Raising Steam
Over high plains, through the snow...
Roll those tracks out, dont you know
Im raising steam.
Thin vein creeping; hot blood flow...
Spill a little where the new towns grow.
I got my whole life hanging in a sack,
Heading out into that wide world wide.
You got your locomotive sitting on your track
And I dont care which way I ride.
I may not be coming back.
Left a lady with a heart
All in pieces come apart
Raising steam.
That engine up front must
Have a heart big enough for the both of us.
Riding shotgun on the sunset, stare it in the eye,
Rocking on my heels out to the west.
Funny how the whole world, historically,
Feels the urge to chase the sun to rest.
We may not be coming back.
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song performed by Jethro Tull
Added by Lucian Velea
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I Dont Want To Be Me
Got a grand house out in the country.
Marble pillars holding the door.
Empty bottles lining the wall from the night before.
Got a roller out in the garage.
But the wheels are stuck to the floor.
Got no reason to go anywhere--no friends call anymore.
I dont want to be me, I dont want to be me,
I know its hard to see, but I dont want to be me.
Had me playing down at the palace.
I was declared the belle of the ball.
Made the boys take my goods and chattels away--
Now Im staring at an empty hall.
I dont want to be me.
Pardon me--Im on my way.
Pardon me but Im going.
Taking on the simple life and I feel the grass roots growing.
Im going to ride the ragged road--
Diamond spurs jangling into the sunset.
No circuits running overload--well maybe Im not done yet.
Now theres nothing left in the cupboard
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song performed by Jethro Tull
Added by Lucian Velea
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Steel Monkey
As the moon slips up, and the sun sets down,
Im a highrise jockey, and Im heaven-bound.
Do the workboot shuffle, loose brains from brawn.
Im a monkey puzzle and the lid is on.
Can you guess my name? can you guess my trade?
Im going to catch you anyway.
You might be right. Ill give you guesses three.
Feel me climbing up your knee.
Guess what I am. Im a steel monkey.
Now some men hustle and some just think.
And some go running before you blink.
Some look up and some look down
From three hundred feet above the ground.
Can you guess my name? and can you guess my trade?
Well, I wont rest before the world is made.
Arm in arm the angels fly.
Keep me from falling out the sky.
Steel monkey.
I work in the thunder and I work in the rain.
I work at my drinking, and I feel no pain.
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song performed by Jethro Tull
Added by Lucian Velea
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Rainbow Blues
Through northern lights on back streets ---
I told the coachman, ''just drive me on,
Its the same old destination
But a different world to sing upon.
So he threw back his head and he counted.
I jumped out about five to nine.
And I waved at the stage door-keeper ---
Said, ''mister, get me to the stage on time.
Oh, but the rain wasnt made of water
And the snow didnt have a place in the sun
So I slipped behind a rainbow
And waited till the show had done.
I packed my ammunition.
Inside the crowd was shouting, ''encore,
But I had a most funny feeling ---
It wasnt me they were shouting for.
So when the tall dark lady smiled at me
I said, ''oh, baby let us go for a ride.
And we came upon two drinks or four
And popped them oh so neatly inside.
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song performed by Jethro Tull
Added by Lucian Velea
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This Free Will
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.
Its 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 wasnt there.
Youre closing your doors on me
When you had almost remembered my name.
Its 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.
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song performed by Jethro Tull
Added by Lucian Velea
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Dangerous Veils
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.
Im not inviting any stiff reaction.
Im not one for naming holy names.
And I wont peek behind those dangerous veils.
Though you might hate me just the same.
Name of the father ringing in her head --
Thinking over what the prophet said.
Words and tradition bind her in their spell.
Dont drink the water from this holy well.
Im not inviting any fierce reaction
And Im not one for naming holy names.
I wont peek behind those dangerous veils.
Though you might hate me just the same.
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song performed by Jethro Tull
Added by Lucian Velea
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Hunting Girl
One day I walked the road and crossed a field
To go by where the hounds ran hard.
And on the master raced: behind the hunters chased
To where the path was barred.
One fine young ladys horse refused the fence to clear.
I unlocked the gate but she did wait until the pack had disappeared.
Crop handle carved in bone;
Sat high upon a throne of finest english leather.
The queen of all the pack,
This joker raised his hat and talked about the weather.
All should be warned about this high born hunting girl.
She took this simple mans downfall in hand;
I raised the flag that she unfurled.
Boot leather flashing and spurnecks the size of my thumb.
This highborn hunter had tastes as strange as they come.
Unbridled passion: I took the bit in my teeth.
Her standing over --- me on my knees underneath.
My lady, be discrete.
I must get to my feet and go back to the farm.
Whilst I appreciate you are no deviate,
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song performed by Jethro Tull
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Two Fingers
Ill see you at the weighing-in,
When your lifes sum-totals made
And you set your wealth in godly deeds
Against the sins youve laid.
And 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.
And the hard-headed miracle worker
Who bathes his hands in blood,
Will welcome you to the final nod ---
And cover you with mud.
And hell say, ''you really should make the deal,
As he offers round the hat.
''youd better lick two fingers clean ---
Hell thank you all for that.
As you slip on the greasy platform,
And you land upon your back,
You make a wish and you wipe your nose upon the railway track.
While the high-strung locomotive,
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song performed by Jethro Tull
Added by Lucian Velea
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Crossfire
Spring light in a hazy may
And a man with a gun at the door
Someones crawling on the roof above ---
All the media here for the show
Ive been waiting for our friends to come
Like spiders down ropes to free-fall
A thirty round clip for a visiting card ---
Admit one to the embassy ball
Caught in the crossfire on princes gate avenue
In go the windows and out go the lights
Call me a doctor. fetch me a policeman
Im down on the floor in one hell of a fight
Im just a soul with an innocent face ---
A regular boy dressed in blue
Conducting myself in a proper way
As befitting the job that I do
They came down on me like a ton of bricks
Swept off my feet, knocked about
Theres nothing for it but to sit and wait
For the hard men to get me out
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song performed by Jethro Tull
Added by Lucian Velea
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Tundra
Short arctic desert day ---
And someone left their snow-shoes in the tundra.
Look around every which way
But I cant see just where the footprints go.
Is it a casual disappearance? ---
Plucked from the middle atmosphere
Like straw wind-blown.
No speck on the horizon ---
No simple message scrawled
Upon the snow.
Unearthly visitation ---
Someone left their snow-shoes in the tundra.
Hungry buzzard flier
Circling round and round
Rattling deaths tambourine.
Have to run it down the cold wire ---
Late insertion in tomorrows lost and found.
Should I spread out searching?
But Im a little thin upon the ground.
So I raise my lips to coax
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song performed by Jethro Tull
Added by Lucian Velea
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