JETHRO TULL:   20 Years Of Jethro Tull

Stormy Monday Blues

I said they called it Stormy Monday,
Umm, hmm, but I said Tuesday's just as bad
I said they called it Stormy Monday,
Umm, hmm, Tuesday is just as bad
Wednesday's full of sorrow, umm, hmm
I said that Thursday's oh-so, it's oh-so-sad It's oh-so-sad

I said lord, lord, why don't you have mercy,
Umm, hmm, you gotta have mercy on me
So I'm trying to find my woman,
Umm, hmm, won't you bring her home to me?
I said they call it stormy Monday

Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow

Through long December nights we talk in words of rain or snow
while you, through chattering teeth, reply and curse as you go.
Why not spare a thought this day for those who have no flame
to warm their bones at Christmas time?
Say Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow.

Now, as the last broad oak leaf falls, we beg, consider this:
there's some who have no coin to save for turkey, wine or gifts.
No children's laughter round the fire, no family left to know.
So lend a warm and helping hand –
say Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow.

As holly pricks and ivy clings,
your fate is none too clear.
The Lord may find you wanting, let your good fortune disappear.
All homely comforts blown away and all that's left to show
is to share your joy at Christmas time
with Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow.

I'm Your Gun

Blew my smoke on a sunny day,
when the first black powder came my way
Hot lead ball from a muzzle cold -
to win fair lady and take your gold
I know it hardly seems the time (I am your gun)
to talk of blue steel so sublime (I am your gun)
I can understand your point of view (I am your gun)
To tell the truth I'd scare me too

Match, wheel, and flintlock, they all caught your eye
Pearl-handled ladies' models, scaled down to size
I am the peacemaker, so the theory goes
But I don't choose the company I keep and it shows

I am your gun
Love me, I'm your gun

Maxim and Browning, they helped me along
Stoner, Kalashnikov - thrilled to my song
Now one of me exists, for each one of you,
So how can you blame me for the things that I do?

Now I take second place to the motor car (I am your gun)
in the score of killing kept thus far (I am your gun)
And just remember, if you don't mind, (I am your gun)
it's not the gun that kills but the man behind
I am your gun

Down At The End Of Your Road

I am your neighbor I seem most respectable,
but underneath I'm an iniquitous toad
So many dreadful mishaps have befallen you
down at the end of your road
And I live down the end of your road
I'm working on ways to remove you from paradise,
from your striped lawn and your new swimming pool
I place broken bottles in your geraniums,
sabotage your gardening tools
And I live down the end of your road
By day I am a real estate agent gentleman
I deal in fine properties - cheap at the price
After dark I plan my most devious practices
which you might think are not very nice

Designing a system to reverse your plumbing -
welling up, as you sit on your private throne,
will come up all kinds of vile and despicable nasties
you would rather not have in your home
And I live down the end of your road

Dispensed loathsome creatures in your drawing room,
Sent doggy poo-poos in your morning mail
Rat's heads and lark's wings should set your tums turning
and your houses will soon be for sale
And I live down the end of your road
Yes, I live down the end of your road
Well, I live down the end of your road
And I live down the end of your road
Down the end of your road
Yes, I live down the end of your road
I live down at the end of your road
I live down at the end of your road

Coronach

Grey the mist, cold the dawn;
cruel the sea and stern the shore
Brave the man who sets his course for Albion

Sweet the rose, sharp the thorn;
meek the soil and proud the corn
Blessed the lamb that would be born within this green and pleasant land
Hi-O-Ran-I-Ro
Hi-O-Ran-I-Ro
Hi-O-Ran-I-Ro
Hi-O-Ran-I-Ro
Hi-O-Ran-I-Ro
Hi-O-Ran-I-Ro
Brown furrow shine beneath the rain washed blue
Bright crystal streams from eagle mountains born
Fortune has smiled on those who wake anew,
within this fortress nature built to stay the hand of war

With the wind from the east
came the first of those who tread
upon this stone, this throne of kings, this realm, this new Jerusalem
Hi-O-Ran-I-Ro…

Summerday Sands

I once met a girl with the life in her hands
and we lay together on the summerday sands.
I gave her my raincoat and told her, 'Lady, be good!'
And we made truth together, where no one else would.

