, dance the days
And dance the nights away

No unconditional surrender, no armistice day
Each night I'll die in my contentment and lie in your grave
While you bring me water and I give you wine
Let me dance in your tea cup and you shall swim in mine

War child, dance the days
And dance the nights away

Open your windows and I'll walk through your doors
Let me live in your country, let me sleep by your shores

War child, dance the days
And dance the nights away
War child, dance the days
And dance the nights away



Queen and country

(Anderson)

The wind is on the river
And the tide has turned too late
So we're sailing for another shore
Where some other ladies wait

To throw us silken whispers
Catch us by the anchor chains
But we all laugh so politely
And we sail on just the same

For queen and the country
In the long dying day
And it's been this way for five long years
Since we signed our souls away

We bring back gold and ivory
Rings of diamonds, strings of pearls
Make presents to the government
So they can have their social whirl

With queen and the country
In the long dying day
And it's been this way for five long years
Since we signed our souls away

For queen and the country
In the long dying day
And it's been this way for five long years
Since we signed our souls away

They build schools and they build factories
With the spoils of battles won
And we remain their pretty sailor boys
Hold our heads up to the gun

Of queen and country
In the long dying day
And it's been this way for five long years
Since we signed our souls away

To queen and country
In the long dying day
And it's been this way for five long years
Since we signed our souls away



Ladies

(Anderson)

Ladies of leisure
With their eyes on the back roads
All looking for strangers
To whom they extend welcomes

With a smile and a glimpse
Of pink knees and elbows
Of satin and velvet
Good ladies, good fortune

Ladies...

They sing of their heroes
Of solitary soldiers
Invested in good health
And manner most charming

Whose favors are numbered
None the less well intended
By hours in a minute
By those ladies who bless them

Ladies...



Back-door angels

(Anderson)

In and out of the front door
Ran twelve back-door angels
Their hair was a golden brown
They didn't see me wink my eye

'Tis said they put we men to sleep
With just a whisper
And touch the heads of dying dogs
And make them linger

They carry their candles high
And they light the dark hours
And sweep all the country clean
With pressed and scented wild flowers

They grow all their roses red
And paint our skies blue
Drop one penny in every second bowl
Make half the beggars lose

Why do the faithful have such a will?
To believe in something
And call it the name they choose
Having chosen nothing

Think I'll sit down and invent some fool
Some Grand Court Jester
And next time the die is cast
He'll throw a six or two

In and out of the back-door
Ran one front-door angel
Her hair was a golden brown
She smiled and I think she winked her eye



Sea lion

(Anderson)

Over the mountains and under the sky
Riding dirty gray horses, go you and I
Mating with chance, copulating with mirth
The sad-glad paymasters for what it's worth

The ice cream castles are refrigerated
The super marketeers are on parade
There's a golden handshake hanging 'round your neck
As you light your cigarette on the burning deck

And you balance your world on the tip of your nose
Like a sea lion with a ball at the carnival

You wear a shiny skin and a funny hat
The Almighty Animal Trainer lets it go at that
You bark ever so slightly at the Trainer's gun
With you whiskers melting in the noon day sun

You flip and you flop under the Big White Top
Where the long legged ring mistress starts and stops
But you know, after all, the act is wearing thin
As the crowd grows uneasy and the boos begin

But you balance your world on the tip of your nose
You're a sea lion with a ball at the carnival

Just a trace of pride upon our fixed grins
For there is no business like the show we're in
There is no reason, no rhyme, no right
To leave the circus 'till we've said goodnight

The same performance in the same old way
It's the same old story to this passion play
So we'll shoot the moon and hope to call the tune
And make no pin cushion of this big balloon

Look how we balance the world on the tips of our noses
Like sea lions with a ball at the carnival



Skating away on the thin ice of the new day

(Anderson)

Meanwhile back in the year one
When you belonged to no one
You didn't stand a chance, son
If your pants were undone

'Cause you were bred for humanity and sold to society
One day you'll wake up in the present day
A million generations removed from expectations
Of being who you really want to be

Skating away
Skating away
Skating away on the thin ice of the new day

So as you push off from the shore, won't you turn your head once more?
And make your peace with everyone
For those who choose to stay will live just one more day
To do the things they should have done

And as you cross the wilderness, spinning in your emptiness
You feel you have to pray
Looking for a sign that the universal mind
Has written you into the passion play

Skating away
Skating away
Skating away on the thin ice of the new day

And as you cross the circle line the ice wall creaks behind
You're a rabbit on the run
And the silver splinters fly in the corner of your eye
Shining in the setting sun

Well, do you ever get the feeling
That the story's too damn real and in the present tense?
Or that everybody's on the stage
And it seems like you're the only person sitting in the audience?

