Artist: Jethro Tull Album: The Broadsword And The Beast {1982}

From early days of infancy, through trembling years of youth
Long murky middle-age and final hours long in the tooth
He is the hundred names of terror, creature you love the least
Picture his name before you and exorcise the beast

He roved up and down through history, spectre with tales to tell
In the darkness when the campfire's dead - to each his private hell
If you look behind your shoulder as you feel his eyes to feast
You can witness now the ever-changing nature of the beast

Beastie, Beastie, Beastie, Beastie

If you wear a warmer sporran, you can keep the foe at bay
You can pop those pills and visit some psychiatrist who'll say
�There is nothing I can do for you, everywhere's a danger zone
I'd love to help get rid of it, but I've got one of my own.�

Beastie - there's a beast upon my shoulder
Beastie - and a fiend upon my back
Beastie - feel his burning breath a-heaving
Beastie - smoke oozing from his stack

And he moves beneath the covers
Beastie - or he lies below the bed
Beastie - he's the beast upon your shoulder
Beastie - and he's the price upon your head

He's the lonely fear of dying, and for some, of living too
He's your private nightmare pricking, he'd just love to turn the screw
So, stand as one defiant, yes, and let your voices swell
Stare that beastie in the face and really give him hell

Beastie - there's a beast upon my shoulder
Beastie - and a fiend upon my back
Beastie - feel his burning breath a-heaving
Beastie - smoke oozing from his stack
Beastie - and he moves beneath the covers
Beastie - or he lies below the bed
Beastie - he's the beast upon your shoulder
Beastie - and he's the price upon your head

Look out, look out

We travelers on the endless wastes in single orbits, gliding
Cold-eyed, march towards the dawn behind hard-weather hoods a-hiding
Meeting as the tall ships do, passing in the channel
Afraid to chance a gentle touch, afraid to make the clasp

In high-rise city canyons dwells the discontent of ages
On ring roads, nose to bumper crawl, commuters in their cages
Cryptic signals flash across from pilots in the fast lane
Double-locked and belted in, too late to make the clasp

Let's break the journey, now, on some lonely road
Sit down as strangers will, let the stress unload
Talk in confidential terms
Share a dark unspoken fear
Refill the cup and drink it up
Say goodnight and wish good luck

Synthetic chiefs with frozen smiles holding unsteady courses
Grip the reins of history, high on their battle horses
And meeting as good statesmen do before the TV-eyes of millions
Hand to hand exchange the lie, pretend to make the clasp

Fallen on hard times, but it feels good to know
That milk and honey's just around the bend
Running on bad lines, we'd better run as we go
Tear up, tear up the overdraft again

Oh, dear Prime Minister, it's all such a mess
Go right ahead and pull the rotten tooth
Oh, Mr. President, you've been put to the test
Come clean for once and hit us with the truth

Looking for sunshine, oh, but it's black and it's cold
Yet, you say their milk and honey's just round the bend
Giving us a hard time, my friends
Handing us the same line again

Fallen on hard times and there's nowhere to hide
Now they've repossessed the Rolls Royce and the mink
Turning on the peace sign, oh, and it's back to the wood
Soon there will be raised a holy stink

Somebody wake me, I've been sleeping too long
Oh, I don't have to take this lying down
You can keep your promises, shove 'em where they belong
Don't ask me to the party - won't be around

Looking for sunshine, oh, but it's black and it's cold
Yet, you say there�s milk and honey just round the bend
Giving us a hard time, my friends
Handing us the same line again

Fallen on hard times, we�ve fallen on hard times
Oh, fallen on hard times
Can�t you read between the lines
Oh, we�ve fallen on hard times

Shout, if you will, but that just won't do
I, for one, would rather follow softer options
I'll take the easy line, another sip of wine
And if I ignore the face you wore, it's just a way of mine
To keep from flying colors

Oh, don't lay your bait while the whole world waits
Around to see me shoot you down, it's all so second-rate
When we can last for days on a loving night
Or for hours, at least, on a warm whisper given
You always pick the best time to rise to the fight
To break the hard bargain that we've driven
Once again we're flying colors

I thought we had it out the night before
And settled old scores, ooh, but not the hard way
Was it a glass too much or a smile too few
Did our friends all catch the needle match, did we want them to
In a fancy restaurant we were all aglow
Keeping cool by mutual permission
How did the conversation get to where we came to blows
We were set up in a red condition
And again we're flying colors

Shout, but you see it still won't do
With my colors on I can be just as bad as you
Have I had a glass too much, did I give a smile too few
Did our friends all catch the needle match, did we want them to
We act our parts so well, like we wrote the play
All so predictable and we know it
We'll settle old scores now and settle the hard way
You may not even live to outgrow it
Once again we're flying colors, flying colors

