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Clutch - The Elephant Riders
1. The Elephant Riders
2. Ship of Gold
3. Eight Times Over Miss October
4. The Soapmakers
5. The Yeti
6. Muchas Veces
7. Green Buckets
8. Wishbone
9. Crackerjack
10. The Dragonfly
1. The Elephant Riders
I'll keep pulling on the towpathYou keep floating on the river
Yeah, 'til the day is done
Keep on keeping on the low road
Chesapeake and Ohio
'cause on the higher ground you will find
Elephant riders to the northwest bring news from father
Looking like it's always closing
The Salty Dog is always open
Here, I have an I.O.U.
Clickity-clack-clack, clickity-clack-clack
Baltimore and Ohio
Clickity-clack-clack, clickity-clack-clack
Roll on, roll on
On our way to Washington where work is done by men with gavels
I heard a sound that just about removed me from my filly's saddle
Just outside of Antietam where once there was a mighty battle
I heard the rhythm of the hammers beating the rail lines together
Elephant riders to the northwest bring news of battle
Don't be eating all the hard tack
Between we two there's half a small sack
Still we got miles to go
Giddy up pony, giddy up pony
Camptown Races five miles long
Giddy up pony, giddy up pony
Ride on, ride on
On our way to Washington where work is done by men with gavels
I heard a sound that just about removed me from my filly's saddle
Just outside of Antietam where once there was a mighty battle
I heard the rhythm of the hammers beating the rail lines together
Elephant riders to the northwest bring news from father
El-e-phant riders to the northwest bring news of battle
2. Ship of Gold
Tin shacks and catfish bones been 'bout all I've ever knownThe junebugs rattle and roll around the old maypole
Thunder and lightning
The catfish were biting
I took a river boat downstream
I think you know what I mean
The chicken hawks they are gatherin'
Above my head they are circling
Old friends comin' and visitin'
Saying "hi" and talk about collecting
Stray dogs won't come near me
Was blind now I see clearly
Believe I'm fixin' to die
When you're living in the country it's why oh why?
Oh, I'm sorry that I left my home
Oh, I'm sorry that I left my home
Look overy yonder there, on the farther shore
On the farther shore, look over yonder there
I see a ship of gold, I see a ship of gold
Beyond that mountain there I see a city on a hill
Its gates are open wide, I hear the ringing bells
Look over yonder there on toward the burying ground
Poor boy's all afire, poor boy's dead and gone
Oh, poor boy is dead and gone
One of these days, the Ship of Gold
Will carry me to my reward
Out of this world, it will take me
To hear the horns of jubilee
Pig fat and old pork rinds ain't enough to keep a man alive
The bullfrog sleeps all day, come night he has his say
Believe I'm fixin' to die, believe I'll taking my rest
believe I'm fixin' to die, believe I'll taking my rest
Oh, I'm sorry that I left home
Oh, I'm sorry that I left home
3. Eight Times Over Miss October
Once again I'm denied my joyOnce around the stump and twice across the ceiling
Now eight times over Miss October's out for me
Believe me when I tell ya she's all about destruction
It's just about enough to make a grown man cry
Good God Almighty we was pannin' for gold
Down at the base of mighty Colorado
When all 'a sudden came an awful sound
Ten thousand buffalo was running us down
Once again i'm denied my joy
Sieves and peas, oh Lord! Oh Lord!
Thunder and lightning at a feverish pitch
Must be the workings of the old West Witch
I crossed her once when I was just a youth
Been scared stiff ever since to tell you the truth
Once again i'm denied my joy
Sieves and peas, oh Lord! Oh Lord!
Once around the stump and twice across the ceiling
Now eight times over, Miss October's out for me
Believe me when I tell ya she's all about the voodoo
And all the things I'm losing when I pay no mind
Get off on a good foot and start another day
Maybe head for Hazel, Californ-I-A
But sooner or later, she'll go to town
Sure as the Earth runs around and around
Again I'm denied my joy
Sieves and peas, oh Lord
At the side of the road
A bundle of twine
And on it I found a note
It said "You'll be running 'til the end of time"
Once around the stump and twice across the ceiling
Now eight times over, Miss October's out for me
Believe me when I tell ya she's all about the voodoo
It's just about enough to make a grown man cry
4. The Soapmakers
Behind the Cliffside InnI heard a fiddle and a mandolin
Keeping rhythm on an old washboard
And stompin' on the floor
Saw people of all sorts
Dancin' 'round twos and fours
Caroling about days of old
And what the future holds
And in the middle was a big cauldron
That they were stirrin', stirrin'
And there were trees around
That they were burnin', burnin'
I asked a toothless man
Who all these people were and
He said the Soapmakers
And we are workin', workin'
As they stirred Heaven and Earth they combined to one
And everything was everyone and each one was all
As they stirred I heard a trumpet call
And everything was everyone and each one was all
As they stirred Heaven and Earth they combined to one
And everything was everyone and each one was all
As they stirred I heard a trumpet call
And everything was everyone and each one was all
5. The Yeti
Standing waist high in snow what brought me here I do not knowSky is filled with starry scenes of heroes and their greatest deeds
Satellites move cross the sky and every year they multiply
Father Bear is sound asleep and will be so for several weeks
Across the plain I see a figure every instant growing bigger
Instinct tells me run away while faith proposes that I wave
He approaches to a rod I whisper up a prayer to God
Stranger asks me with a grin, "Do you have the time my friend?"
