A TRICK OF THE TAIL

released in 1976
Tony Banks - Mike Rutherford - Steve Hackett - Phil Collins

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DANCE ON A VOLCANO (Banks/Rutherford/Hackett/Collins)
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Holy Mother of God
You've got to go faster than that to get to the top
Dirty old mountain
All covered in smoke, she can turn you to smoke
So you better start doing it right
       better start doing it right

You're halfway up and you're down
And the pack on your back keeeps turning you around
Throw it away, you won't need it , and remember
You don't look back whatever you do
Better start doing it right

On your left and on your right
Crosses are green and crosses are blue
Your friends didn't make it through
Out of the night and out of the dark
Into the fire and into the fight
Well that's the way the heros go, Ho! Ho! Ho!

Through a crack in Mother Earth
Blazing hot, the molten rock
Spills out over the land
And the lava's the lover who licks your boots away, Hey! Hey! Hey!
If you don't want to boil as well
B-B-Better start the dance
D-D-Do you want to dance with me?

The music's playing the notes are right
Put your left foot first and move into the light
The edge of this hill is the edge of the world
And if you're going to cross you better start doing it right
                                 better start doing it right

Let the dance begin

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ENTANGLED (Banks/Hackett)
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When you're asleep they may show you
Aerial views of the ground
Freudian slbumer empty of sound

Mesmerized children are playing
Meant to be seen but not heard
"Stop me from dreaming!"
"Don't be absurd!"

"Well, if we can help you we will
You're looking tired and ill
As I count backwards
Your eyes become heavier still
Sleep, won't you allow yourself fall?
Nothing can hurt you at all
With your consent
I can experiment further still." 

Madrigal music is playing
Voices can faintly be heard
"Please leave this patient undisturbed"

Sentenced to drift far away now
Nothing is quite what it seems
Sometimes entangled in your own dreams

"Well, if we can help you we will
Soon as you're tired and ill
With your consent
We can experiment further still

Well, thanks to are kindness and skill
You'll have no troubleuntil
You catch your breath
And the nurse will present you the bill!"

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SQUONK (Banks/Rutherford)
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Like father like son
Not flesh nor fish nor bone
A red rag hangs from an open mouth
Alive at both ends but a little dead in the middle
A-tumbling and a-bumbling he will go
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Could never put a smile on that face

He's a sly one he's a shy one
Wouldn't you be, too?
Scared to be left all on his own
Hasn't a, hasn't a friend to play with the Ugly Duckling
The pressure on, the bubble will burst before your eyes
All the while in perfecti time
His tears are fall on the grond

But if you don't stand up you don't stand a chance.

Go a little faster now, you might get there in time

Mirror, mirror on the wall
His heart was broken long before he ever came to you
Stop your tears from falling
The trail they leave is very clear for all to see at night
                                       all to see at night

In season, out of season
What's the diffirence when you don't know the reason
In one hand bread, the other a stone
The Hunter enters the forest
All are not huntsmen who can blow the huntsmen's horn
By the look of this one you've not got much to fear

Here I am, I'm very fierce and frightening
Come to match my skill to yours
Now listen here, listen to me, don't you run away now
I am a friend, I really would like to play with you
Making noises my little furry friend would make
I'll trick him, then I'll kick him into my sack
You better watch out...You better watch out

I've got you, I've got you, you'll never get away

Walking home that night
The sack across my back, the sound of sobbing on my shoulder
When suddenly it stopped
I opened up the sack, all that I had
A pool of bubbles and tears-just a pool of tears

All in all you are a very dying race
Placing trust upon a cruel world
You never had the things you thought you should have had
And you'll not get them now
And all the while in perfect time
Your tears are falling to the ground

******************************   The Squonk is of a very retiring
*          {)___/}           *   disposition and due to its ugliness,
*           (-`-)            *   it weeps constantly.  It is easy
*         //"(~)--,/""       *   prey for hunters who simply follow
*         (/  "  (/          *   the tear-stained trail.  When 
*   ,......(    )            *   captured it will dissolve itself
*  :..      (__),            *   into tears
*          //  //            * 
*         ""   ""            *           ~True Or False?~
******************************
          (a Sqounk)

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MAD MAN MOON (Banks)
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Was it summer when the river ran dry
Or was it just another dam
When the evil of the snowflake in June
Could still be a source of relief
O how I love you, I once cried long ago
But I was the one who decided to go
To search beyond the final crest
Though I'd heard it said just birds could dwell so hight

So I pretended to have wings for my arms
And took off in the air
I flew to places which the clouds never see
Too close to the deserts of sand
Where a thousand mirages, the sheperds of Lies
Forced me to land and take a disquise
I would welcome the horse's kick to send me back
If I could find a horse not made of sand

If this desert's all there'll ever be
Then tell me what becomes of me
A fall of rain?
That must have been another of your dreams
A dream of mad man moon

Hey man
I'm the sandman
And boy have I news for you
They're going to throw you in gaol
And you know that can't fail
Cos sand is thicker than blood
But a prison in sand is a haven in hell
For a gaol can give you a goal
And a goal can find you a role
In the muddy pitch in Newcastle
Where it rains so much
You can't wait for a touch 
Of sun and sand
   sun and sand

