01	Lap Of Luxury						03:39
	02	Under Wraps #1						04:02
	03	European Legacy						03:23
	04	Later, That Same Evening						03:51
	05	Saboteur						03:32
	06	Radio Free Moscow						03:40
	07	Astronomy						03:36
	08	Tundra						03:39
	09	Nobody's Car						04:06
	10	Heat						05:37
	11	Under Wraps # 2						02:14
	12	Paparazzi						03:46
	13	Apogee						05:28
	14	Automotive Engineering						04:04
	15	General Crossing						04:02

Under Wraps- Ian's Reflections

Naked ladies (ladies?) bursting out of large paper bags, astronaut moonwalking on stage, disturbing drum machine rhythms, 80’s keyboards galore and a vocal crisis in the making. These were key ingredients of the Under Wraps tour of 1984.

With the advent of the then new digital technology and more sophisticated synthesizers, we had embarked on a largely electronic album of songs mostly devoted to spies, secrecy and subterfuge.

To most Tull fans, the idea of us sounding like a cross between The Police and Thomas Dolby was a little bit of a stretch in credibility. The fact was, we did it rather well. Not as well as Police and Dolby perhaps but, you know, rather well. Of course, I would love – time and energy permitting (both short in supply at the time of writing this) – to re-record the Under Wraps material today with real drums and a less-than-dated keyboard sound. But the songs were good and the playing of M. Barre and D. Pegg was brilliant. My vocals were as good as they would ever be, extending my usually limited range and power like never before. Problem was, the long tour to support this performance-testing album took its toll after many weeks of concerts, first in LA at the Universal Amphitheater and later in Australia when some shows were cancelled or re-scheduled as a result of my laryngitis and severe vocal strain.

Returning to the UK, I decided to take – for the first time – a few months away from singing and switch my focus temporarily to Aquaculture and my Scottish farming activities. All this turned out to be quite worthwhile as the period “off” allowed for some reflection and recharging of spiritual batteries as well as the time to record the follow-up album Crest Of A Knave. This would prove eventually to restore the faith of Tull fans – especially in the USA – where the Nouvelle Tull sound had failed to capture the attention of radio and the media in the wake of floundering changes in formats and fashions.

But, hey, you have to push the boundaries a little in the pursuit of musical adventures. No point in staying forever in the clutches of 70’s sounds and analogue keys, valves, steam flutes and tree-gobbling guitars. Gotta move on. And then move back again……….

The guitars are now free of unsustainable forest choppings, the flute steams up as always but with more power and passion, and the keyboards sound again like Hammond Organs and grand pianos. Martin Barre has some spare vacuum tubes in his back pocket to fire up the crunchy guitar sound of rampant stallion Marshalls in heat. One rampant stallion dude that Martin Lancelot guy, what?

But back to the 80’s.

Keyboardist, Peter Vettese, brought musical ideas-a-plenty wrapped up in Fender-splendour. Fender Rhodes had briefly decided to enter the buzzy, fuzzy world of high-tech electronics and bestowed freebie keys and assorted equipment on a grateful Peter, in return for his unswerving allegiance to a bad marketing plan involving unsustainable plastic keyboards. Fender never were to crack the keyboard market and soon returned to what they did best. Strats, Teles and the sublime craft of American guitar building.

The album may have lacked a real drummer but the supporting tour did not: one young Doane Big-Boy Perry advanced over the horizon like an overgrown schoolboy on a driven mission to a first and virginal encounter with an older woman. Enthusiastic and schooled in the dubious benefits of 70’s Prog-rock, the Doanester put muscle back into the live performance of Under Wraps and intelligent drum arranging into the re-energising of older material.

So, let’s dedicate this album to the missing drums of Doane Perry. To the tour he did and the record he should have done. 20 years ago.

Ian Anderson 2004.


~ Under Wraps ~

(1)



An introduction to "Under Wraps"

In September 1984, after nine months of recording at Anderson's home studio, Jethro Tull released their most controversial album since "A Passion Play": "Under Wraps". Working with new electronic means like samplers, sequencers and high-tech synthesizers used by Ian for the first time on his solo album "Walk Into Light", was taken much further than one would have dared to imagine, to an extent where the flute seems to be completely out of place! Which - for a Tull album - is rather peculiar!

Working on an album in the relaxed atmosphere of a private studio affected the outcome. It offered the band members - Anderson, Barre and Vettese - the time and opportunity to experiment with new forms and 'soundscapes', exchange musical ideas, and work more intensively together in the recording process then had ever been the case before.