Hima- Himalaya is my old time stomping ground
(Oh yes, time is of the essence)
Mani- Manitoba, better snows I've never found
(Oh yes, time is of the essence)
The author looms above his page and thinks it strange that at his age
He cannot find the proper words to describe his only world
One would think that in a life where no two snowflakes are alike
One would have a brilliant rhyme for each and every bit of time
Hima- Himalaya is my old time stomping ground
(Oh yes, time is of the essence)
Mani- Manitoba, better snows I've never found
(Oh yes, time is of the essence)
6. Muchas Veces
Went to the five and dimeBought myself a copy of Time
And on the cover was a woman that I knew
When I was excavating in the mountains of Peru
Caught a plane to L.I.A.
I didn't know what I would say
Maybe she would like me I had lost a lot of weight
Since she had last seen me in 1988
Went to a local bar, ordered a cerveza
Asked a man about the woman on the cover
Dijo, "Claro que si, es el presidente's daughter"
Asked him where she might be
"You did not hear this from me
The girl is a terrorista en las montanas a Chuquilbambilla"
Took a bus through the mountains
Oh, my head was pounding
Gotta stay strong and carry on
Gotta stay strong it won't be long
Arrived in the villa surrounded by guerillas
Then my girl took me in her arms
She said, "How you been? Oh, but I'll see you again"
I woke up in a coffin underneath an altar to the east of Macchu Pichu
Crawled from the royal tomb
The sun was bright and burned my eyes
I knew that she was gone
So I went down to the riverside and I cried
Muchas veces I don't know if I'm coming or I'm going
Muchas veces I'm at a loss as what to do
Muchas veces I don't know if I'm coming or I'm going
Muchas veces I'm at a loss as what to do
My friend says she's nothing but a pain
I said, "I still love her the same
All she needs is a little bit of love and I'm sure I can make her change some"
"What about that girl in Zaire that you met while a volunteer?
She's got quite the education and quite the pair of legs on her"
"Oh she married an Englishman, a correspondent for CNN
She thought he was rather handsome in a UN blue flack jacket
Oh I see where you're coming from, but for me there is no other one
I must be on my merry way."
Went to the five and dime, bought myself a copy of Time
And on the cover was a woman I knew claiming she was a kahuna on Oahu
Caught a plane to H.I.A.
The sun was bright and burned my eyes
I knew that she was there cause I felt shivers on my spine
I felt fine
7. Green Buckets
Won't you come over and stay for a while?Take a seat, have a drink, we'd have a nice time
Turn on the TV I believe it's prime time
I'll make ya chicken cacciatore in five
There's a woman down in 314
Who can't keep the stains on her kitchen floor clean
And there's a man who's been knocking on his own door for three years
Or has it been four?
I don't want to spend the winter in this house all alone
Those neighbors of mine keep coming on over
And playing with my mind
I would like to love you, I sure would treat you right
We could take the trash out every Thursday night
Here in my neighborhood there is the strangest thing
Green buckets every Friday in every driveway
They're filled with glasses, plastics, and newspapers too
They say they recycle and bring 'em back to you
I would like to love you, I sure would treat you right
We could take the trash out every Thursday night
We could be a family, consume many goods
We could be the pillars of the neighborhood
Ah babe, I'm a real hard worker
With the proper tools I'll make ya anything you yearn for
The barbarians are at the gate
Come in before it's too late
I got food enough to last the two of us about a year
A thousand cans of chowder and a thousand cans of beer
I love my neighbors like I love my own brother
But every year they're gettin' odder and odder
I would like to love you, I sure would treat you right
We could take the trash out every Thursday night
We could be a family, consume many goods
We could be the pillars of the neighborhood
8. Wishbone
For Thanksgiving we had 'tatersSuccotash and rutabagas
Then came turkey from the oven
Broke the wishbone, covenants were sealed and set
On the losing end of a wishbone
And I won't pretend not to mind
Christmas Eve we ate at Aunty's
We had some ham glazed with honey
Rolled the Yule log on the fire
Threw the hambone to the dogs and went to bed
On the losing end of a wishbone
And I won't pretend not to mind
In the morning the weathercock was heard
Asking what we had learned of the Earth
"Is it a round place with deserts and oceans
Housing as many winds as one might wish?"
We were standing by the gate
He said, "Oh my, it's getting late!"
Then he took off flying to the south
With a blacksnake in his mouth
You can shake it, break it, or glue it whole
No two ways about it with a broke wishbone
On the losing end
For St. Patty's we had cabbage
Corned beef stew, egg salad sandwich
Then came whiskey from the basement
Danced all night into the dawn and held our heads
On the losing end of a wishbone
And I won't pretend not to mind
9. Crackerjack
Instrumental10. The Dragonfly
Could've been a swan on a glassy lakeCould've been a gull in a clipper's wake
Could've been a ladybug on a windchime
But she was born a dragonfly
In the sun, she warmed her wings and listened to cicadas sing
Trees are bent in one direction because of some
Cross-pollination by the legs of bees in spring is a beautiful thing
Oh when the sun goes down, fireflies come out
In a pond, crept a slimy thing that hummed a theme from
The Rites of Spring
Pity the mate of Queen Mantis
So content but so headless
Katy did nothing but shiver and cry, as did the dragonfly
In the shade the gypsies spin
Among the cloves they drop their skin
Beyond the hedgegrove, over by the willows
Deep in the shadows
Regeneration occurs at a furious speed beneath the white oak tree
And when the sun comes up, moonbuds fold up
In the sun, she warmed her wings and listened to
The Rites of Spring
Could've been a swan on a glassy lake
Could've been a gull in a clipper's wake
Could've been a ladybug on a windchime
But she was born a dragonfly
Ain't never seen it, but I have heard it
Sounds like the millstones when they are turnin'
Thunder and lightning, getting louder and louder
Then there was silence and the smell of flowers