Skating away
Skating away
Skating away on the thin ice of the new day

Skating away
Skating away
Skating away



Bungle in the jungle

(Anderson)

Walking through forests of palm tree apartments
Scoff at the monkeys who live in their dark tents

Down by the waterhole, drunk every friday
Eating their nuts, saving their raisins for sunday
Lions and tigers who wait in the shadows
They're fast but they're lazy and sleep in green meadows

Well, let's bungle in the jungle
Well, that's all right by me
I'm a tiger when I want love
But I'm a snake if we disagree

Just say a word and the boys will be right there
With claws at your back to send a chill through the night air

Is it so frightening to have me at your shoulder?
Thunder and lightning couldn't be bolder
I'll write on your tombstone: "I thank you for dinner!"
This game that we animals play is a winner

Well, let's bungle in the jungle
Well, that's all right by me
I'm a tiger when I want love
But I'm a snake if we disagree

The rivers are full of crocodile nasties
And He, who made kittens, put snakes in the grass

He's a lover of life but a player of pawns
Yes, the King on His sunset lies waiting for dawn
To light up His jungle as play is resumed
The monkeys seem willing to strike up the tune

Well, let's bungle in the jungle
Well, that's all right by me
I'm a tiger when I want love
But I'm a snake if we disagree



Only solitaire

(Anderson)

Brain storming, habit forming, battle warning weary
Winsome actor spewing spineless chilling lines
The critics falling over to tell themselves he's boring
And really not an awful lot of fun

Well, who the hell can he be when he's never had V.D.?
And he doesn't even sit on toilet seats
Court jesting, never resting, he must be very cunning
To assume an air of dignity

And bless us all with his oratory prowess
His lame brained antics and his jumping in the air
And every night his act's the same
And so it must be all a game of chess he's playing

"But you're wrong, Steve
You see, it's only solitaire..."



The third hoorah

(Anderson)

Hoorah!

War child, dance the days and nights away
Sweet child, how do you do today?
War child, dance the days and nights away
Sweet child, how do you do today?

When your back's to the wall and your luck is your all
Then side with whoever you may
Seek that which within lies waiting to begin
The fight of your life that is everyday

Dance with the war child
The war child, hoorah!
Dance with the war child
The war child, hoorah!

War child, dance the days and nights away
Sweet child, how do you do today?
War child, dance the days and nights away
Sweet child, how do you do today?

In the heart of your heart there's the tiniest part
Of an urge to live to the death
With a sword on your hip and a cry on your lips
To strike life in the inner child's breast

Dance with the war child
The war child, hoorah!
Dance with the war child
The war child, hoorah!

War child, dance the days and nights away
Sweet child, how do you do today?
War child, dance the days and nights away
Sweet child, how do you do today?



Two fingers

(Anderson)

I'll see you at the Weighing-In
When your life's sum-total's made

I'll see you at the Weighing-In
When your life's sum-total's made
And you set your wealth in goodly deeds
Against the sins you've laid

And you place your final burden
On your hard pressed next of kin
Send the chamber pot back down the line
To be filled up again

And the hard-headed miracle worker
Who bathes his hands in blood
Will welcome you to the final nod
And cover you with mud

And he'll say: "You really should make the deal"
As he offers round the hat
"Well, you'd better lick two fingers clean
He'll thank you all for that"

As you slip on the greasy platform
And you land upon your back
You make a wish and you wipe your nose
Upon the railway track

While the high-strung locomotive
With furnace burning bright
Lumbers on you wave goodbye
And the sparks fade into night

And as you join the Good Ship Earth
And you mingle with the dust
You'd better leave your underpants
With someone you can trust

And when the old man with the telescope
Cuts the final strand
You'd better lick two fingers clean
Before you shake his hand