Birdland - Recorded At Electric Lady Studios

(Patti--spoken:)
This song is called Birdland and it was recorded here at Electric Lady Studios in 1975 on our first album Horses.

His father died and left him a little farm in New England
All the long black funeral cars left the scene
And the boy was just standing there alone
Looking at the shiny red tractor
Him and his daddy used to sit inside
And circle the blue fields and grease the night
It was as if someone had spread butter
On all the fine points of the stars
'Cause when he looked up they started to slip
Then he put his head in the crux of his arms
And he started to drift, drift, drift to the belly of a ship
Let the ship slide open, and he went inside of it
And saw his daddy behind the control board
Streaming beads of light
He saw his daddy behind the control board
And he was very different tonight
'Cause he was not human, he was not human

Little boy's face lit up with such naked joy
That the sun burned around his lids and his eyes were like two suns
White lids, white opals, seeing everything just a little bit too clearly
And he looked around and there was no black ship in sight
There were no black funeral cars, there was nothing except for him the raven
And fell on his knees and looked up and cried out
No, daddy, don't leave me here alone
Take me up, daddy, to the belly of your ship
Let the ship slide open and I'll go inside of it
Where you are not human, you are not human

But nobody heard the boy's cry of alarm
Nobody, nobody there except for the birds around the New England farm
And they gathered in all directions, like roses they scattered
And they were like compass grass coming together into the head of
A shaman bouquet. Slit in his nose and all the others went shooting
And he saw the lights of traffic beckoning like the hands of Blake
Grabbing at his cheeks, taking out his neck, all his limbs
Everything was twisted and he said:
I won't give up, won't give up, don't let me give up
I won't give up, come here, let me go up fast
Take me up quick, take me up, up to the belly of a ship
And the ship slides open and I go inside of it
Where you are not not human. I am not human

I am helium raven and this movie is mine
So he raged and he cried, he cried out as he stretched the sky
Pushing it all out like latex cartoon
Am I all alone in this generation?
We'll just be dreaming of animation night and day, night and day
It won't let up, it won't let up, but I just--I just--I--
I couldn't hear them before, but I hear them now
It's a radar scope in all silver and all platinum lights
Moving in like black ships
They were moving in, streams of them
And he put up his hands and he said:
It's me, it's me, I'll give you my eyes, take me up
Oh now please take me up, I'm helium raven
Waiting for you, please take me up, don't leave me here

The son, the sign, the sign of a tortured woman
The sign of a tortured woman like the shape of the cross
A tortured woman like the--like the mother standing in the doorway letting her sons, no longer presidents no more presidents in this world, this corrupt world, but prophets, a new kind of prophet
They're gonna run through the halls, they're gonna run through the fields
They're gonna be dreaming in animation, they're gonna be dreaming in animation
And it's gonna--it's all gonna split his skull
And it's gonna shoot them up like black bouquets
Like Mohammed Boxer, and they'll go up, they'll take them up
Oh I'll go up, take me up, I'll go up, I'll go up, take me up, take me up
Take me up up up up up up up
Up, up to the belly of a ship. Let the ship slide open
I'll go inside of it where we are not human. We're not human.

The sun, the sun shown and all it's tremendous heat over the desert melted the sands, melted them, a river of glass had hardened into a mirror where he saw everything just a little bit too clearly and where there were two eyes he saw two white opals, where there were eyes two white opals and he saw it all rise and he laid back in the field and he went up up up up up up up up up
Sha da do wop shaman do way sha da do wop shaman do way

We like birdland