Would you join a slow marching band
And take pleasure in your leaving
As the ferry sails and tears are dried
And cows come home at evening
Could you get behind a slow marching band
And join together in the passing
Of all we shared through yesterdays
In sorrows neverlasting

Take a hand and take a bow
You played for me, that's all for now
Oh, and never mind the words just hum along and keep on going
Walk on slowly, don't look behind you
Don't say goodbye, love, I won't remind you

Dream of me as the nights draw cold
Still marking time through winter
You paid the piper and called the tune
And you marched the band away

Take a hand and take a bow
You played for me, that's all for now
Oh, and never mind the words just hum along and keep on going
Walk on slowly, don't look behind you
Don't say goodbye, love, I won't remind you
Oh, walk on slowly, don't look behind you
Don't say goodbye, love, I won't remind you
Oh, walk on slowly, don't look behind you
Don't say goodbye, love, I won't remind you, remind you

I see a dark sail on the horizon
Set under a black cloud that hides the sun
Bring me my broadsword and clear understanding
Bring me my cross of gold as a talisman
Get up to the roundhouse on the cliff-top standing
Take women and children and bed them down

Bring me my broadsword and clear understanding
Bring me my cross of gold as a talisman
Bless with a hard heart those who surround me
Bless the women and children who firm our hands
Put our backs to the north wind, hold fast by the river
Sweet memories to drive us on for the motherland

I see a dark sail on the horizon
Set under a black cloud that hides the sun
So, bring me my broadsword and clear understanding
Bring me my cross of gold as a talisman

So, bring me my broadsword
And a cross of gold as a talisman - broadsword

In the half-tone light of a young morning
She sighs and shifts on the pillow
And across her face dancing, the first shadows fly
To kiss the Pussy Willow
In her fairy-tale world she's a lost soul singing
In a sad voice nobody hears
She waits in her castle of make-believe
For her white knight to appear

Pussy Willow - down fur-lined avenue
Brushing the sleep from the young woman eyes
Runs for the train, see eight o'clock's coming
Cutting dreams down to size again

Pussy Willow - down fur-lined avenue
Brushing the sleep from her young woman eyes
Runs from the train, hear her typewriter humming
Cutting dreams down to size again

She longs for the East and a pale dress flowing
An apartment in old Mayfair
Or to fish the Spey, spinning the first run of spring
Or to die for a cause somewhere

Pussy Willow - down fur-lined avenue
Brushing the sleep from her young woman eyes
Runs from the train, hear her typewriter humming
Cutting dreams down to size again
Pussy Willow, Pussy Willow, Pussy Willow, Pussy Willow
Pussy Willow, Pussy Willow, Pussy Willow

I sit by the cutting on the Beaconsfield line
He's watching me watching the trains go by
Ooh, and they move so fast, boy, they really fly
He's still watching me watching the trains go by

And the way he stares, feel like locking my door
And pulling my phone from the wall
His eyes, like lights from a laser, burn
Making my hair stand, making the goose-bumps crawl

He's watching me watching him watching me
I'm watching you watching me watching - stares, stares

At the cocktail party with a Bucks Fizz in my hand
I feel him watching me watching the girls go by
Ooh, and they move so smooth without even trying
He's still watching me, watching the trains go by

And the crowd thins and he moves up close but he doesn't speak
I have to look the other way
But curiosity gets the better part of me and I peek
Got two drinks in his hand, see his lips move, what the hell's he trying to say

He's watching me watching him watching me
I'm watching you watching me watching - stares, stares
He's watching me watching him watching me - stares
Oh, he's watching me watching the trains go by - stares
He's watching me watching the trains go by
He's watching me watching him watching me - stares
Oh, he's watching me watching him watching me
Watching him watching

Take you away for my magic ship
I have two hundred diesel horses thundering loud
Sea birds call your name and the mountain's on fire
As the summer lightening cuts the sky like a hotwire
And you ride on the swell and your heart is alive
Think I'll make you my seal driver

I'm no great looker, I'm no fast shakes
I'll give you a steady push on a six knot simmering high tide
I can hold us down, keep our head to the wind
Or let us roll on the broadside, cold spray flying in
And we'll ride on the swell and our hearts are alive
Let me make you my seal driver

I could captain you if you'd crew for me
Follow white flecked spindrift, float on a moonkissed sea

Could you fancy me as a pirate bold
Or a longship Viking warrior with the old gods on his side
Well, I'm an inshore man and I'm nobody's hero
But I'll make you tight for a windy night and a dark ride
Let me take you in hand and bring you alive
Going to make you my seal driver

Seal driver, seal driver
Seal driver, seal driver

Along the coast road by the headland
The early lights of winter glow
I'll pour a cup to you my darling
And raise it up, say, "Cheerio."