Liquid Acrobat As Regards the Air
 
Talking of the End
By Robin Williamson
 
Robin: oud, violin, guitar, lead vocal, whistle, cymbals
Heron: organ, sitar, vocals
Likky: harmonium, organ, vocals, small hand drums
Malcolm: harpsichord, vocals, hand drums
Stan Lee: pedal steel guitar
 
talking of the end
talking of the end
let me hear you say you disagree
talking of the end
talking of the end
let me hear you say it will not be
 
this is no time for easy riding
this is no time to cry
better start to play your part
start to live before you start to die
 
dream the world all alive
busily conspiring humming like a hive
dream the world all alive
I dream it as me
rise as fair and tender leaves
brightening in countless eyes
and the sweet song of whales beneath the sea
 
if I could sing only one song I'd sing of you
 
 
Dear Old Battlefield
By Robin Williamson
 
Robin: rhythm guitar, vocals
Heron: lead guitar
Likky: organ, vocals
Malcolm: bass
Gerry Conway: drums
 
just another rusty brother
seeing his old role replayed
looking in the world like a broken mirror
seeing his old face displayed
they come and go, come and go
why do you advertise goodbye
living a lie will lay you low, what can I tell you, what can I sell you
but the truth will make you high
 
death is unreal that's the way I feel
there's more to be revealed
lovers and friends meet again and again
on the dear old battlefield
 
I will see my memory lightly let me go
I know that we will always be but time pass fast and slow
agelong cradlesong almost had me sleeping for good
if not for the plan of the magic man who finally helped me out of the wood.
 
 
Cosmic Boy
Lyrics by McKechnie, music by Mike Heron
 
Likky: vocals
Heron: piano
 
I'm calling to you
my cosmic boy
for I want to say hello
and I see you smile
your shining joy
ah you look so high
you look so high
 
and I shall dance for you
the sweetest dance that I can do
yes I shall dance the sweetest dance I can
 
ah you're looking so fine now
al soft-eyed and shiney
and when you look how you are
I'm so proud you are a friend of mine
 
and I shall dance for you
the sweetest dance that I can do
yes I shall dance the sweetest dance I can
all along the soft pink clouds yes
on the rolling clouds endless
 
 
Worlds They Rise and Fall
By Mike Heron
 
Heron: harmonium, guitars, bass, piano, vocals
Robin: cello, oboe, violin
 
worlds they rise and fall within her eyes
she gives the eagle wings
to fly her skies
upon her breath the four worlds live and die
and sometimes
its all I can do is bow to her
 
chorus:
but when the moon is misty through the trees
right now she says I want to be
your girl, your little girl
 
stars they rise and fade, around her dance
for her the steep is climbed
the gulf is spanned
she lives, she lives, the bards sing, around her stand
and sometimes
its all I can do is bow to her
 
chorus:
 
 
Evolution Rag
By Robin Williamson
 
Robin: mandolin, kazoo, vocals
Heron: organ
Likky: bass, kazoo
Malcolm: kazoo, vocals, swansee whistle, percussion
 
we're the fish men or the sea apes
look at our tails and scales
and out big tough leader away he wails
he thinks he is the king pin but he's outraced
by the little weedy stranger with the grin on his face
but that is the illusionist the circus man
and the whole man murdering sea is his caravan (it leaks)
 
eat air croquettes my children dear
if you want to save yourself time and tears
history picnickers follow me
evolution up the slopes of the sea
 
out on the land out on the land singing hurray
while a million years pass by and we get well on out way
grandma clears the trash left by previous picnic slaves
and with just one swipe of her ragged fins she uncovers the caves
singing billy go store the map safely underground
he does but what is this that he has found
 
the map has gone how will we grow old
grandma's tears made the barbecue cold
I fing myself saying here's where I came in
the illusionist has vanished like a red hot gin
 
 
Painted Chariot
By Mike Heron
 
Heron: guitar, lead vocal
Robin: bass, oboe, vocals
Likky: organ vocals
Malcolm: mandolin, vocals
Gerry Conway: drums
 
only a painted chariot but it took you so far into the rain
and the coachman slapped his fist
on the chariot in the mist
he said look here sonny, can't you see its as real as pain
see this fine chariot, won't you ride it
I'm the coachman, won't you trust me to guide it
and it's only a painted chariot
 
