Artist: Jethro Tull Album: Roots To Branches {1995}

Words get written, words get twisted
Old meanings move in the drift of time
Lift the flickering torches, see gentle shadows change
The features of the faces cut in unmoving stone
Bad mouth on a prayer day, hope no one's listening
Roots down in the wet clay, branches glistening

True disciples carrying that message
To color just a little with their personal touch
Home-spun fancy weavers and naked half-believers
Crusades and creeds descend like fiery flakes of snow
Bad mouth on a prayer day, hope no one's listening
Roots down in the wet clay, branches glistening
Roots to branches, roots to branches, roots to branches

In wet and windy priest-holes, grand in vast cathedrals
High on lofty minarets or in the temples of doom
I think the old man's got his face on, he'd better be some quick change artist
To suffer little children to make their minds up soon
Bad mouth on a prayer day, hope no one's listening
Roots down in the wet clay, branches glistening
Roots to branches, roots to branches, roots to branches

Roots to branches, roots to branches, roots to branches

Rare and precious chain
Do I have to tell you, tell you once again
Under red lights on soft nights it all comes back to you
Rare and precious chain
Binds me to your soul round gently pulsing veins
Shackled tight, feel love's bite coming back to you

No gold of fools, no hostage taking
No engagement rules to leave you forsaken

Tiny beads of sweat 
Thin diamond glistening, glistening around your neck
Forgotten rooms, black catacombs, they all come back to you

No crock of glittering prizes, no sharply worded telegram
No excuses for the word-weary, no excuses for who I am

It's a rare and precious chain
Around your neck I place it, place it once again
Drawn finger tight, feel love's bite coming back to you
Under red lights on soft nights it all comes back to you
Rare and precious chain

Glued to the curbstone, staring
Frozen at the stop-sign too
See that crazy suicide mongrel
He's going to try to cross that avenue
Old dog of experience ripping through the black and yellow cabs
Dodging rickshaws and the bicycle boys
He got his mind on someone else's dinner
Over the road, round the corner, out of the noise

Lives down in some cool, cool basement
Sharing with a family of bouncy, ratty little guys
Works to a discipline of ritual undertakings
Sleep, eat and gentle exercise
Old dog of experience ripping through the black and yellow cabs
Dodging rickshaws and the bicycle boys
He�s got his mind round someone else's dinner
Over the road, round the corner, out of the noise

Some towns I know he could end up in a restaurant
Wrong side of a table for two
It's enough to send him running, running for cover
Back into traffic, what's a poor dog to do
Old mutt of experience ripping through the black and yellow cabs
Dodging rickshaws and the bicycle boys
Now, he's got his mind round someone else's dinner
Over the road, round the corner, over the road, round the corner
Over the road, and round the corner, out of the noise

She peeled from a stretch black snake
Which slipped up to the hotel door
Darting looks from piercing eyes
The stir of memory and then no more
Well, you know how I have to believe
She can almost remember my name
It's been a long time coming, babe
Long time loose amongst foreign hills
Shaking my faith in this free will
  
Years ago in a coastal town
Mosquitoes buzzed in her hair
Schooldress torn and bare feet brown
Then the rains came and she wasn't there
You're closing your doors on me
When you had almost remembered my name
It's been a long time coming, babe
Long time loose amongst foreign hills
Shaking my faith in this free will
 
Sharp points in an ink black sky
Faint words collide, then are lost
I'll follow you beneath this dome
Win you back at any cost
I know we were children then
But you can almost remember my name
It's been a long time coming, babe
Long time loose amongst foreign hills
Well, let's be children still
Don't shake my faith in this free will
Don't shake my faith in this free will
Don't shake my faith in this free will
Don't shake my faith in this free will
Don't shake my faith in this free will

Wake hard in the morning, see the young girl milking
Stream rushing by on a bed of stone
Old goats and sandstone cracking, all containing
Squeezing that river like it squeeze your bones
In the long red, red valley people live here too long
In the long red, red valley they only sing the valley song