The contributions of Martin Barre en Peter Vettese led to a very innovative and powerful album brimmed with original musical ideas. The album was recorded with the aid of a Linn drum machine, instead of a proper drummer which might be the main reason why there is no "live feel" to it.
Most of the songs have a "spy" theme - as Barbara Espinoza states in her book "Driving In Diverse": "contrived espionage and intrigue abound" (1999, p. 89). I for one assume this not to be coi"ncidal. Ian loves to read spy novels while on the road, especially books written by John Le Carre'. So why wouldn't he try to adapt this 'spy novel' format into a set of songs? More important however is, that we should take in account that Ian as an artist writes music and lyrics that often contain his comments on society. When it comes to this album, we should realize that the international political situation in the early eighties might have been the context for this album. To put it more specific: the occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet army in 1979, the meddling of the Soviets with the internal affairs of that country and the political reaction of the Western world (remember Reagan's Star Wars programme) caused the last big spasm of the Cold War. In addition to these events there were several so called "spy scandals" in the early eighties, such as defecting agents on both sides and double agents revealing "their" secrets.

Like "A Passion Play" eleven years before, this album also divided the Tull-followers into two groups: either they loved it for its inventivity and its energy or they hated it for sounding too artificial and not sounding anything like "their Tull". ( I for one belonged to the last lot and refused to buy the album until 1999 ....... and then had to change my views and consider it - musically speaking - as one of the most intelligent albums the band ever recorded). However, both for Martin Barre and Ian Anderson as well, this is one of the Tull-albums they rate highly and still listen to for fun.

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The "Under Wraps" tour programme (1984).
By kind permission of Pete McHugh (Electrocutas - The Jethro Tull Archive).

After the completion of "Under Wraps" Doane Perry was invited to join the band as percussionist for the upcoming tour. Most of the "Under Wraps" songs proved to be very hard to sing on stage. This constant straining of Ian's voice and the use of "heavy electronics" made this situation worse: he suffered more and more from throat problems like laryngitis and muscular spasms. Reaching the upper key notes became hazardous, eventually to such an extent that the Australian leg of the tour had to be cancelled after five gigs! In fact, Ian never overcame this problem, in spite of a period of rest and medical treatment. Personally I think these problems were mainly due to the fact that Ian never was professionally trained as a singer: lack of technique in combination with the excessive touring of the previous fifteen years eventually damaged his vocal chords and throat muscles. From 1985 on he saw himself urged - sorry but true - to adjust the songs he wrote to his vocal limitations.
* Jan Voorbij

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Jethro Tull in the "Under Wraps" days:
Ian Anderson, Peter Vettese, Martin Barre, Dave Pegg and Doane Perry (1984)

Annotations

Under Wraps # 1

*

Though this one is at first sight a love song, I consider it to be the first of the "spy songs" of this album. In each of these songs we see how love for or falling in love with a (female) agent interferes with the narrator's assignment ("Secrecy, it is my failing"), while she on the other hand does not ignore or forsake hers. In this song, our narrator is "wrapped up" in the charmes, manipulated ("Wrapped in the warmth of you" ... "Wrapped in the folds of your attention"). The narrator however is convinced that HE is the one who's got this woman wrapped up, now that he got her into his bed: "Under wraps! I've got you under wraps." "Under wraps" means here: between the sheets.
* Jan Voorbij

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European Legacy

*

Our thinking, feeling and acting is to a large extent determinated by the context of our descent, our childhood, the way we were brought up, the country or region we live in, and the people that make out our family and friends in our formative years: "European Legacy". All these elements are building stones for our personal and/or group identity. For over a century scientists have been debating the question to what extent our social and physical environment determine what kind of personality we eventually acquire. In psychology this debate is known as the "nature/nurture"or "nature/culture" discussion. In terms of philosophy this view on humanity is known as 'positivism', and it was very popular in the 19th century. Marxism is one of the best known examples of posivist philosophies (It considers both human acting and thinking to be determined by their economical situation in society). It seems to me that this psychological phenomenon is the main subject of the song. The narrator uses four images to show how our legacy affects us and our identity.
*