Within the valley of shaowless death
They pray for thunderclouds and rain
But to the multitude who stand in the rain
Heaven is where the sun shines
The grass will be greener till the stems turn to brown
And thoughts will fly higher till the earth brings them down
Forever caught in desert lands one has to learn to
Disbelieve the sea

If this deserts all there'll ever be
Then tell me what becomes of me
A fall of rain?
That must have been another of your dreams
A dream of mad man moon


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ROBBERY, ASSAULT & BATTERY (Banks/Collins)
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The streets were deserted though the police were alerted
They considered the phone call a hoax
Furtively glancing and jauntily prancing
The youth caught the guards unaware

Slipping between them, he ought to have seen then
The eyes and their owner so near
With torch shining bright he strode on in the night
Till he came to the room with the safe

"Hello son, I hope you're having fun"
"You've got me wrong, sir, I'm only the cleaner"
With that he fired, the other saying as he died
"You've done me wrong," it's the same old song

Robbery, assault and battery
The felon and his felony
[repeat once]

He picked up the diamonds and bundles of fivers
He pushed them well down in his sack
But the alarm had been sounded, he was completely surrounded
But he had some more tricks up his sleeve

"Come outside with your hands held high"
"You'll not get me alive, sir.  I promise you that, sir"
With that he fired, the other saying as he died
"You've done me wrong," its the same old song forever
           
Robbery, assault and battery
The felon and his felony 
[repeat once]

"He's leaving via the roof, the bastard's got away
God always fights on the side of the bad man"

"I've got clean away but I'll be back some day
Just the combination would have changed
Some day they'll catch me, to a chain they'll attach me
But util then I'll ride the old crime wave;

If they try to hold me for trial
I'll stay out of jail by paying my bail
And after I'll got to the court of appeal saying
"You've done me wrong," it's the same old song forever"

Done me wrong~same old song~done me wrong
[repeat]


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RIPPLES... (Banks/Rutherford)
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Bluegirls come in every size
Some are wise and some otherwise
They got pretty blue eyes
For an hour a man may change
For an hour her face looks strange-
Looks strange, looks strange.

Marching to the promised land
Where the honey flows and takes you by the hand
Pulls you down on your knees
While you're donw a pool appears
The face in the water looks up
And she shakes her head as if to say
That it's the last time you'll look like today

Sail away, away
Ripples never come back
Gone to the other side
Sail away, away

The face that launched a thousand ships
Is sinking fast, that happens, you know
The water gets below
Seems not very long ago
Lovelier she was than any that I know

Angels never know its time
To close the book and gracefully decline
The song has found a tale
My, what a jealous pool she is
The face in the water looks up
She shakes her head as if to say
That the bluegirls have all gone away

Sail away, away
Ripples never come back
Gone to the other side
Sail away, away

Sail away, away
Ripples never come back
They've gone to the other side
Look into the pool
Ripples never come back
Dive to the bottom and go to the top
To see where they have gone
Oh, they've gone to the other side

[repeat and fade]


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A TRICK OF THE TAIL (Banks)
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Bored of the life in the city of gold
He left and let nobody know
Gone were the towers he had known from a child
Alone with the dream of a life
He travelled the wide open road
The blinkered arcade
In search of another to share in his life
Nowhere
Everyone looked so strange to him
  
     They've got no horns and they've got no tail
     They don't even know of our existance
     Am I wrong to believe in the city of gold
     That lies in the deep distance, he cried

And wept as they led him away to a cage
'Beast that can talk' read the sign
The creatures they pushed and the plodded his frame
And questioned his story again
But soon they grew bored of their pray
Beast that can talk?
More like a freak or publicity stunt
Oh
No

     They've got no horns and they've got no tail
     They don't even know of our existance
     Am I wrong to believe in the city of gold
     That lies in the deep distance, he cried

And broke down the door of the cage and marched on out
He grabbed a creature by the scruff of his neck, pointing out:
'There beyond the bounds of your weak imagination
Lie the noble towers of my city, bright and gold
Let me take you there and show you a living story
Let me show you others such as me
Why did I ever leave?"

     They've got no horns and they've got no tail
     They don't even know of our existance
     Am I wrong to believe in the city of gold
     That lies in the deep distance, he cried and wept

And so we set out with the beast and his horns
And his crazy description of home
After many days journey we came to a peak
Where the beast gazed and cried out
We followed hi gaze and we thought that maybe we saw
A spire of gold~nope a trick of the eye, that's all
But the beast was gone and a voice was heard:

     They've got no horns and they've got no tail
     They don't even know of our existance
     Am I wrong to believe in the city of gold
     That lies in the deep distance, he cried

Hello friend, welcome home


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LOS ENDOS (Banks/Rutherford/Hackett/Collins)
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INSTRUMENTAL

(note:  at the end when this track is fading out, you can hear Phil in
        the background very faintly sing:

'There's an angel standing in the sun
Free to get back home')

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Mike Rutherford         -        12 String Guitar, Basses, Bass Pedals
Tony Banks              -        Pianos, Synthesizers, Organ, