphan kids

Lived out cursed lives as spinsters

In trade for what they did



They did a similar experiment in New York

And this is what they did:

They rolled out the sheets of tarmac

And sliced them into grid

Then they filled the maze with people

But they told them not to touch

They convinced them it weren't civilized

And we believed as much



Why do you apologize

When you bump into my arm on the train?

And you apologize three times

Like it really caused anyone harm or pain

Being bumped into

Do you know you are the first person

To touch me in a month?

And sometimes I like the feeling of accidental touch



An experiment with ladies

With ladies and with men

We could decide to lose our language

So that we might try our skin

Strangers piggyback each other

The thrill of contact sport

And I finally could talk to you

But this time without words

'Cause you don't realize how you pollute the game

When you keep speaking circles

And your circles sound the same saying:

"I'm fine, how are you?

I'm good, how are you?

I'm fine, how are you?

I'm good how are you?

I am...finding it hard to relate to situations

Where I am asked to speak."