The line "Visitors who took a hand a thousand years ago" is referring to the many tribes from Ireland, Scandinavia and Western Europe that invaded Britain over the centuries, esp. during periods when the nations of the British isles were divided and fighting eachother: "who took a hand". Since our narrator speaks of invaders from a thousand years ago, he specifically means the invading Vikings ( "The Danes"), and the armies of William of Normandy, who invaded and conquered Britain in 1066. The "faint reminders" is a reference to the round houses or "brochs", which is peculiar for they were built by tribes that inhabited Scotland, Hebrides and Orkneys between 600 and 100 B.C.! ( See for more information the Broadsword annotations).
Both groups eventually "washed up a new identity": in other words, they became Britains over time, but their ancestors took their legacy with them when crossing the Channel and the North Sea: "The channel's wide, but it's their European legacy". Note the double meaning in the line "washed up a new identity": 1. These invaders washed up: they came from all directions and landed on different places and in different times on Britains shores and 2. once they settled there succesfully their descendants developed a new identity.
* Jan Voorbij

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* The Under Wraps logo was also applied on the album cover of
"Live At Hammersmith"(1984)

Later, That Same Evening

*

The second one of the songs with a "spy" theme. The construction of the lyrics and the imagery applied make the song almost film-like - as if one if watching a spy movie. This technique of visualisation and putting stories into a romantic setting can be traced in most of this album's songs.
*

"Hard - it was hard to keep my mind on what she had to sell": is reference to industrial or military espionage, esp. the illegal selling and purchasing of classified documents, plans, drawings, photographs, etc.
* Jan Voorbij

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Saboteur

*

Another aspect of the "spy" theme is dealt with here: the hitman or hired killer, who eliminates people for money ("pass the hat and pass the knife"). However, Ian portrays him here as a psychopathic murderer - a split personality perhaps - who is convinced that his act is not a crime ("No, no, me no saboteur") - although he is aware of the effects ("deepest regrets I humbly offer you as I cut into your life.") - , because it serves some necessary and "greater", "sacred" goal ("I anticipate a cleansing opportunity to take the horns by the bull" - note the wordplay in this saying btw!) and thus considers it to be rightful ( "I'm only removing broken sea-shells from the beach"). The elimination of physically and mentally handicapped and retarded people, jews, gypsies and gay people by the nazis spring to mind: they used a similar argument for their crimes .....
*

The first five stanza's are dark and brooding and the tension is built up carefully. We can see the killer moving in closer and closer ("Following the trace you leave unwittingly"), stalking his victim, penetrating his or her private life and home ("happy in your domesticity"..."misfortune, like a sparrow hawk hangs over you"), evoking feelings of being treatened ("By now you must be worried, wondering who is me and what lies behind my art"), committing his crime efficiently ("with clean precision"). Finally there might be a similar person very close to us: "there's at least one of me inside your ranks in your factory or school".
*

There is a peculiar twist in the last part of the song, that is not completely clear to me: the sixth stanza consists of a critical implicit comment on history and historiography:
"History forever writing, pages to be cut or painted grey, or, celebrated like Jesus in his temple rage...".
Every society in any era will manipulate history to satisfy its own needs or ambitions desired. Here it seems that Ian wants to say that societies are selective when it comes to the appreciation of agression and violence. Jesus' act in the temple is "celebrated", while other acts are condemned. Or is it the principal person here considering his act as necessary as Jesus might have considered his and therefore deserves a place in the history books?
* Jan Voorbij
*

"Walking on cold corners of the maze.
Following the trace you leave unwittingly."
The image of the maze originally comes from Greek myth: Theseus followed a golden thread, given to him by Ariadne, in order to find his way out of the maze after killing the Minotaur which lay hidden at the centre. The notion of the hunter and the hunted is thus implicit in these lines.
*

Andy Jackson looks at this song from a different perspective:
The word "saboteur" implies someone who commits an act of wilful destruction, often from within the organization or society to which they belong. There is usually some ideological or economic reason for this act. The end result is always an unbalancing of the status quo, a spanner in the works.
I take a metaphorical view of this song. For me it's about the role of the creative artist within society, or what Colin Wilson has described as 'the Outsider': the individual who has sacrificed a plush, comfortable life for the isolating journey towards Art. The painted ducks reflect a safe middle-class existence -- as they did on 'One White Duck', where they were regarded with similar cynicism and disgust.
*

The artist, as Outsider, is dangerous for the sole reason that he or she cares very little about society's ordered structure, it's hierarchical career moves, it's policy of politely sweeping personal demons under the carpet. During the old-style Communist regimes of Russia and Poland, the individuals most targeted
for silencing were the poets and novelists. It was their words alone which had the ability to sabotage the endless propaganda. In both examples, the artist is not bound by whatever social or moral system happens to be in operation.
"Happy in your domesticity (it don't come free)" -- what then is the price? I would suggest that the price is passion, to some degree: the passion to create something better, the passion to dig deeper than the comfortable surface of life. This of course is the artist's role. To cut into the fabric of things, to lay bare whatever hypocrisies may be in fashion.
*

