Ian Anderson: The Secret Language Of Birds

Do we inhabit some micro-space
And interface through wires.
Dance on a printed circuit board
Throw the software to the fires.
My memory's slim --- so volatile
But i'm learning.
Plug yourself in. stay for awhile.
Un-discerning.

And on dusty terminals
Finger me lightly do.
And qwerty is the name of love
Printed on the v.d.u.
Cut yourself free. we're all alone
Communicating.
Don't bother me with arithmetic ---
I'm waiting.

User-friendly.
That's what i am to you.

I have to break out of here.
Trapped in my hardware cell.
And come to you as you sleep tonight,
Take you back into my hell.
Binary joys and digital sighs
So appealing.
I'm one of the boys and it's only
Your mind that i'm stealing.
User-friendly.
That's all i am to you.

Somewhere in a town in england
Lay a babe with a curious smile.
He was of your father's children.
Born each side of a dry-stone mile.

He grew up through the schools and factories,
Brunel's tunnels and bridges bold.
Grey towers built high on that kingdom
With apartments still unsold.

Somewhere in a town in england.
Could be newcastle, leeds or birmingham.
And were you made in
England's green and pleasant land?

He accepts no unemployment
And is to indeterminate station bred.
Is possessed of skills and reason.
Flies the flag upon his head.

Watches the democratic process
Grind it's way through the commons cold,
Filled with fiery infiltrators
Who would pave the streets with england's gold.

Close in, move out to where you want to go.
There's a crowd out there handclapping slow.
We're all powered up, switched on, the rig is tight.
Step into joy. walk into light.
Never mind what some people say.
They're going to love you anyway.

Shake off that nervous twitch and feel your strength.
Stand astride the width and walk the length.
Those super-troopers fired and burning bright.
Step into joy. walk into light.
Stand tall and be yourself.
You can do it for your health.

Maybe a circus ring, a disco floor.
Do like we do. and do some more.
A crowded office or a party night.
Step into joy. walk into light.

I walk along the strand
To catch the late ride home.
Shuttle through the evening gloom
Knowing i forgot to phone.
The back door's open.
There's a chill blowing in.
Take your warm hands off me.
Let the night begin.
Shush your mouth.
Listen to me.
I won't say nothing ---
Just let me be your
Toad in the hole.

Kicking through the wet leaves lying
All along the station road.
Past tired graffitti wailing,
Raw emotion to unload.
There's coal in the fireplace
And money in the bank too.
Deep-pile carpets, tinsel wallpaper.
Still got the back room to do.
Don't be late.
Got a day's work behind me.
Feel a little devastated
But my nights are assigned to you.

Toad in the hole.

No tom-cat creeping, now
Could ever be so bold
To hang around our place tonight
When i come in from the cold.
There's a straight-six in the garage
And some fine wine to cool.
Labour-savers in the kitchen,
Room in the garden for a pool.
Shush your mouth.
Let imagination run
Here in bed-sit heaven
Where all the best wishing's done
To warm toad in the hole.

I looked in the mirror then
Saw my face in a dream.
With eyes sharp as diamonds
Blessed with clear vision.
Things were not as they seemed.
Black and white television
Stared back from the wall.
Is that my life?
Am i here at all?

Down in the high road, see
Motor cavalcades glide
Past shopwindow dressers
Desperately covering
All the parts they can hide.
Black and white television
Stares at me again.
Is that their lives?
Even dummies pretend.

The truth is so hard to deny.
The answer is here.
The screen never lies.

Black and white television.
It's the right television.
Show me it's all a dream tonight.

The boys on the corner sulk
In their suzuki haze.
In primary colours
(each year more startling)
But they still fade to grey
On black and white television.
It's sweeping the land.
Is that your life?
Do you understand?

The truth is so hard to deny.
The answer is here.
The screen never lies.

Black and white television.
Back the right television.
Black and white television.
Hard to fight television.
Show me it's all a dream tonight.