Patti Smith — Birdland - Recorded At Electric Lady Studios

(Patti--spoken:) This song is called Birdland and it was recorded here at Electric Lady Studios in 1975 on our first album Horses. 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 as 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 arms And he started to drift, drift, drift to the belly of a ship Let the ship slide open, and he went inside of it And saw his daddy behind the control board Streaming beads of light He saw his daddy behind 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 There were no black funeral cars, there was 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 are not human, you are not human But nobody heard the boy's cry of alarm Nobody, nobody there except 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 you are not not human. I am not human I am helium raven and this movie is mine So he raged and he cried, 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, night and day It won't let up, it won't let up, but I just--I just--I-- I couldn't hear them before, but I hear them 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 Waiting for you, please take me up, don't leave me here The son, the sign, the sign of a tortured woman The sign of a tortured woman like the shape of the cross A tortured woman like the--like the mother standing in the doorway letting her sons, no longer presidents no more presidents in this world, this corrupt world, but prophets, a new kind of prophet They're gonna run through the halls, they're gonna run through the fields They're gonna be dreaming in animation, they're gonna be dreaming in animation And it's gonna--it's all gonna split his skull And it's gonna shoot them up like black bouquets Like Mohammed Boxer, and they'll go up, they'll take them up Oh I'll go up, take me up, I'll go up, I'll go up, take me up, take me up Take me up up up up up up up Up, up to the belly of a ship. Let the ship slide open I'll go inside of it where we are not human. We're not human. The sun, the sun shown and all it's tremendous heat over the desert melted the sands, melted them, a river of glass had hardened into a mirror where he saw everything just a little bit too clearly and where there were two eyes he saw two white opals, where there were eyes two white opals and he saw it all rise and he laid back in the field and he went up up up up up up up up up Sha da do wop shaman do way sha da do wop shaman do way We like birdland