Rehearsing My Choir Lyrics - The Fiery Furnaces

Rehearsing my choir 

But there was one other man with whom i didn't get along 

The bishop 

Would head down, head down to deerport station 

To see what stars on the silver screen might be seen 

Or broadway stage were all the rage 

With his black leather autograph book 

And his black leather pastoral pumps 

And his pressed black robes 

And his tidy black beard of which he was so proud 

And his hat that stuck out in a crowd 

But there he'd sit 

At his table at the edgewater hotel 

Wearing his ecclesiastical furs 

And lunching with two giggly and none too healthy looking young men 

And in his shirt pocket up close to his heart was his autographed picture of robert mitchum 

Which he no doubt used in an impure way 

And i was at home rehearsing my choir 

On christmas day 

In the afternoon 

I got a call at home 

The bishop was on the phone 

Wanting the choir to go and sing 

On some channel 44 thing 

And i said "out of the question! 

The rest of the day is for their families!" 

And the bishop became furious 

All that time singing western music 

Christmas carols, backsliding 

And no time to represent the diocese 

But of course he was just upset because he wanted to be on the show 

And he hated women 

And i knew he was angry with me 

But i couldn't worry about it 

I went about my business 

Rehearsing my choir 

Rehearsing my choir 

(da da da da da da da) 

Again! 

(da da da da da da da) 

Ugh, altos, out of tune! 

(da da da da da da da) 

That's not good! 

(da da da da da da da) 

That sounds horrible 

Next sunday was my late sister's namesday 

La la la 

And the bishop was coming that day to our church to deliver a sermon 

Which would give me quite a big surprise 

"Decadence in the church! 

Betrayal of our traditions! 

Look up in the shoir loft, for instance, the lady in red 

Eva! 

I ban her from receiving communion 

And remove her as choir director!" 

I couldn't believe my ears 

And the congregation couldn't believe theirs 

And my husband was furious when he was told, as he wasn't there at the time 

And letters were written and phone calls were placed 

And the matter was taken up, and i was granted an audience 

And i sat there nervous and frightened 

When into the room 

Stepped his eminence 

The archbishop 

They had a strange deliberating process at his initiative 

As it was his prerogative alone 

But the hierarch with the tallest hat and longest beard would stand in the middle 

And the prelates with shorter hats and beards radiated out 

With the archbishop in front of them 

And then they began to intone 

And i was left on the other side of the door, alone 

And when they came out, bishop nikolaki was sent to San Jose