Some bad people living further down the valley
Not easy for us to do good trade
We got snowmelt, snowmelt sweet water
They got that valley road that they made
In the long red, red valley people dying here too long
In the long red valley they only sing the valley song

Holding hands on the hillside
Showing love to your brother
Your sister and your mother
But we hate those people down the valley

Anybody seen Moses, get him off that mountain
Bring back the tablets of stone
It's wise, wise prophet who keeps his own council
Yeah, leave the other man's wife alone
In the long red, red valley people living here too long
In the long red, red valley only sing the valley song

Holding hands on the hillside
Showing love to your brother
Your sister and your mother
But we hate those people down the valley

Wake hard in the morning, see the young girl milking
Sleepy stream with it�s head on a bed of stone
Old goats and sandstone cracking, all containing
Squeezing that river like it squeeze your bones
In the long red, red valley people living here too long
In the long red, red valley we only live the valley song
In the long red, red valley people dying here too long
In the long red valley only know the valley song

Desert candle in a tented space
Throwing softer shadows on a covered face
Sister, silent to the likes of me
Pay my respects to her propriety

Is this some crazy woman here
Dancing behind her thin black veil
Am I misreading those mysterious eyes
Duet impossible to harmonize

I'm not inviting any stiff reaction
I'm not one for naming holy names
And I won't peek behind those dangerous veils
Though you might hate me just the same

Names of the Father ringing in her head
Thinking over what the prophet said
Words and tradition bind her in their spell
Don't drink the water from this holy well

I'm not inviting any fierce reaction
And I'm not one for naming holy names
And I won't peek behind those dangerous veils
Though you might hate me just the same

Desert candle in a tented space
Softer shadows on a covered face
Sister, silent to the likes of me
I tip my hat to her propriety

I'm not inviting any fierce reaction
I'm not one for naming holy names
And I won't peek behind those dangerous veils
Though you might hate me just the same

Small child messing down, messing down in the streets of Bombay
Cities like this have no shame, no shame, indeed, why should they
Out in the middle distance several tragedies are playing
I'm beside myself, I'm beside myself
 
Big sister, can you hear him, can you hear him - I'm beside myself
Big sister, can you see him cry, see him cry - I'm beside myself
I saw you taking money in the shadows, in the shadows by the station there

I'll wish you up a silver train
Carry you to school, bring you home again
Strip off that work paint, put a cleaner face on
I'm beside myself, yeah, I'm beside myself

Hollow faced mother with her babe in arms, babe in arms looks through me
Behind forgotten charms, forgotten charms to soothe me
Between the guilt and charity I feel the wimp inside of me
I'm beside myself, yeah, I'm beside myself
Out in the middle distance still more tragedies are playing - I'm beside myself

I'm so proud of you swimming up from the deep blue
Which one of me do you run to - I'm beside myself
I'm beside myself, I'm beside myself

Small child messing down, messing down in the streets of Bombay
Cities like this have no shame, have no shame, indeed, why should they
Out in the middle distance several tragedies are playing
I'm beside myself, I'm beside myself

A walk on the quiet side late in the day
Don't mean to get in anybody's way
The gods seem willing, sun's in the sky
Old crows cawing as the straight crows fly
There was a time when love was the law
There was a time for the tooth and the claw
Last rites given, no holds barred
Heaven Express on my credit card
Now, let me draw the jungle line
I won't cross yours if you don't cross mine
Won't make trouble, I don't need no fuss
But I'm wounded, old and I'm treacherous

Allow me to draw the jungle line
You cross it once, you cross some friends of mine
They won't make trouble, they don't need no fuss
But they're wounded, old and they're treacherous

