Birdland lyrics

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 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 arm

And he started to drift, drift to the belly of a ship

Let the ship slide open, and he went inside of it

And saw his daddy 'hind the control board streamin' beads of light

He saw his daddy 'hind 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

No black funeral cars, 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're not human, you are not human.”

But nobody heard the boy's cry of alarm

Nobody there 'cept 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 I am not human.”

I am helium raven and this movie is mine

So 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

And won't let up, won't let up and I see them coming in

Oh, I couldn't hear them before, but I hear 'em 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 waitin' for you, please take me up

Don't leave me here!”

The son, the sign, the cross

Like the shape of a tortured woman, the true shape of a tortured woman

The mother standing in the doorway letting her sons

No longer presidents but prophets

They're all dreaming they're gonna bear the prophet

He's gonna run through the fields dreaming in animation

It's all gonna split his skull

It's gonna come out like a black bouquet shining

Like a fist that's gonna shoot them up

Like light, like Mohammed Boxer

Take them up up up up up up

Oh, let's go up, up, take me up, I'll go up

I'm going up, I'm going up

Take me up, I'm going up, I'll go up there

Go up go up go up go up up up up up up up

Up, up to the belly of a ship

Let the ship slide open and we'll go inside of it

Where we are not human, we're not human

Well, there was sand, there were tiles

The sun had melted the sand and it coagulated

Like a river of glass

When it hardened he looked at the surface

He saw his face

And where there were eyes were just two white opals, two white opals

Where there were eyes there were just two white opals

And he looked up and the rays shot

And he saw raven comin' in

And he crawled on his back and he went up

Up up up up up up

Sha da do wop, da shaman do way, sha da do wop, da shaman do way

Sha da do wop, da shaman do way, sha da do wop, da shaman do way

Sha da do wop, da shaman do way

We like birdland

• Artist:Patti Smith
• Album:Horses (1975)