I smiled through her fingers and ran the dust through her hands ---
the hour-glass of reason on the summerday sands.

We sat as the sea caught fire.
Waited as the flames grew higher in her eyes.
We watched the eagle born ---
wings clipped, tail feathers shorn
but we saw him rise --- over summerday sands.

Came the ten o'clock curfew.
She said, 'I must start my car.
I'm staying with someone I met last night in a bar.'
I called from my wave top ---
'At least tell me your name!'
She smiled from her wheelspin and said, 'It's all the same.'
I thought for a minute, jumped back on dry land ---
left one set of footprints on the summerday sands.

I once met a girl with the life in her hands
and we lied together on the summerday sands.
+

Too Many Too

Too many drivers in too many cars
Too many lost souls drinking in too many bars
Too many heroes stepping on too many toes
Too many yes-men nodding when they really mean no
Too many lives each cat can lose,
we've got too many too
Yes, too many too

Too much sunshine Too many drops of rain
Too many equal and average children who will all grow up the same
Too many fireside politicians holding too many views
Too many questions, but there are answers too few
Too many lives each cat can lose,
we've got too many too
Yes, too many too

If I were a liar, yes, and you were a cheat,
there would be too many places where we all could meet
Too many temples where we could worship the beast
Where he who thinks he had the most in fact has the least
Too many lives each cat can lose,
I've got too many too
Yes, too many too
I've got too many too
Oh, I've got too many too
I've got too many too
I've got too many too
I've got too many too
Too many too
Too many too

March The Mad Scientist

What would you like for Christmas ---
a new polarity?
You're binary, and desperate to deal in high figures
that lick us with their hotter flame---
lick each and everyone the same.
And March, the mad scientist,
rings a new change in ever-dancing colours.

He rings it here and he rings it...
but no one stops to see
the change of fate and the fate of change
that slips into his pocket ---
so he locks it all away from view
and shares not what he thought you knew.
And April is summer-bound,
And February's blue.
And no one stops to see the colours.
+

Pan Dance (Instrumental)

Strip Cartoon

Fish and chips, sandpaper lips and a rainy pavement.
Soho lights, another night - thinking of you.
Black cat, sat on the wall, winks at me darkly.
Suggesting ways and means that I might win a smile -

as you leave the place where you work until 12:30,
And the policeman nods as you pass along his beat.
Sweaty feet, troubled brow - we're all in the same game, lady.
Life's no bowl of cherries, it's a black and white strip cartoon.

I've been warned that you and your friends are crazy:
as from your hearts you bare your parts to the gentlemen
who, while they drool, trying to keep cool,
spill their scotch and water.
But I'm not that way, I must say - I'd much prefer to see
you in your texturised rubber rainwear around 12:30
Come and play shades of grey in my black and white strip cartoon.

Strip cartoon is all I'm after.
Strip cartoon is all I crave.
So come to my place - around 12:30:
'cos I'm a leading politician
at a dangerous age.
+

King Henry's Madrigal (Instrumental)

A Stitch In Time

I work in dark factories - a cog in the big wheel
driving grey satanic mills and weaving sad stories,
And faceless masters - oh, they pay me plenty -
crumbs from their luncheon packs, harsh wine from bottles half empty.

A stitch in time saves nine.
Said Cock Robin from the wall.
It's an early bird catches the worm.
Show a little pride before you fall.
So I flew to the south sun with birds of a feather
to drink in the warm nights and tell of fine weather:
A stitch in time saves nine

Listen all you young folk - your lives on a timetable
clocking on twenty-one - fly while you're able.
A stitch in time saves nine.
+

17

I remember when we had a lot of things to do,
impressed by all the words we read and the heroes that we knew
Climb on your dream - a dream of our own making,
to find a place that we could later lose to whatever time would bring

We were seventeen and the cakeman was affecting you,
moving you to greater things (in a lesser way) you had to prove
The clock struck summertime You were going round in circles now
Wishing you were seventeen At twenty-one, it was a long time gone
And now here you are You're locked in your own excuse
The circle's getting smaller every day
You're busy planning the next fifty years
So stay the way you are and keep your head down to the same old ground
Just paint your picture boy until you find
a closed circle's better than an open line
Yes, stay the way you are
I got a circle that's the same as yours
It may be bigger, but I've more to lose
Who is the luckier man - me or you?

