Gary Brooker Album

(Brooker)

I keep rolling like a wagon wheel
What keeps me going are these nerves of steel
And two good hands to keep me clothed and fed
A pair of feet to stagger to my bed
A heart of gold and fists of iron
A tongue of silver that's bought me time

Well I'm a mineral man
stuck here in the can
till I oxidise
Well I'm a guest of the State,
I'll sit here and wait
'cos I'm subsidised

When I'm moving like a ton of lead
There's nothing stops me on the road ahead
My skin is bronzed from my head to my toes
people looking everywhere I go
A heart of gold and fists of iron
a tongue of silver for to spin some line

Well I'm a mineral man
stuck here in the can
till I oxidise
Well I'm a guest of the State,
I'll sit here and wait
till I'm let outside

(Brooker)

My temper's boiling like a thermal mire
My heart is burning like a forest fire for you
Sticking pins all over my effigy
The pain's no worse than the witch's heart you left with me
How can you fail to see my point of view
Or are your eyes a bitch's brew?
At first I thought you came from paradise
then you split my world in two, but I love you

So tell me it another way
listen what I have to say
Don't leave me for another day
Tell me that you're here to stay

There's something odd about the way I fell
Could it be those potions that you mixed up Oh so well?
You spin your web but like a spider's mate
I served your purpose but for me it's not too late
You cut me deep but hat is how I learned
You're just my cup of gruel
Familiar faces that you left with me
Are they meant to be so cruel? 'Cos I live you

So tell me it another way
listen what I have to say
Don't leave me for another day
Tell me that you're here to stay
That's all the words you have to say
Tell me it another way

(Brooker)

A quiet night here in my home
Was interrupted by the 'phone
The caller said he'd got my name
from someone found out in the rain
'You've got it wrong, it can't be me.
Who could I know? I'll come and see.'

Her clothes were wet, her body hurt
Her face was white and smeared with dirt
They saw her floating from the wreck
Clutching something round her neck
That's when I knew that it was you
What could I say? What could I do?

Hang on Rose
Help is round the corner
Hang on Rose
It's not your time to go
I read your note
I'm running to your rescue
Hang on Rose
There's something you should know

A quiet night here by my fire
Becomes a turning-point in life
I've made it up, I'm by your side
My sight was blinded by your eyes

Hang on Rose
Help is round the corner
Hang on Rose
It's not your time to go
I read your note
I'm running to your rescue
Hang on Rose
There's something you should know

What can I say, What can I do?
Can't stand to lose someone like you.
I'm with you

(Brooker)

Don't you worry if you find me blue
There's not a single thing that you can do
I'm just thinking of the days I had with Mama
Don't you worry 'bout the goodnight kiss
I won't remember all the nights you missed
I couldn't go back through it all again, Mama

Well as a boy I liked to fool around
I never had my feet down on the ground
But I loved my Mama, I loved my Papa,
I loved my sister and my little baby brother
I was quite a good boy at school
I had my fun but I was nobody's fool
Yes, I had some good times, I had some bad times
What's it matter when you've got somewhere to run for

Home loving
Costs you nothing
Home loving
Saves you suffering

Don't you worry 'bout the things you said
Have no regrets about the life you lead
Don't be concerned about the tears I shed, Mama
I can live here with a broken heart
Don't be upset 'cos we've been apart
I can forgive if you forget the past, Mama

Now I'm having fun with all my friends
I bring them home and you are there again
Yes I love my Mama, love my Papa
I love my sister and my big bad brother

Now I'm a man and I know what went wrong
We learnt our lesson and it's in this song, we need
Home loving
Costs us nothing
Home loving
Saves you suffering
Home loving It must mean something
to share your fun with your own sweet brethren
Home loving
Costs you nothing
Home loving
Saves you suffering

Don't you worry if you find me crying
Don't be upset about how much you're trying
So I'll admit my love for someone else now, Mama

I've got some home loving

(Brooker)

Rain is falling all around
It seeps into the ground and it flows
let it grow, let it grow

Streams by water filled
Feed rivers, turning mills and it grows
let it flow, let it flow

Raindrops are tears falling from Heaven
I've seen the mist rise up from the Severn
The chain is complete, the cycle not broken
Teardrops are rain that say more than any words spoken

Wheat and barleycorn
by help of moisture born, our food
Let it grow, let it grow

Usk or the Wye, it doesn't bother me
Sea, river, lake, as long as they're close and free
Ask me why? Water's a part of me
I'm even-tenths wet! Yes all but a third of me's Water
Water {Severn, Usk and Wye are rivers in the south-west of England}

Dark and thund'ry skies
Cloud our eyes: that's how it goes

Let it flow, let it flow
Let it grow, Let it grow
Let it flow, let it flow.