"Who is me and what lies behind my art" -- again we return to the question of identity that runs through so many Tull songs, and what that 'art' amounts to. Again, the question of motive or of personal morality is raised: a question with no answer, since the artist takes no sides . . . and, indeed, is not even playing the
same game.
The narrator in this song recognises that, despite society's increasing conformity, there is still 'one of me inside your ranks' -- another Outsider who is also within, preparing to raise their own voice in their own way.
"To take the horns by the bull" -- this echoes the phrase in 'Crazed Institution' ('just a little touch of make-up; just a little touch of bull'), another song in which the artist is examined in relation to the surface glitter of rock and roll, and which, also, depicts the artist as a Christ-figure.

"celebrated like Jesus in his temple rage" -- this event is unique in the Bible in that it portrays Jesus as a man of human passion and not simply as a moving symbol of peace, mercy, love, etc. The only other comparable passage I can think of is Matthew 10:34 -- "I come not to bring peace, but a sword".
The significance for the artist is clear -- a purposeful destruction of hypocrisy, a rage against the gods of commerce in defence of what you might call the Spirit. In this one act of passion, Jesus made it clear that he was a saboteur, a new spanner in the works. The Outsider who changed the system from within.

In short - it only takes one vision to knock a hole in reality. The artist or visionary, as solitary a free agent as the hit-man, will be the one most likely to pull the metaphorical trigger.
* Andy Jackson


Radio Free Moscow

*

The ironic song title alludes to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Free Europe, Inc., was established in 1949 as non-profit, private corporations to broadcast news and current affairs programs to Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain. The Radio Liberty Committee, Inc., was created two years later along the same lines to broadcast to the nations inside the Soviet Union. Both were funded principally by the U.S. Congress, through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The mission of these stations was: "promoting democratic values and institutions by disseminating factual information and ideas". Like Moscow Radio, they were in their own way propaganda tools of the Western world. Although their transmissions were obstructed by Soviet jamming stations during the fifties and sixties, they could be received.
*

The "Voice Of America" is a radio broadcasting network of the U.S. government, a unit of the United States Information Agency (USIA). Its first broadcast, in German, took place on Feb. 24, 1942, and was intended to counter Nazi propaganda among the German people. It became part of the USIA when that agency was established in 1953. The VOA's function was to promote understanding of the United States and to spread American values ("symbol of the free"). During the Cold War it concentrated its message at the communist countries of eastern and central Europe. Its daily broadcasts include news reports, stories and discussions on American political and cultural events, and editorials setting forth U.S. government policy.
*

"Moscow Radio" was the official state radio of the Soviet Union ("Tune into messages from the eastern avenue"). It was used for internal and foreign propaganda during the Cold War ("mine of disinformation, pleading sympathy"). Their transmissions were also obstructed by jamming their signals, but they could nevertheless be received in most of the Western countries. There is more detailed historical information on Moscow Radio at hand in the article "All power to the microphone", written by Armen Oganessian and issued in The Unesco Courier (February 1, 1997).
*

So the Cold War wasn't only fought out by the spies and hitmen, mentioned in the previous songs, but also in the ether and the broadcastings from both sides increased the political tension in those days: "War of the air-waves making scare-waves". Listening to Moscow Radio was considered to be a subversive activity, especially in the United States during the McCarthy era:
"Somebody's at the door,
catching me in the act,
they've been keeping the score".
* Jan Voorbij

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* Ian Anderson during the Under Wraps tour. Courtesy: Ivar Aasheim.

Nobody's Car

*

This film-like song breathes an atmosphere of threat, of being watched and followed constantly by agents who hide themselves in anonimity: "Mr. No-one at the wheel of Nobody's car."
While visiting this Russian city the narrator has a de'ja`-vu experience. He seems to him that he experienced it earlier in his live or has seen it all before:
"I read this book before. I even saw the film. ( ... )
It's a weird scenario. I've seen a thousand times before but only on my video".