One For John Gee (Instrumental)

Aeroplane

Flying - made of sticks and paper - aeroplane
Dying is the wind but climbing, my aeroplane
Blowing, and going somewhere high,
in the evening tumbling down,
but it's surely been up there
Crying - want to live my life as my aeroplane
Sighing in the sun's eye, but softly, my aeroplane
Lonely, but only till it comes down,
where there's people running round
But it's surely been up there
Flying my aeroplane
My aeroplane
My aeroplane
My aeroplane

Sunshine Day

Woke up this morning to look at things in their funny way
Why can't they be like they used to be only yesterday?
Ooh, bring back my sunshine day
I look at things that once were mine with such despair
Why do the things I say only fall on empty air?
Ooh, bring back my sunshine day

My mind cries: Bring back my sunshine day

I say the things I used to say, but they don't seem right
Why does this world seem like the darkest endless night?
Ooh, bring back my sunshine day
Bring back my sunshine day

Lick Your Fingers Clean

I'll see you at the weighing in when your life's sum-total's made
And you set your wealth in godly deeds against the sins you've laid
So you place your final burden on your hard-pressed next of kin:
Send the chamber pot back down the line to be filled up again
Take your mind off your election and try to get it straight
And don't pretend perfection - you'll be crucified too late
Whoa Whoa

And he'll say you really should make the deal, as he offers round the hat
Well, you'd better lick your fingers clean, I thank you all for that
And as you join the good ship earth and you mingle with the dust,
be sure to leave your underpants with someone you can trust
And the hard-headed social worker who bathes his hands in blood
will welcome you with arms held high and cover you with mud
And he'll say you really should make the deal, as he offers round the hat
Well, you'd better lick your fingers clean,
Well, I'll thank you all for that
Whoa Oh

The Chateau D'Isaster Tapes (see
Nightcap)

    a) Scenario
    b) Audition
    c) No Rehearsal

Beltane

Have you ever stood in an April wood and called the New Year in?
While the phantoms of three thousand years fly as the dead leaves spin?
There's a snap in the grass behind your feet and a tap upon your shoulder.
And the thin wind crawls along your neck: it's just the old gods getting older.
And the kestrel drops like a fall of shot and the red cloud's hanging high -
come-a Beltane.

Have you ever loved a lover of the old elastic truth?
And doted on the daughter in the ministry of youth?
Thrust your head between the breasts of the fertile innocent.
And taken up the cause of love, for the sake of argument.
Or while the kisses drop like a fall of shot from soft lips in the rain -
come-a Beltane.
Happy old New Year to you and yours.
The sun's up for one more day, to be sure.
Play it out gladly, for your card's marked again.

Have you walked around your parks and towns so knife-edged orderly?
While the fires are burned on the hills upturned in far-off wild country.
And felt the chill on your window-sill as the green man comes around.
With his walking cane of sweet hazel brings it crashing down.
Sends your knuckles white as the thin stick bites. Well, it's just your growing pains.
Come-a Beltane. Come-a Beltane.
+

Crossword

Walking on air, shoulder and head above you.
Down in the street, black canyons walking through.
Hooded sad eyes, fixed on your shuffle shoes.
Life is a clue in your crossword.

Typewriter turk. Telephone terror takes time to wind down.
Push-button finger shakes.
City of dreams. Back to your quiet nightmare.
Your life is a clue in the crossword.

Working to rule in your own time.
Drag yourself home to your star sign page.
Staying awake on cold yesterday's steak and warm beer.