In the crisp of evening, on sacred ground
Ghosts of fathers pushing moonbeams round
Big cats prowling inside your head
They left for China, better left for the dead
Let me draw the jungle line
I won't cross yours if you don't cross mine
I won't make trouble, I don't need no fuss
But I'm wounded, old and I'm treacherous

A walk on the quiet side late in the day
Don't mean to get in anybody's way
The gods seem willing, sun's in the sky
Old crows cawing as the straight crows fly
There was a time when love was the law
There was a time for the tooth and the claw
Last rites given, no holds barred
Heaven Express on my credit card
Living mountains gonna to shake that town
Big mother calling you from underground
She don't want trouble, she don't need no fuss
But she's wounded, old and she�s treacherous

So, why are you holding my hand tonight
I'm not intending to go far away
I'm just slipping through to the back room
I'll leave you messages almost every day
And who was I to last forever
I didn't promise to stay the pace
Not in this lifetime, babe, but we'll cling together
Some kind of heaven written in your face

So, why are you holding my hand tonight
Well, am I feeling so cold to the touch
Do my eyes seem to focus on some distant point
Why do I find it hard to talk too much
And who was I to last forever
I didn't promise to stay the pace
Not in this lifetime, babe, but we'll cling together
Some kind of heaven written in your face

And who was I to last forever
I didn't promise to stay the pace
Not in this lifetime, babe, but we'll cling together
Some kind of heaven written in your face

So, why are you holding my hand tonight
I'm not intending to go far away
I'm just slipping through to the back room
I'll leave you messages almost every day
And who am I to last forever
I didn't promise to stay the pace
Not in this lifetime, babe, but we'll cling together
Some kind of heaven written in your face

Brings jasmine tea on a painted tray
And bends to kiss my frown away
I'm still stuck in the August rain
Stuck out in the cloudburst once again

The cover's on, the coast is clear
We're all battened down, only us here
But I'm still stuck in the August rain
Stuck out in the cloudburst once again
She walks between the lines
And she can read my signs

Stuck out in the August rain
Out in the cloudburst once again

Single-minded in my gloom
I appear to revel in this darkened room
I'm still stuck in the August rain
Stuck out in the cloudburst once again
She walks between the lines
And she can read my signs
 
Stuck out in the August rain
Out in the cloudburst once again

Stuck out in the August rain
Out in the cloudburst once again

She walks between the lines
And she can read my signs

Wet wind on the sidewalk - I'm staring at the rain
Walking up the street, yeah, and walking down again
And my feet are tired and my brain is numb
See that broken neon sign saying, "Hey, in you come."

Got the scent of stale beer hanging, hanging round my head
Old dog in the corner sleeping like he could be dead
A book of matches and a, and a full ashtray
Cigarette left smoking its life away
Another Harry's bar - or that's the tale they tell
But Harry's long gone now and the customers as well
Me and the dog and the ghost of Harry will make this world turn right
It'll all turn right

God's tears on the sidewalk - it's the mother of all rain
But in the thick blue haze of Harry's you will feel no pain
And you will feel no soft hand slipping on your knee
You don't have to pay for memories, they will all come free
It's another Harry's bar, well, that's the tale they tell
Harry's long gone now and the customers as well
Me and the dog and the ghost of Harry will make this world turn right
It'll all turn right, it'll all turn right

Now, when Harry was a young man, Harry was so debonair
Well, he walked a bouncy step in his shiny shoes
And when Harry was a young man, well, Harry could walk on air
He mixed a mean cocktail and he talked you through the late news
You want to hear some great news - Harry's still here

Wet wind on the sidewalk - I'm still staring at the rain
Walking up the street, now, I'm walking down again
And my feet are tired and my brain is numb
See that broken neon sign saying, "Hey, in you come."
Another Harry's bar - or that's the tale they tell
But Harry's long gone now and the customers as well
Me and the dog and the ghost of Harry will make this world turn right
We'll make this world turn right

Another Harry's bar and another Harry's bar
And another and another Harry's bar