back to being a child
Well, she's a nice girl but her bad girl's better
I can read it in her cheating eyes and know that in a while

Well, she'll be kissing Willie
My best friend, Willie

Willie stands and Willie falls
Willie hangs his head behind grey factory walls
Well, she's a nice girl but her bad girl's better
Me and Willie just can't help come when she calls

Now she's kissing Willie
My best friend, Willie



The rattlesnake trail

(Anderson)

I wear a hair shirt 'round my shoulder
Got a cold stew in my spoon
And I'm falling on my head, lifting feet of lead
Now it's got me baying at the moon

There's a race on for tomorrow
I'm stretching out for what might have been
Gonna come out from the night, got my second sight
Play rough, you know what I mean

I'm going for the kill
I'm going tooth and nail
Up that dusty hill
On the rattlesnake trail

The rattlesnake trail
The rattlesnake trail

Got the law laid down to the left of me
Got the real world to the right
Heading up through the middle with my cat and my fiddle
Yeah, looking for a fight

I'm gonna ride hard in bandit country
On the blind side of the bends
Keep my nose to the wind while the rabbit's skinned
Bed down at the journey's end

Be a rattlesnake!

I'm going for the kill
I'm going tooth and nail
Up that dusty hill
The rattlesnake trail

I'm going on the rattlesnake trail!
The rattlesnake trail
The rattlesnake trail

Gonna be with wolves in winter
Run in angry packs by day
But when you give a dog a bone, he has to be alone
Growl, keep the other dogs away

See that thin moon on the mountain?
See that cold star in the sky?
Gonna bring them down, shake them to the ground
Put that apple in the pie

Be a rattlesnake!

I'm going for the kill
I'm going tooth and nail
Up that dusty hill
On the rattlesnake trail

The rattlesnake trail
The rattlesnake trail
The rattlesnake trail
The rattlesnake trail



Ears of tin

(Anderson)

In the last hours of a sunset rendezvous
Chill breeze against tide that carries me from you
Got a job in a southern city, got some lead free in my tank
Now I must whisper goodbye, I'm bound for the mainland

Island in the city
Cut by a cold sea
People moving on an ocean
Groundswell of humanity

Now the sun breaks through rain as I climb Glen Shiel
On the trail of those old cattlemen who drove their bargain south again
And in the eyes of those five, five sisters of Kintail
There's a wink of seduction from the mainland

Island in the city
Cut by a cold sea
People moving on an ocean
Groundswell of humanity

Storm lashed on the high rise
Their words are spray to the wind
Blown like silent laughter
Falling on ears of tin

Take my heart and take my brawn
Take by stealth or take by storm, set my brain to cruise
I can see the glow of the suburb lights
I'm fresh from the out world, singing the mainland blues

Oh, the mainland blues

There was a girl where I came from
Seems a long time, long time gone by
Wears the west wind in her hair
She calls from the hill, yeah, she calls in my mainland blues

Got the mainland blues

There's a coast road that winds to heaven's door
Where a fat ferry floats on muted diesel roar
And there's a light on the hillside and there's a flame in her eyes
But how cold the lights burn on the mainland!

Island in the city
Cut by a cold sea
People moving on an ocean
Groundswell of humanity

Storm lashed on the high rise
Their words are spray to the wind
Blown like silent laughter
Falling on ears of tin

In my mainland blues



Undressed to kill

(Anderson)

Working on the late shift
First drink of the day
Pull a chair up to the table
Have to look the other way

What kind of place am I in?
And who's this over here?
Shaking through the silver bubbles
Climbing through my beer

Won't let it move me
But I can't sit still
Could you meet the eyes of a working girl?
Undressed to kill

Staring through the smoke haze
Plaid shirts in the night
Well, I'm making sure that everything
Is zipped up tight

Who's that jumping on the table?
Putting tonic in my gin?
Brushing silken dollars
On her cold white skin

Won't let it move me
But I can't sit still
Could you meet the eyes of a working girl?
Undressed to kill

She could have been sweet seventeen
There again, well, so could I
There was a tear drop sparkle
On the inside of her thigh

Going to fetch myself a cold beer
I've got to get a grip
Find some place to touch down
Find a landing strip

Won't let it move me
But I can't sit still
Can you meet the eyes of a working girl?
All undressed to kill

Who's that jumping on the table?
Putting tonic in my gin?
Brushing silken dollars
On her cold white skin

Won't let it move me
But I can't sit still
Could you meet the eyes of a working girl?
Undressed to kill

Last one out is a cold duck
Paddling down the road
I wait outside, my motor running
Got a warm dream to unload

Can I face her in the sunshine?
In the harsh real light of day
She walks out with recognition
In her eyes I look away

Won't let it move me
But I can't sit still
Couldn't meet the eyes of a working girl
Undressed to kill



Rock island

(Anderson)

Savage night on a misty island
Lights wink out in the canyon walls
Two old boys in a stolen racer
Black rubber contrails in the unwashed halls

And all roads out of here
Seem to lead right back to the rock island

Rock island

I've gone from here to Paris, London
And even riding on a jumbo to Bombay
The long haul back holds faint attraction
But the people here know they're OK

See the girl following the red balloon
Walking all alone on her rock island

Rock island

Doesn't everyone have their own rock island?
Their own little patch of sand
Where the slow waves crawl and your angels fall
And you find you can hardly stand

And just as you're drowning, well, the tide goes down
And you're back on your rock island

Rock island

Hey, there! Girlie with the torn dress, shaking
Who was it touched you? Who was it ruined your day?
Whose footprint calling card?
And what they want, stepping on your beach anyway?