Ladder of string - climbing to sweet success.
Homework aside. Your brain on the train to test.
Pick up the news (you left on the seat beside you).
Your life is a clue in the crossword.
+

Saturation

They left me, leaving my house on fire, me running round -
got out through the window.
While clinging to the skirts of fate
was not my idea of fun
I jumped to it gladly.
The town was filled with smoke and hate.
Came to my senses just too late to realise all I ever owned
was borrowed. I thanked them for having shown
me that nothing ever really belongs to anyone.

They burned my books and they broke my car,
and gave the dog to a man who used him for breeding.
They felled my trees and they trampled flowers and threw
the kitten into my new pool.
The same things done to other men had made them run away from the city.
This being the case, joined them there and breathing air,
spent the night with these new friends.
+

Jack-A-Lynn

Cold aeroplanes, slow boats, warm trains
remind me of Jack-A-Lynn
Lush hotels and pretty girls
won't cheer the misty mood I'm in
Silly, sad --- I've never had to write this before,
oh, Jack-A-Lynn

Funny how long nights allow
thoughts of Jack-A-Lynn
When phantoms tread around my bed
to offer restless dreams they bring
And it's just the time and place to find a sad song to play
for Jack-A-Lynn

Magpies that shriek, old boots that leak,
call me to Jack-A-Lynn
Coal-black cats in policemen's hats,
nosing where the mice have been
And the long miaow's beginning now and I'm far, far from home,
and Jack-A-Lynn
Oh, Jack, Jack-A-Lynn
Jack, Jack-A-Lynn

Motoreyes

Out on the fast and free way, humming along through a build-up ad-man's dream
Streaking past in a cloud of spray goes the high-performance motor queen
And she looks round at me, reflecting neon in her motoreyes
And now the chase is on I know who'll be the loser: me

See the end curve coming, then we're back on the street through the late theater crowds
And the stop lights go and we're cruising side by side still humming loud
And she looks round again, her motoreyes going to tell me when
Put her right foot to the floor Shows me she's no slow woman

She takes her cafe noir, smokes small cigars showing just a touch of thigh (sigh!)
And sips her whisky straight, and she stays up late to kiss the morning "bye-bye "

Now we're out of town, going to shake her down if I can stay along
Got my blue light on, put her in the net with my siren song
Pulls over to the side - her motoreyes are staring wide
She flashes her I D and makes a bigger fool of me
Motoreyes…

Blues Instrumental (Untitled) (Instrumental)

Rhythm In Gold

I have to call you up I think I've seen a vision of rhythm in gold
No cat could ever move that way
No puss would dare to be so bold
Must tell the boys to follow you
Catch you where you go to ground
Oh, a lady of means, I can see
Rhythm in gold is getting to me
What's your name, and where can I find you?

Are you just a rich man's friend,
or was it always in the family?
Whoa, you seem to throw the challenge down;
by the way, you didn't even look at me
Put the boys on you
Immobilize your nine-eleven

There's nothing I can do for you
that would really matter much anyway, oh
You belong to everyone
Rhythm in gold's the number that you play
Put the boys on you
Sabotage your nine-eleven

Part Of The Machine

Everybody's jumping on the circus train
Oh, some jump high, some jump off again
And the razzmatazz is rolling, women folk unveiled
All truths to light, all crosses nailed
Aiming high where the eagle circles,
where he keeps his tail feathers clean,
and wonders "Am I still a free bird?
Or just a part of the machine ''

They hitch their coverd wagons and they roll out west
Politics in the pockets of their Sunday best
Shaking hands, kissing babies, for all that they're worth
Oh, they promise you gold, promise heaven on earth
Still, that old bald eagle circles -
it's not the first time that he's seen
his reflection in the eyes of innocence
He's become just another part of the machine,
part of the machine

I wish I had an eagle like you - to look up to
He could be my wings to fly in a big bird sky,
up above the whole machine

