Waiting For Herb

Sit down on that stool hear the cant of a fool
And a strange tale i'll impart to ye
Of a time that i lived at the buff of a hill
'neath the burial chambers you see

One saturday night i got up on my bike
To go to a dance in the town
I set off at seven to be there at eleven
No thought of the rain coming down

As i pushed up the hill the rain started to spill
So for shelter i had to resort
Helter skelter i went as downhill i sped
To the trees at the old fairy fort

I pulled up my bike be a tree in the gripe
To find shelter out of the storm
The rain it came down and like stones beat the ground
But it was grand to be dry in that storm

I was dreaming away about better days
When a voice it says dirty ould night
I fell over me bike i got such a fright
When the ghostly voice bid me the night

I jumped up with a start gave the storm not a thought
As the hail beat a rhythm on me
And i stared at the tree that had spoken to me
Not a body was there i could see

The voice i had heard not another word said
As the hair on the head stood on me
And i said an "our father" as i peddled much faster
Away from that ghost haunted tree

For weeks and weeks after with nerves a disaster
Nowhere near that road would i go
And from dusk through the night i would shake with the fright
Of the tree that had haunted me so

Now whenever i go to a dance in the town
I make sure not to stop on the way
To be there for eleven i still leave at seven
But i go by a different way

The shaman came a calling
He was howling at the moon
He offered me a vision
On the end of a silver spoon
He said he'd give me dreams
That all were in his powers
If only i would follow him
The universe was ours

Walked a thin white line to the coffin club
Downstairs from the devils den
Had a large double jesus
Chased down with a shot of zen
The last thing i remember
Was lying in the tank
And when i came around again
Everything was blank

Floating high above the world
Out on the astral plane
I'm bouncing like a pinball
He's busy being born again

I met god on primrose hill
That's where he came to me
He stepped out of his saucer
I got down on my knees
From his lips came just one word
He left me all aglow
I sat down and had a smoke
And watched the flowers grow

The bats are in the belfry
And the bubbles in the bong
The secret of the universe
Is hidden in this song

The shaman left a crawling
As the dawn broke the gloom
Talking in some other tongue
And laughing like a loon
The early morning sunlight
Splashed colours on the wall
And i don't know if it ever
Really happened at all

The bats are in the belfry
And the bubbles in the bong
The molecules inside my head
Are chiming like a gong

The bats are in the belfry
And the bubbles in the bong
The secret of the universe
Is hidden in this song

In the big city
Where the lights are low
Cold dirty ground
Where the rivers don't flow
Nothing's gonna change so throw it all away

In the big city
Where the kids will come cheap
And monsters prowl and never sleep
Don't cross the road if you haven't got the time of day

Well i lost my girl waiting for the train from ride
I know she's out there somewhere
Selling all we got but i don't mind

In the big city
You can walk a thin line
Your mother won't know that you do a bit of crime
Your father's on the dole and he really hasn't got the time

In the big city
Where it's hard to see the sky
And the black earth trembles when the trains go by
And the bums on the corner tell you gently
To fuck off and die

Well i lost my girl and i missed my train to ride
And i'm stuck here selling papers
And spitting on the ground when you walk by

In the big city
You can dance all night
Only if you're clean and the lads are not uptight
Or you may as well forget it and wait until the broad daylight

In the big city
Where the suits don't look you in the eye
Learn how to laugh you'll be planning when to die
And don't expect any favours from the cars passing by

I lost my girl waiting for the train from ride
Well i don't mind matching colours or parking people's cars
And telling little lies if that's alright

In the big city

The hour's late and the lights are low
I'm walking home just kicking stones
I waited at the deopt you never showed
You missed the last bus hours ago
I remember the first time
I saw you on the street
You looked so pretty my heart skipped a beat
I can't wait any longer but i still feel the heat
I'm down but i'm still on my feet

I walked on down the old fairground
Up from the docks blew a lonely sound

I sat for a while on the cold hard ground
Watched the stars slowly turn as the earth spun around
As the past falls behind up ahead there's a crack
Of light shining bright through the night so black
Like a runaway train rolling down the track
From here there's no turning back

Listen to me baby
Once upon a time
My heart was an ocean
You swam against the tide
The time is past for grieving
My tears have all run dry
I'll leave you with my love
And now i say goodbye

The bottles broke the glasses are cracked
The cards are all dealt and the chips have been stacked
The lamp shades busted and the curtains are torn
The door keeps knocking but there's nobody home
I stood by the road brushed a tear from my eye
Cursed the cars and the rain and the rolling grey sky
I turned around turned my back on that town
And i never looked back again

Sometimes it seems like a beautiful dream
The girl from the wadi hammamat
Lovely as a green parakeet
I awake alone again
In the desert of my dreams
A fertile oasis i have seen

I cast my voice to the burning winds
Across the dunes khamsin khamsin
Bring her to me on desire's wings
On the burning desert wind

She means the world to me
In a single grain of sand
Bring a camel to this man
Perched on a bough her tresses hang down
The girl from the wadi hammamat
She is as sweet as a green parakeet

Sometimes it seems like a beautiful dream
The girl from the wadi hammamat

The wind was whipping shingle through the windows in the town
A hail of stones across the roof, the slates came raining down
A blade of light upon the spit came sweeping through the roar
With me head inise a barrel and me leg screwed in the floor

Mother pack me bags because i'm off to foreign parts
Don't ask me where i'm going 'cause i'm sure it's off the charts
I'll pin your likeness on the wall right buy my sleeping head
I'll send you cards and letters so you'll know that i'm not dead

By this time in a week i should be far away from home
Trailing fingers through the phospor or asleep in flowers of foam
From macao to acapulco from havana to seville
We'll see monoliths and bridges and the christ up on the hill

An aria with the russians at the piano in the bar
With icefloes through the window we raised glasses to the czar
We squared off on a dockside with a coupled hundred finns
And we dallied in the 'dilly and we stoaked ourselves in gin

Now the only deck i'd want to walk
Are the stalks of corn beneath my feet
And the only sea i want to sail
Is the darkned pond in the scented dusk
Where a kid crouced full of sadness
Lets his boat go drifting out
Into the evening sun

We sailed through constellations and were rutted by the storm
I crumpled under cudgel blows and finally came ashore
I spent the next two years or more just staring at the wall
We went to sea to see the world and what d'you think we saw?

If we turned the table upside down and sailed around the bed
Clamped knives between our teeth and tied bandannas round our heads
With the wainscot our horizon and the ceiling as the sky
You'd not expect that anyone would go and fucking die

At nights we passed the bottle round and drank to our lost friends
We lay alone upon our bunks and prayed that this would end
A wall of moving shadows with rows of swinging keys
We dreamed that whole leviathans lay rotting in the weeds

There's a sound that comes from miles away if you lean your head to hear
A ship's bell rings on board a wreck where the air is still and clear
And up in heaven that means another angel's got his wings
But all below it signifies is a ship's gone in the drink