(Brooker)

Take me by the hand
Lead me to the water
I will be your lamb
Heading for the slaughter

I've been away from home too long
But I still taste the tears
And when I'm in some stranger's arms
I still feel you near

Now if they ask me how I feel
I smile and say 'Just fine!'
But deep inside this lonely heart
I know you're still mine

Take me by the hand
Lead me from the fire
We'll fly up from this land
We're going to get higher

So this is where the end begins
The parting of the ways
Somebody's calling me up there
I hear it in the waves

Take me by the hand
Lead me to the water
I will be your lamb
I'm ready for the slaughter

Take me by the hand
Lead me from the fire
We'll fly up from this land
I'm dying to get higher

(Brooker)

The search is over, the battle done
The fish is beaten, the angler's won
But simple stories make longer tales
No consolation if he had failed

Through wind and desert, Blackberry Hole
Coyote and rattler had made him old
No it ain't easy, it's on the borderline
Between health and madness, the way he bides his time

Fin to fin in every log-jam
This is where they lie
The Deschutes is hot, the bottom's black
They're eye-to-eye
My oh my what fun to be on your own

Down foaming rapids into the deep black hole
Through thorns and rockslides for to reach his goal
And golden chances, he let them slip away
Or was he waiting for the Judgement Day?

They really nailed 'em on the deadline
This is where they lie
Where the water's fast, the current's strong, their eye-to-eye
My oh my what fun to be on your own

But on the thirteenth morning when the sun was high
he tricked that steelhead and saw the line go tight
Two spirits fighting, two creatures bold
Bad luck and trouble had finally lost their hold

Fin to fin in every log-jam
This is where they lie
The Deschutes is hot, the bottom's black
They're eye-to-eye
I see why he spend his time on his own

(Brooker)

Black suspenders and high-heeled walk
A painted mouth that says it wants to talk
The offer's made and it's hard to miss
but bear in mind that you're running a risk with those

Low flying birds
I wouldn't shoot at 'em
Low fling birds
they're far too dangerous

A tight sweater that tell it all
Just like a trophy hanging on the wall
The scented hair that leaves a trail behind
something to follow if you don't mind those

Low flying birds
I wouldn't shoot at 'em
Low fling birds
they're far too dangerous
Low flying birds
What would you do with them
Low flying birds
You'd only ruin them

The tightest denim that Levi's make
Slowly peeling to reveal the shape
The blackest hair that's just been done
With make-up looking like a sticky bun, and they're

Low flying birds ...
in black suspenders
Low flying birds
in tight sweaters ...

(Brooker)

Called up to Camberley in '39
To play his part on the French front line
He was full of hope, overflowing with tears
He'd been on the earth barely nineteen years
but he was willing

Sailed across the Channel for to meet his foe
Marched from Le Havre to Forge-les-Eaux
There were sounds of battle that assailed his ears
They moved that night with the taste of fear
to the killing

Got dug down in Deauville
His young life on the line
Had time to think about her
His first love he'd left behind

The battle lost
at heavy cost
To life and limb
but not for him
He was caught
and marched away
to darker days
a prisoner

He walked to Poland
with thousands of others
Their common plight
would make them brothers
For years of cold and fear
and lonely tears
for four long years
The Allies came
to liberate
They found him in rags
In a pitiful state
But alive
Taken at the very start
Not freed until the last

Lest we forget the sacrifice
That young men make for what seems right
We lose them
confuse them
abuse them

Young rose waiting on the English shore
To hold her boy, now a man of twenty-four
Hard of hearing, no feeling
What do we know of pain and healing?
Hard of hearing, hard of hearing.