His father died and left him a little farm in New England.
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All the long black funeral cars left the scene
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And the boy was just standing there alone
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Looking at the shiny red tractor
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Him and his daddy used to sit inside
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And circle the blue fields and grease the night.
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It was if someone had spread butter on all the fine points of the stars
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'Cause when he looked up they started to slip.
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Then he put his head in the crux of his arm
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And he started to drift, drift to the belly of a ship,
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Let the ship slide open, and he went inside of it
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And saw his daddy 'hind the control board streamin' beads of light,
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He saw his daddy 'hind the control board,
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And he was very different tonight
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'Cause he was not human, he was not human.
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And then the little boy's face lit up with such naked joy
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That the sun burned around his lids and his eyes were like two suns,
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White lids, white opals, seeing everything just a little bit too clearly
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And he looked around and there was no black ship in sight,
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No black funeral cars, nothing except for him the raven
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And fell on his knees and looked up and cried out,
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밡o, daddy, don't leave me here alone,
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Take me up, daddy, to the belly of your ship,
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Let the ship slide open and I'll go inside of it
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Where you're not human, you are not human.?
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But nobody heard the boy's cry of alarm.
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Nobody there 'cept for the birds around the New England farm
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And they gathered in all directions, like roses they scattered
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And they were like compass grass coming together into the head of a shaman bouquet
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Slit in his nose and all the others went shooting
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And he saw the lights of traffic beckoning like the hands of Blake
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Grabbing at his cheeks, taking out his neck,
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All his limbs, everything was twisted and he said,
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밒 won't give up, won't give up, don't let me give up,
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I won't give up, come here, let me go up fast,
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Take me up quick, take me up, up to the belly of a ship
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And the ship slides open and I go inside of it where I am not human.?
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I am helium raven and this movie is mine,
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So he cried out as he stretched the sky,
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Pushing it all out like latex cartoon, am I all alone in this generation ?
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We'll just be dreaming of animation night and day
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And won't let up, won't let up and I see them coming in,
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Oh, I couldn't hear them before, but I hear 'em now,
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It's a radar scope in all silver and all platinum lights
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Moving in like black ships, they were moving in, streams of them,
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And he put up his hands and he said, 밒t's me, it's me,
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I'll give you my eyes, take me up, oh now please take me up,
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I'm helium raven waitin' for you, please take me up,
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Don't let me here,?the son, the sign, the cross,
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Like the shape of a tortured woman, the true shape of a tortured woman,
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The mother standing in the doorway letting her sons
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No longer presidents but prophets
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They're all dreaming they're gonna bear the prophet,
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He's gonna run through the fields dreaming in animation
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It's all gonna split his skull
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It's gonna come out like a black bouquet shining
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Like a fist that's gonna shoot them up
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Like light, like Mohammed Boxer
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Take them up up up up up up
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Oh, let's go up, up, take me up, I'll go up,
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I'm going up, I'm going up
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Take me up, I'm going up, I'll go up there
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Go up go up go up go up up up up up up up
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Up, up to the belly of a ship.
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Let the ship slide open and we'll go inside of it
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Where we are not human, we're not human.
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Well, there was sand, there were tiles,
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The sun had melted the sand and it coagulated
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Like a river of glass
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When it hardened he looked at the surface
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He saw his face
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And where there were eyes were just two white opals, two white opals,
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Where there were eyes there were just two white opals
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And he looked up and the rays shot
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And he saw raven comin' in
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And he crawled on his back and he went up
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Up up up up up up
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Sha da do wop, da shaman do way, sha da do wop, da shaman do way,
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Sha da do wop, da shaman do way, sha da do wop, da shaman do way,
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Sha da do wop, da shaman do way,
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We like birdland.
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-----------------
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Birdland
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| Patti Smith |