Smart guys aren't running - they're home and dry,
up in the mountains where the eagle flies
They wouldn't take that job offered on a plate
They got to fly with the eagle, and he won't wait
Looking down on the smoke and the factories till the truth creeps up unseen
They see themselves in the faces of their children and realize
they too are part of the machine
Part of the machine

I wish I had an eagle like you - to wake up to
He could be my wings to fly in a big bird sky, hey,
let's be part of the machine
Part of the machine
Part of the machine
Part of the machine
Wanna be part of your machine
Wanna be part of your machine
Part of your machine
Part of your machine
Part of your machine

Mayhem, Maybe

When we're working nights, the village round the old church becomes scary town
All curtained windows and bolted doors but never an eye to see,
as us fairy folks sweep from the hill Never caught us and never will
Pulling roses and daffodils - mayhem in the high degree

The blacksmith chased us all to ground He searched all night - we were never found
The tinker boys and the sheriff's men, shaking the tallest tree
And we sat and watched the women hide; laughed so much we split our sides
Scattered horses that they would ride - mayhem in the high degree

We crossed through fields of midnight green, often heard but seldom seen
Tore along hedges,stripping leaves - no-one could quite agree
whether we came from north or south We stole the screams from out their mouths,
and go where no man would allow - mayhem in the high degree

Like scaly carp and feathered swan, to nature's world we do belong
We ride the thin winds of the night and set dark spirits free
We terrify the mare and foal The fox stood still and far too bold,
so we strung him up, brush neatly folded -
mayhem, maybe

Overhang

Good morning, gentlemen Why the uneasy frowns?
Too much everything and I can't recall Did I let you down?
Nobody will answer me Makes me feel that I want to die
My mind is inclined to lie
Oh, no, think I did it last night again
Oh, no, been out on the overhang again

My hotel room was a battleground How did I find my way?
My wallet's gone and my jacket's torn My memory's a hazy grey
Do I seem to remember now, two creatures about eight feet tall?
No safety net to break my fall
Oh, no, must have done it last night again
Oh, no, crawled out on the overhang again
Been out on the overhang
Been out on the overhang

Watching demons and spirits glide, heading out to the nearest star
Better lead me back to the bar
Oh, no, might do it tonight again
Oh, no, crawled out on the overhang again
Been out on the overhang
Crawling out on the overhang
Been out on the overhang
Out on the overhang
Out of the overhang
Out of the overhang

Kelpie

There was a warm wind with the high tide on the south side of the hill.
When a young girl went a-walking and I followed with a will.
'Good day to you, my fine young lady with your lips so sweetly full.
May I help you comb your long hair - sweep it from that brow so cool?'.

Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.

Well I'm a man when I'm feeling the urge to step ashore.
So I may charm you - not alarm you.
Tell you all fine things, and more.
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free,
I'll ride with somebody else

Say goodbye to all your dear kin -
for they hate to see you go
in your young prime, to this place of mine
in the still loch far below.
Up, ride with the kelpie.
I'll steal your soul to the deep.
If you don't ride with me while the devil's free
I'll ride with somebody else.
+

Living In These Hard Times

The bomb's in the china. The fat's in the fire.
There's no turkey left on the table.
The commuter's return on the six o'clock flyer
brings no bale of hay for the stable.
Well, the light, it is failing along the green belt
as we follow the hard road signs.
Semi-detached in our suburban-ness ---
we're living in these hard times.

Well the fly's in the milk and the cat's in the stew.
Another bun in the oven --- oh, what to do?
We'll laugh and we'll sing and try to bring
a pound from your pocket.
Good day to you.
Oh, these hard times.

The politicians sat on the wall
and traded with the union game.
Someone slapped a writ on our deficit ---
not a penny left to our name.
Oh, the times are hard and the credits lean,
and they toss and they turn in sleep.
And the line they take is the line they make ---
but it's not the line they keep.

CHORUS

The cow jumped over yesterday's moon
and the lock ran away with the key.
You know what you like, and you like what you know
but there is no jam for tea.
Well the light it is failing along the green belt
as we follow the hard road signs.
Semi-detached in our suburban-ness ---
we're living in these hard times.

CHORUS
+