GABRIEL, Peter

Solsbury Hill

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill

I could see the city light

Wind was blowing, time stood still

Eagle flew out of the night

He was something to observe

Came in close, I heard a voice

Standing stretching every nerve

I had to listen, had no choice

I did not believe the information

Just had to trust imagination

My heart going boom, boom, boom

"Son," he said

"Grab your things, I've come to take you home"

Hey, back home

To keep in silence I resigned

My friends would think I was a nut

Turning water into wine

Open doors would soon be shut

So I went from day to day

Though my life was in a rut

'Til I thought of what I'd say

Which connection I should cut

See upcoming rock shows

Get tickets for your favorite artists

I was feeling part of the scenery

I walked right out of the machinery

My heart going boom, boom, boom

"Hey," he said

"Grab your things, I've come to take you home"

Hey, back home

When illusions spin her net

I'm never where I want to be

And liberty she pirouette

When I think that I am free

Watched by empty silhouettes

Who close their eyes but still can see

No one taught them etiquette

I will show another me

Today I don't need a replacement

I'll tell them what the smile on my face meant

My heart going boom, boom, boom

"Hey," I said

"You can keep my things, they've come to take me home"

Sledgehammer

Hey, hey, you there

Tell me how have you been?

You could have a steam train

If you'd just lay down your tracks

You could have an aeroplane flying

If you bring your blue sky back

All you do is call me

I'll be anything you need

You could have a big dipper

Going up and down, all around the bends

You could have a bumper car, bumping

This amusement never ends

I wanna be your sledgehammer

Why don't you call my name?

Ah oh, let me be your sledgehammer

This will be my testimony

Show me 'round your fruit cage

'Cause I will be your honey bee

Open up your fruit cage

Where the fruit can be sweet as can be

I wanna be your sledgehammer

Why don't you call my name?

Ah, you'd better call the sledgehammer

Put your mind at rest

I'm gonna be the sledgehammer

This can be my testimony

Ah, I'm your sledgehammer

Let there be no doubt about it

......

San Jacinto

Thick cloud, steam rising

Hissing stone on sweat lodge fire

Around me, buffalo roam

Sage in bundle, rub on skin

Outside, cold air

Stand, wait for rising sun

Red paint, eagle feathers

Coyote calling, it has begun

Something moving in

I taste it in my mouth and in my heart

It feels like dying, slow

Letting go of life

(Hyena wakan tanka)

Medicine man lead me up through town

Indian ground, so far down

Cut up land, each house a pool

Kids wearing water wings, drink in cool

Follow dry river bed

Watch Scouts and Guides make pow-wow signs

Past Geronimo's disco

Sitting Bull steakhouse, white men dream

A rattle in the old man's sack, see

Look at mountain top, keep climbing up

Way above us the desert snow

White wind blow

I hold the line, the line of strength that pulls me through the fear

San Jacinto, I hold the line

San Jacinto, the poison bite and darkness take my sight

I hold the line

And the tears roll down my swollen cheek

Think I'm losing it, getting weaker

I hold the line, I hold the line

San Jacinto, yellow eagle flies down from the sun, from the sun

We will walk on the land

We will breathe of the air

We will drink from the stream

We will live, hold the line

Hold the line, hold the line

We will live, hold the line