don't you trust that coachman
he doesn't want you to be free
 
then you got high, deep sigh, much more, where's the door
 
hear the old prayers, find the wise players
 
 
Adam and Eve
By Robin Williamson
 
Robin: percussion, electric guitar, lead vocal
Heron: electric piano, vocals
Likky: clashers, vocals
Malcolm: vocals, whistle
Stan Lee: bass
Gerry Conway: drums
 
once before the world began
God was sitting in the sky
he began to get some mud together
o I wonder why
 
first he made a man
and then he made a woman
mr. Adam and miss Eve
they began to be quite good friends
as I can well believe
 
o remember that morning
remember that time
take a warning
when you see the sign
 
Eve was sitting in the garden
when in came a serpent
miss Eve take this apple
give it to your man
give it to your man
I don't want it
o Adam give it a try
o give it a try
 
friends if you're travelling
never go taking an apple from a snake
if you do I'll tell you true
you make a big mistake
 
 
Red Hair
By Mike Heron
 
Heron: guitar, piano, harmonium, vocals
Robin: cello
Likky: pipe organ
 
stepping out of the grey day she came
her red hair falling like the sky
love held them there in that moment with the whole world passing by
 
he could look through all of his books
and not find a line that would do
to tell of changes he could feel her make in him
just by being there
 
so good just to walk in the light
may the moon shine down on love every night
sometimes it seems the only things real
are what we are and what we feel
 
 
Here Till Here Is There
By Robin Williamson
 
Robin: bass recorder, vocals
Heron: flute
Likky: vocals
Malcolm: tenor recorder
 
where will you go
when days grow short and winds grow cold
and green leaves are shaken
there was a road as once I saw
wound with bright ivies and trumpeting haws
of whitest sand embroidered with flowers
that very few had taken
 
where will you go
while rivers run and days eat days
and white stars are pining
in hopes more true in hearts more gay
in love that is stronger and brighter that day
in hands that heal in thoughts that play
in all eyes shining
 
why do we talk of go and stay?
we will all be here til here is there
 
 
Tree
By Mike Heron
 
Heron: piano, vocals
Robin: mandolin, vocals
Likky: tambourine, vocals
Malcolm: bazouki
 
I had a tree
in the dream hills where my childhood lay
and I'd go there in the wide long days
and my tree would listen to all that I'd say
and the sun was shinging brightly and the sky was smiling
 
then one day when the world had put me in its tomb
and my life was just an empty room
I went to my tree and I sat there in my gloom
and the light was fading dimly and the sky ws crying
 
then my tree bent its branches low down to the ground
and its green leaves shrouded up my mind
and I left the world somewhere behind
and I didn not know what I would find
and the sun was shining brightly and the sky was smiling
 
 
Darling Belle
By Robin Williamson
 
Likky: vocals
Robin: guitar, oboe, flute, banjo, string arrangements, vocals
Heron: bass, piano, vocals
Malcolm: glockenspiel, harmonica, clarinet, church organ, vocals
 
papa would take me to the park to see the swans
by hansom cab trotting so high
holding his hand to see the swans
hissing louder than rustling dresses of gracious ladies bustling by
 
see swan ships come sailing in
white as the clouds on a windy day
 
James I suppose would be in school
James I suppose would be in school
 
I was I was learning to spell
laughing at loud smells
avoiding the rod of the codfaced master
was it your absence made me quiet at noon
playing british bulldogs on the gravel
was it your presence coloured my dream
I burrowed in cupboards like a mole all saturday
under old chairs and old ladies knees
I framed your half remembered face
with frail white embroideries
calling for you down the mousey garden
calling for you down the mousey garden
 
o did you meet him at the ball
eighteen years on
tall soldier now and you full grown
Belle did you meet him at the ball
 
o do you remember me
thin girl with cold hands
you in your scarlet and you knew my name
step to the veranda under the wisteria
in the mysterious november
dancing as if with death or fate
to the moon black ballroom
of the silk skinned lake
kissing me you lifted my skirt
under the willow trees
 
keep the home fires burning
though your heart is yearning
though the boys are far away
they dream of home
there's a silver lining
in the dark clouds shining
turn that lining inside out
till the boys come home
 
o did I see you march to the train
did I cry was my nose red
my two day bride can you feel me in your memory
I will be the redness in your iron fire
how could i write
my words would seem sad or gay
we regret to inform you
we regret to inform you
 
meet me by gaslight in the dark dawn
on waterloo bridge we will walk arm in arm
hearing the leaves fall with whisper into the foggy dew
when we are dead
when we are dead
 
now she sits in her brother's window's house
skin like a lizard aura like a daffodil
migrant guest from relative to inlaw
she stares into the embers and remembers
 

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