*

"Black Volga following me". Several models of Volga limousines were used in the Soviet Union by communist party officials, diplomats, and - as in this song - by KGB-agents. Most of them were armoured.
*

Volga in the colour of black was a symbol of extreme power in Soviet. They used to carry Big Cheeses. Common man couldn't buy Black Volga (he could but nobody sold it to him). Though there were a plenty of yellow Volgas used as a taxis and other colours in private owns. Though it isn't popular among folk because it has lousy construction and to keep it in fit you should be either a handyman or hire a personal one. Big Cheeses always drove with such personal drivers-handymen. It consumes a lot of petrol and money, were completed with built-in radio-phone. But Black Volgas was untouchable among militia, they could drive literally everywhere and on the wrong side of the street, they could smash your car and drove away and nobody cared. They used to have registration numbers such as 0001, 5555 or 1111 (grace numbers).
Now the situation has changed and Volga is an ordinary car among all the others. Not a big deal at all and no tracks of old luxury. Big Cheeses have changed for Mercedes SL 600, BMW or Audi-A8, or Mercedes jeeps.
* Peter Diakonov
*

"Intourist city": Intourist was the only official travel agency of the Soviet Union for travel to in within that country. The secret service KGB used the Intourist organisation to keep an eye on foreigners who visited the Soviet Union. Today Intourist is a travel agency that deploys a variety of commercial activities in the field of tourism.
* Jan Voorbij

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Heat

*

I tend to take this song as a continuation of "Nobody's Car". Once again the tension is carefully built up to an extent that the "wanted man" and his unit ("Notify all parties") is offered a last chance to escape from the agents (or hitmen) that are chasing him ("Better run while you can - better set the tall sail").
*

"Trop tard sera le cri": This is the first part of a sentence which Ian borrowed from a French school book he used in his teen years. The full English translation reads: "Too late will be the cry, when the ice-cream salesman has gone by".
* Jan Voorbij; Source: Greg Russo: "Flying Colours, the Jethro Tull reference manual"(Crossfire Publications, 2000), p. 131.

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Under Wraps # 2

*

A reprise of Under Wraps # 1, with the same lyrics, however this time in an acoustic setting. It's the only acoustic song on the album and might be included to give a warmer, different kind of expression to the tender feelings of the narrator than in the first take.

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* Concert poster from the Under Wraps tour.
Courtesy: Ivar Aasheim

Apogee

*

"It's apogee" (or "apogeum"): The moon and artificial satellites are orbitting the earth elliptically. When they reach the point where they are as far from the earth as possible, they have reached their apogee.
*

"Tennyson and Wordsworth there,
waiting for me in the cold thin air":
William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850) and Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809 - 1892) were English poets from the Romantic period.
* Jan Voorbij
*

"Beware a host of unearthly daffodils
drifting golden, turned up load"
All kinds of celestial bodies are compared here to daffodils. A reference to one of the best known poems of William Wordsworth:

The Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee:
A Poet could not be but gay
In such a jocund company!
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

"The Wrong Stuff": is a reference to the novel "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe, which was also made into a film. The 'right stuff' is what these guys had, apparently: guts, good old American machismo in the early days of the space programme.
* Andy Jackson

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Photograph taken during the Under Wraps tour in 1984,
exact location and date remain unknown.
By courtesy of © Kevan D. Shaw.

Automotive Engineering

*

This is a song about the appliance of new technologies in the car-industry ("....... everyone's turbo'd and carbon fibre is the way to go, go"; "Down at the robot factory things are humming"), showing a feel of uneasiness with the augmenting power of these technologies, taking over the human role in the production process ("no humans testing").
The line "But the Japs are coming..." refers to the growing competion in the car-industry. Since the mid-seventies the number of Toyotas, Nissans and Mitsubishis sold in the US and in Europe increased tremendously, to an extent where the Japanese car-industry conquered a large percentage of the market at the expense of European and American made cars.
* Jan Voorbij
*

"Take a trip in your Freudian slip
Doctor Ferdinand (Ferdie) has got you in his grip."
I think this verse of Automotive Engineering is about driving a Porsche. The designer of the German sports car was dr. Ferdinand Porsche, who also was responsible for the design of the Volkswagen Beetle in 1934. Austrian psychoanalist Sigmund Freud was long gone wehen the first Porsche left the factory in 1951, but in his view driving a sports car might be regarded as a man's subconscious compensation for his fear of impotence. The powerful car would in that respect serve as an extension of a man's penis.
* Jeroen Louis

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General Crossing

*

The song is about defecting to the other side: "The tall General is crossing" and "He's gone to be a Generalski". After giving an outline and typification of the profession in the first three stanzas, the possible motive for defecting is worded in the lines:
"The pain in the forehead
from holding the pressures
of life on the rim
of the convenient alliance.
Out on the rim, let me out on the rim."
* Jan Voorbij

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~ UNDER WRAPS ~

Lyrics

Under Wraps cover

(1984)

Introduction Site Map Site Search TullSongs TullAlbums TullScapes
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Lap Of Luxury
Under Wraps
European Legacy
Later, That Same Evening
Saboteur
Radio Free Moscow
Astronomy
Tundra
Nobody's Car
Heat
Under Wraps #2
Paparazzi
Apogee
Automotive Engineering
General Crossing


Lap Of Luxury

The money won't last forever
rent man called twice today.
I hope some day you'll find me
in the lap of luxury.

Searched for a new apartment
but they don't grow on trees.
Just want to lay my head
in the lap of luxury.

Stepped out on a new horizon
felt a new spring in my feet.
Found a job, it could set me up
dangling in the lap of luxury.

And the gaffer is a man of substance
drives a jag and takes high tea.
Lives beyond the industrial wasteland,
laughing in the lap of luxury.

I need money, now, to soothe my heart!

Buy me a Datsun or Toyota
get the tax man to agree
all expenses I can muster
from the lap of luxury.

Jethro Tull
Lap Of Luxury

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Under Wraps

Keep it quiet. (Go slow.)
Circulate. Need to know.
Stamp the date upon your file
masquerade, but well worth while.
Wrapped in the warmth of you
wrapped up in your smile.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.

Wear an air (keep mum)
of casual indifference.
Careful how you go
about your usual business.

Wrapped in daydreams of you
wrapped up by your eyes.
Wrapped in the folds of your attention.
Under wraps! I've got you under wraps.
Under wraps! I've got you under wraps.

Tell you when (not yet)
soon the great unveiling.
Bless my boots! Upon my soul!
Secrecy, it is my failing.
Wrapped in your Summer night
wrapped in your Autumn leaves.
Wrapped in the Winter of your sleeping.

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European Legacy

She smiles at me from beyond the eastern sea-shore.
Flashing jewelled eyes, she hoists her skirts so high.
Nouvelle cuisine or an oyster bar it's really up to her.
I'll write every cheque she brings to me.
I shoot on sight it's my European legacy.

Round the castle walls about the Highlands and the Islands,
the faint reminders stand.Visitors who took a hand
a thousand years ago or so, stranded high and dry by tides
washed up a new identity.
The channel's wide but it's their European legacy.

I strain my eyes against the southern light advancing.
On whiter cliffs I'm high. The sea birds roll and tumble as they fly.
I hear distant mainland music echo in my island ears.
My feet begin to move instinctively
to the warmer beat of my European legacy.

She smiles at me from beyond the eastern sea-shore.
Flashing jewelled eyes, she hoists her skirts so high.
Nouvelle cuisine or an oyster bar it's really up to her.
I'll write every cheque she brings to me.
She shoots on sight it's her European legacy.

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Later, That Same Evening

Later, that same evening, she ran.
I think she ran alone.
Later, she had early warning from
a hidden phone.
Checked with the embassy
she might have been
a million miles away.
Should I circulate her likeness
at all airports without delay?
It was later later that same evening.

Earlier, we had had a drink or four
in some Kensington hotel.
Hard - it was hard to keep my mind
on what she had to sell.
And with all business done
we took a cab
should it be her place or mine?
Good security prevailed
and I was home just after nine.
It was later later that same evening.

Now I want you back.
Yes, they want you back.
We want you back.
My country wants you back.

Later, in the wee small hours
there was heavy traffic on the radio.

Scare at a channel port
small craft warnings to keep to shore.
Lobstermen thought they saw
a submarine
half submerged suspiciously.
Though I arrived too late,
I'm sure she blew a kiss to me
as the sub sailed out to sea.

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Saboteur

In and out of shady places
walking on cold corners of the maze.
Following the trace you leave unwittingly.
I wanna be no Saboteur.
Oh, no, me no Saboteur.

Painted ducks across your landscape
happy in your domesticity (it don't come free).
Misfortune, like a Sparrow Hawk, hangs over you.
Wanna be no Saboteur.
No, no, me no Saboteur.

Deepest regrets I humbly offer you
as I cut into your life.
With clean precision, all is simplified
pass the hat and pass the knife.

By now you must be worried, wondering
who is me and what lies behind my art.
I'm only removing broken sea-shells from the beach
oh, no, me no Saboteur.

