JETHRO TULL - Thick As A Brick lyrics

rate me

Really don't mind if you sit this one out.<br>My words but a whisper -- your deafness a shout.<br>I may make you feel but I can't make you think.<br>Your sperm's in the gutter -- your love's in the sink.<br>So you ride yourselves over the fields and<br>You make all your animal deals and<br>Your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick.<br>And the sand-castle virtues are all swept away in<br>The tidal destruction<br>The moral melee.<br>The elastic retreat rings the close of play as the last wave uncovers<br>The newfangled way.<br>But your new shoes are worn at the heels and<br>Your suntan does rapidly peel and<br>Your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick.<br><br>And the love that I feel is so far away:<br>I'm a bad dream that I just had today -- and you<br>Shake your head and<br>Say it's a shame.<br><br>Spin me back down the years and the days of my youth.<br>Draw the lace and black curtains and shut out the whole truth.<br>Spin me down the long ages: let them sing the song.<br><br>See there! a son is born -- and we pronounce him fit to fight.<br>There are black-heads on his shoulders, and he pees himself in the night.<br>We'll<br>Make a man of him<br>Put him to trade<br>Teach him<br>To play monopoly and<br>To sing in the rain.<br><br>The poet and the painter casting shadows on the water --<br>As the sun plays on the infantry returning from the sea.<br>The do-er and the thinker: no allowance for the other --<br>As the failing light illuminates the mercenary's creed.<br>The home fire burning: the kettle almost boiling --<br>But the master of the house is far away.<br>The horses stamping -- their warm breath clouding<br>In the sharp and frosty morning of the day.<br>And the poet lifts his pen while the soldier sheaths his sword.<br><br>And the youngest of the family is moving with authority.<br>Building castles by the sea, he dares the tardy tide to wash them all aside.<br><br>The cattle quietly grazing at the grass down by the river<br>Where the swelling mountain water moves onward to the sea:<br>The builder of the castles renews the age-old purpose<br>And contemplates the milking girl whose offer is his need.<br>The young men of the household have<br>All gone into service and<br>Are not to be expected for a year.<br>The innocent young master -- thoughts moving ever faster --<br>Has formed the plan to change the man he seems.<br>And the poet sheaths his pen while the soldier lifts his sword.<br><br>And the oldest of the family is moving with authority.<br>Coming from across the sea, he challenges the son who puts him to the run.<br><br>What do you do when<br>The old man's gone -- do you want to be him? and<br>Your real self sings the song.<br>Do you want to free him? <br>No one to help you get up steam --<br>And the whirlpool turns you `way off-beam.<br><br>Later.<br>I've come down from the upper class to mend your rotten ways.<br>My father was a man-of-power whom everyone obeyed.<br>So come on all you criminals!<br>I've got to put you straight just like I did with my old man --<br>Twenty years too late.<br>Your bread and water's going cold.<br>Your hair is too short and neat.<br>I'll judge you all and make damn sure that no-one judges me.<br><br>You curl your toes in fun as you smile at everyone -- you meet the stares.<br>You're unaware that your doings aren't done.<br>And you laugh most ruthlessly as you tell us what not to be.<br>But how are we supposed to see where we should run? <br>I see you shuffle in the courtroom with<br>Your rings upon your fingers and<br>Your downy little sidies and<br>Your silver-buckle shoes.<br>Playing at the hard case, you follow the example of the comic-paper idol<br>Who lets you bend the rules.<br><br>So!<br>Come on ye childhood heroes!<br>Won't you rise up from the pages of your comic-books<br>Your super crooks<br>And show us all the way.<br>Well! make your will and testament. won't you? <br>Join your local government.<br>We'll have superman for president<br>Let robin save the day.<br><br>You put your bet on number one and it comes up every time.<br>The other kids have all backed down and they put you first in line.<br>And so you finally ask yourself just how big you are --<br>And take your place in a wiser world of bigger motor cars.<br>And you wonder who to call on.<br><br>So! where the hell was biggles when you needed him last saturday? <br>And where were all the sportsmen who always pulled you though? <br>They're all resting down in cornwall --<br>Writing up their memoirs for a paper-back edition<br>Of the boy scout manual.<br><br>Later.<br>See there! a man born -- and we pronounce him fit for peace.<br>There's a load lifted from his shoulders with the discovery of his disease.<br>We'll<br>Take the child from him<br>Put it to the test<br>Teach it<br>To be a wise man<br>How to fool the rest.<br><br>Quote<br>We will be geared to the average rather than the exceptional<br>God is an overwhelming responsibility<br>We walked through the maternity ward and saw 218 babies wearing nylons<br>Cats are on the upgrade<br>Upgrade? hipgrave. oh, mac.<br><br>Later<br>In the clear white circles of morning wonder,<br>I take my place with the lord of the hills.<br>And the blue-eyed soldiers stand slightly discoloured (in neat little rows)<br>Sporting canvas frills.<br>With their jock-straps pinching, they slouch to attention,<br>While queueing for sarnies at the office canteen.<br>Saying -- how's your granny and<br>Good old ernie: he coughed up a tenner on a premium bond win.<br>The legends (worded in the ancient tribal hymn) lie cradled<br>In the seagull's call.<br>And all the promises they made are ground beneath the sadist's fall.<br>The poet and the wise man stand behind the gun,<br>And signal for the crack of dawn.<br>Light the sun.<br><br>Do you believe in the day? do you? <br>Believe in the day! the dawn creation of the kings has begun.<br>Soft venus (lonely maiden) brings the ageless one.<br>Do you believe in the day? <br>The fading hero has returned to the night -- and fully pregnant with the day,<br>Wise men endorse the poet's sight.<br>Do you believe in the day? do you? believe in the day!<br><br>Let me tell you the tales of your life of<br>Your love and the cut of the knife<br>The tireless oppression<br>The wisdom instilled<br>The desire to kill or be killed.<br>Let me sing of the losers who lie in the street as the last bus goes by.<br>The pavements ar empty: the gutters run red -- while the fool<br>Toasts his God in the sky.<br><br>So come all ye young men who are building castles!<br>Kindly state the time of the year and join your voices in a hellish chorus.<br>Mark the precise nature of your fear.<br>Let me help you pick up your dead as the sins of the father are fed<br>With<br>The blood of the fools and<br>The thoughts of the wise and<br>From the pan under your bed.<br>Let me make you a present of song as<br>The wise man breaks wind and is gone while<br>The fool with the hour-glass is cooking his goose and<br>The nursery rhyme winds along.<br><br>So! come all ye young men who are building castles!<br>Kindly state the time of the year and join your voices in a hellish chorus.<br>Mark the precise nature of your fear.<br>See! the summer lightning casts it's bolts upon you<br>And the hour of judgement draweth near.<br>Would you be<br>The fool stood in his suit of armour or<br>The wiser man who rushes clear.<br>So! come on ye childhood heroes!<br>Won't your rise up from the pages of your comic-books<br>Your super-crooks and<br>Show us all the way.<br>Well! make your will and testament.<br>Won't you? join your local government.<br>We'll have superman for president<br>Let robin save the day.<br>So! where the hell was biggles when you needed him last saturday? <br>And where were all the sportsmen who always pulled you through? <br>They're all resting down in cornwall -- writing up their memoirs<br>For a paper-back edition of the boy scout manual.<br><br>Of course<br>So you ride yourselves over the fields and<br>You make all your animal deals and<br>Your wise men don't know how it feels to be thick as a brick.