Birdland
His father died and left him a little farm in New EnglandAll the long black funeral cars left the sceneAnd the boy was just standing there aloneLooking at the shiny red tractorHim and his daddy used to sit insideAnd circle the blue fields and grease the nightIt was if someone had spread butter on all the fine points of the starsCause when he looked up they started to slipThen he put his head in the crux of his armAnd he started to drift, drift to the belly of a shipLet the ship slide open, and he went inside of itAnd saw his daddy 'hind the control board streamin' beads of lightHe saw his daddy 'hind the control boardAnd he was very different tonightCause he was not human, he was not human
Little boy's face lit up with such naked joyThat the sun burned around his lids and his eyes were like two sunsWhite lids, white opals, seeing everything just a little bit too clearlyAnd he looked around and there was no black ship in sightNo black funeral cars, nothing except for him, the ravenAnd fell on his knees and looked up and cried out“No, daddy, don't leave me here aloneTake me up, daddy, to the belly of your shipLet the ship slide open and I'll go inside of itWhere you're not human, you are not human.”
But nobody heard the boy's cry of alarmNobody there 'cept for the birds around the New England farmAnd they gathered in all directions, like roses they scatteredAnd they were like compass grass coming together into the head of a shaman bouquetSlit in his nose and all the others went shootingAnd he saw the lights of traffic beckoning like the hands of BlakeGrabbing at his cheeks, taking out his neckAll his limbs, everything was twisted and he said“I won't give up, won't give up, don't let me give upI won't give up, come here, let me go up fastTake me up quick, take me up, up to the belly of a shipAnd the ship slides open and I go inside of it where I am not human.”
I am helium raven and this movie is mineSo he cried out as he stretched the skyPushing it all out like latex cartoon, am I all alone in this generation?We'll just be dreaming of animation night and dayAnd won't let up, won't let up and I see them coming inOh, I couldn't hear them before, but I hear 'em nowIt's a radar scope in all silver and all platinum lightsMoving in like black ships, they were moving in, streams of themAnd he put up his hands and he said, “It's me, it's meI'll give you my eyes, take me up, oh now please take me upI'm helium raven waitin' for you, please take me upDon't leave me here!”The son, the sign, the crossLike the shape of a tortured woman, the true shape of a tortured womanThe mother standing in the doorway letting her sonsNo longer presidents but prophetsThey're all dreaming they're gonna bear the prophetHe's gonna run through the fields dreaming in animationIt's all gonna split his skullIt's gonna come out like a black bouquet shiningLike a fist that's gonna shoot them upLike light, like Mohammed BoxerTake them up up up up up upOh, let's go up, up, take me up, I'll go upI'm going up, I'm going upTake me up, I'm going up, I'll go up thereGo up go up go up go up up up up up up upUp, up to the belly of a shipLet the ship slide open and we'll go inside of itWhere we are not human, we're not human
Well, there was sand, there were tilesThe sun had melted the sand and it coagulatedLike a river of glassWhen it hardened he looked at the surfaceHe saw his faceAnd where there were eyes were just two white opals, two white opalsWhere there were eyes there were just two white opalsAnd he looked up and the rays shotAnd he saw raven comin' inAnd he crawled on his back and he went upUp up up up up upSha da do wop, da shaman do way, sha da do wop, da shaman do waySha da do wop, da shaman do way, sha da do wop, da shaman do waySha da do wop, da shaman do wayWe like birdland