There's at least one of me inside your ranks
in your factory or school.
I anticipate a cleansing opportunity
to take the horns by the bull.

History forever writing
pages to be cut or painted grey,
or celebrated like Jesus in his
temple rage
as he chased the money-men away.

I wanna be no Saboteur.
Be no, be no Saboteur.

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Radio Free Moscow

Tune into messages
from the Eastern avenue.
Lock on to the ether
squeeze the signal through and through.
War of the air-waves
making scare-waves.
I'm getting pictures
from my radio (Free Moscow).
Moscow Radio.

Voice of America
symbol of the free.
Mine of disinformation
pleading sympathy.
Down in the cold-war games
forever naming names.
I'm getting pictures
from my radio (Free Moscow).
Keep getting pictures
from my radio (Free Moscow).

I put my headphones on
reach out on the beam.
Shutter up the windows
I'm getting up some steam.
Somebody's at the door
catching me in the act
they've been keeping the score.
I'm getting pictures
from my radio (Free Moscow).
Yes, I'm getting pictures
from my radio (Free Moscow).

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Astronomy

The middle lane has trapped my car
in red-light claustrophobia.
I slip the shackles, cut the rope
stand naked with a telescope
as the cat walks alone
under a big sky.
Against the dark so thin and white
gonna be a big sky night.

Miss Galileo, come with me
and view the new Astronomy.
Black hole dressing on salad plate
quasar at the kissing gate.
Now the cat, he walks alone
under a big sky.
Umbrella dome pin-pricked in lights
gonna be a big sky night.

My spectacles, my white lab coat
my coffee, thermos and my notes.
I pat my pockets. I got the keys
to the secrets of the observatory.
And closing the door,
I feel a new dawn
as the darker slides align
you to yours and me to mine.

And now you stand, assisting me
I can touch what I can see, see, see.
I look in wonder, I feel no shame
see the consequences of the game.
Expand the universe.
Head for the Big Bang.
Reach for my switch and shout
gonna turn the big sky out.

There's got to be astronomy.
Astronomy.

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Tundra

Short Arctic desert day
and someone left their snow-shoes in the tundra.
Look around every which way
but I can't see just where the footprints go.
Is it a casual disappearance?
Plucked from the middle atmosphere
like straw wind-blown.
No speck on the horizon
no simple message scrawled
upon the snow.

Unearthly visitation
someone left their snow-shoes in the tundra.
Hungry buzzard flier

circling round and round
rattling death's tambourine.

Have to run it down the cold wire
late insertion in tomorrow's lost and found.
Should I spread out searching?
But I'm a little thin upon the ground.

So I raise my lips to coax
the last drop of brandy from the bottle.
Rest my feet and contemplate
the mystery that's haunting
this Siberian space.

Show-shoes they bind me down
I'm just one more parasite of the surface layer.
I begin to get the feeling
I've been on this stage before
and I'm the only player.

One more Arctic desert day
another set of shoes out in the tundra snow.
I make my fade to white-out
and you can't see me where my footprints go.

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Nobody's Car

Black Volga following me
Nobody's car.
Mr. No-one at the wheel of
Nobody's car.
Wet pavements, thin apartments
quiet dissent from darkened doorways.
I want out alive.
Speak up for me if you can.
So, careful how you drive
in tourist city.

Slap in front of my hotel
it's Nobody's car.
Is that my limousine?
No, it's Nobody's car.
Are you on routine assignment?
Plastic shades on black-browed eye-hole.
I read this book before.
I even saw the film.
How did the ending go?
(Intourist city.)

Black out.

It's a weird scenario.
I've seen a thousand times before
but only on my video.

Feel my steps quick in the headlights of Nobody's car.
Down cobbled alley with no exit from
Nobody's car.
Doors slam, two figures silhouette
somewhere before, I feel we've met.
Can't tell you any more.
I agreed to go along with all they asked of me.
Intourist city.
I drive Nobody's car.

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Heat

When the rats are running
and the boys are gunning
for heads on a tin plate
you can hear the footfall
softly in the back yard.
And the black jack is called
face up on the last card.

You'd better call your witness
in your dirty business.
Trop tard sera le cri.
Better run while you can
better set the tall sail.
Better make deep cover
before the boys have you nailed.

There's just one chance to get away
I'll catch up with you another day.
I'll close my eyes and count to ten
and come right after you again.

Grab your credit cards
cash in on your resources.
Take your passport from the drawer,
don't stop to change the horses.
Get out of the heat.