I'll be your life raft out of here
But you'd only drift right back to your rock island

Rock island

Hey! Boy with the personal stereo
Nothing 'tween the ears but that hard rock sound
Playing to your empty room, empty guitar tune
No use waiting for that C.B.S. to come around

'Cause all roads out of here
Seem to lead right back to your rock island

Rock island

Doesn't everyone have their own rock island?
Their own little patch of sand
Where the slow waves crawl and your angels fall
And you find you can hardly stand

And just as you're drowning, well, the tide goes down
And you're back on your rock island

Rock island
Rock island
Rock island
Rock island



Heavy water

(Anderson)

I walked out in the city night
A burning in my eyes like it was broad daylight
And it was hot, down there in the crowd
The stars went out behind a thunder cloud

Chatter in the air like a telegraph line
Big drops hissing on the neon sign
Thumping in my heart and it's hurting me to see
Smokestack blowing, now they're pouring heavy water on me

Pouring heavy water on me
Heavy water

She was a southern girl, we stared man to man
I move like a stranger in this strange land
She was a round hole, I was a square peg
I watched the little black specks running down her leg

Didn't seem to mind that dirty rain coming down
Shirt hanging open, she was wet and brown
Thumping in my heart and it's hurting me to see
Smokestack blowing, now they're pouring heavy water on me

Pouring heavy water on me
Pouring heavy water

Pouring heavy water on me
Pouring heavy water on me

What goes up has to fall back down
It's no night to be out dancing in a party town
When it runs hot and it runs so wide
Running in the street like a thin black tide

Chatter in the air like a telegraph line
Big drops hissing on the neon sign
Thumping in my heart and it's hurting me to see
Smokestack blowing, now they're pouring heavy water on me

Pouring heavy water on me
Pouring heavy water on me
Pouring heavy water on me
Pouring heavy water on me



Another Christmas song

(Anderson)

Hope everybody's ringing
On their own bell this fine morning
Hope everyone's connected
To that long distance phone

Old man, he's a mountain
Old man, he's an island
Old man, he's a waking says:
I'm gonna call, call all my children home

Hope everybody's dancing
To their own drum this fine morning
The beat of distant Africa
Or a polish factory town

Old man, he's calling for his supper
He's calling for his whiskey
Calling for his sons and daughters
Calling, calling all his children 'round

Sharp ears are tuned in
To the drones and chanters warming
Mist blowing 'round some headland
Somewhere in your memory

Everyone is from somewhere
Even if you've never been there
So take a minute to remember
The part of you that might be the old man calling me

How many wars you're fighting out there
This winter's morning?
Maybe it's always time
For another Christmas song?

Old man, he's asleep now
He's got appointments to keep now
Dreaming of his sons and daughters
And proving, proving that the blood is strong



The whaler's dues

(Anderson)

Money speaks
Soft hearts lose
The truth only whispers
It's the whaler's dues

I've been running on diesel
Been running on coal
Running on borrowed time
If truth's to be told

Two whales in the ocean
Cruising the night
Search for each other
Before we turn out their light

Been accused of deep murder
On the North Atlantic swell
But I have three hungry children
And a young wife as well

And behind stand generations
Of hard hunting men
Who raised a glass to the living
And went killing again

Are you with me?
No!
Are you with me?
No!

Money speaks
Soft hearts lose
The truth only whispers
Now pay the whaler's dues

Can you forgive me?
No!

Money speaks
Soft hearts lose
The truth only whispers
Now pay the whaler's dues

Now I'm old and I sit land locked
In a back country jail
To reflect on all of my sins
And the death of the whale

Send me back down the ages
Put me to sea once again
When the oceans were full
Yes, and men would be men

Can you forgive me?
No!
Can you forgive me?
No!



Big Riff and mando

(Anderson)

Marty loved the sound of the stolen mandolin
Somebody took it on a dare in the night time
Run up to the radio, calling out to the wind
Now bring it, bring it back at least an hour before flight time

It was a souvenir but it was a right arm missing
Swap a woodwork rhythm for a humbucking top line

Big Riff, rough boy, wants to be a singer in a band
A little slow in the brain box but he had a quick right hand
Run left, run right, everywhere he look
Nobody watching, no, but that was all he took last night

Running on the power of a stolen mandolin
Steal a little inspiration, steal a little muscle
Will he wake in the morning? Wondering was it really worth it?
So make a little deal, yeah, make a little hustle

Ringing on the radio, got a proposition for those english boys
I'll make the sing song, you can make the background noise
One, two, three, four! One bar and in
Give you back the mando if you'll let this singer sing tonight

Running on the power of a stolen mandolin
Steal a little inspiration, steal a little muscle
Will he wake in the morning? Wondering was it really worth it?
So come on! Make a little deal, yeah, make a little hustle

Marty loved the sound of the stolen mandolin
Big Riff took it on a dare in the night time
Now it's four o'clock and we're waiting at the soundcheck
Looking for a face staring in from the sunshine

We got two strong lawmen from the sheriff's office
They're going to lift Big Riff before he plays the first line

Big Riff, rough boy, wants to be a singer in a band
Yeah, help him on the stage now, put that microphone in his hand
Think hard, think right, nothing in his mind
So Riff did a runner but he left the mandolin behind

Yeah, Marty loved the sound of his mandolin
Running on the power of a stolen mandolin
Steal a little inspiration, steal a little muscle
So make a little deal, yeah, make a little hustle



Strange avenues

(Anderson)

Strange avenues where you lose all sense of direction
And everywhere is Main Street in the winter sun
The wino sleeps, cold coat lined with the money section
Looking like a record cover from 1971

And here am I, warm feet and a limo waiting
Shall I make us both feel good? And would a dollar do?
But in your streets, I have no credit rating
And it might not take a lot to be alone just like you

Heading up and out now from your rock island
Really good to have had you here with me
And somewhere in the crowd I think I hear a young girl whisper:
Are you ever lonely just like me?