Now can you feel the pressure?
Have you got the measure
of being a wanted man?
Cold drink in your hand
hot sweat on your brow.
And there's no understanding
going to help you now.

Grab your credit cards
cash in on your resources.
Take your passport from the drawer,
don't stop to change the horses.
Notify all parties
of an earlier vacation.
No use trying to board the train
after it's left the station.

Get out of the heat.

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Under Wraps #2
Paparazzi

Paparazzi, can't make the man.
Paparazzi, can't break the man.

Next to the transit lounge
see the Paparazzi tears.
No-one came in today
from Boston or Tangiers.
And in departures
only faceless trippers trip,
loaded with duty free
held in white knuckle grip.

Snap it up, flash away
steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type
the news is running late tonight.

Be-decked with Nikon necklaces
hear the Paparazzi cries.
Under their noses walk
the famous in disguise.
Conspicuously huddled there
but no-one stops to look.
They've got their crayons out
to colour in the book.

Snap it up, flash away
steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type
Paparazzi won't be home tonight.

Paparazzi write it down.
Paparazzi turn it around.
Paparazzi take it, fake it,
break it.
'cause it's a story.
Now someone's cut the lines
communication's down.
All photo film is fogged.
Celebrities surround
and jab their fingers at me.
They kiss but I can't tell.
Even poor Paparazzi
must have privacy as well.

Snap it up, flash away
steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type
the news is running late tonight.

Snap it up, flash away
steal a camel for a day.
Break the story in heavy type
Paparazzi won't be home tonight.

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Apogee

Sailing round the true-blue sphere
is it too late to bale out of here?
Well, there has to be some better way
to turn back the night,
spin on to yesterday.

The old man and his crew
after all these years,
it's apogee.
Pilot training and remorse
spirit friends fly too,
at apogee.
Apogee solar bright.
Apogee through the night.
Apogee overground.

Don't think I'll be coming down.
Screened for a stable mate
with nerves of ice we flew,
at apogee.
No creativity allowed
to pass through stainless veins of steel,
at apogee.
Apogee put the kettle on.
Tight-lipped soldier on.
High point communicate.
Don't forget to urinate.

So glad they put this window in.
How to explain, how to begin?
See! Tennyson and Wordsworth there
waiting for me in the cold, thin air.
Beware a host of unearthly daffodils
drifting golden, turned up loud.
Tell the boys back home,
I'm gonna get some.

The Wrong Stuff's loose in here
I'm climbing up the walls,
at apogee.
So hoist the skull and bones
death and glory's free,
at apogee.

A stranger wind, a solar breeze
I'm walking out upon the starry seas.
See pyramids, see standing stones
pink cotton undies and blue telephones.

Goodbye, cruel world that was my home
there's a cleaner space out there to roam.
Put my feet up on the moons of Mars
sit back, relax and count the stars.

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Automotive Engineering

In the hands of science
the complete appliance.
We're moved to motor.
Do you fly a Spitfire?
Do you slide on a tea-tray?

Or walk on a short trip (Sundays).
Or drive come what may (enjoy).

Automotive science and engineering.
When big was better
and fast was chic,
the oil was cheaper
now we're up the creek.
But the Japs are coming
and everyone's turbo'd
and carbon fibre
is the way to go, go.

Down at the robot factory
things are humming.
New radical suspension
no humans testing.
(Wind it up, wind it up.)
Take a trip
in your Freudian slip.
Doctor Ferdinand (Ferdie)
has you in his grip.

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General Crossing

It's an old profession
of subtle artillery.
Rough wheels meshing
button out, button in.

The tall General will mine
a few bridges tonight,
stroking soft machinery.
Fanfare at dawn
courting green steel
lined up for World War One
(Two, Three, Four).

It's an old profession
of subtle artillery.
Rough wheels meshing
on a landscape with no trees.

The tall General points
to the distance
disconnects his power supply.
Crites a stiff note to his nearest
and dearest
he takes the battle plan
and contemplates his fly.

The tall General
flies by the seat of history.
The tall General
is crossing.
The tall General
he thinks inevitability.
The tall General
is definitely crossing.
With spit and with polish
time for desperate measures.
The pain in the forehead
from holding up to the pressures
of life on the rim
of the convenient alliance.
Out on the rim
let me out on the rim.

The tall General will walk
across the compound
with his briefcase and I.D.
Later they'll post him
seemingly missing
he's gone to be a Generalski.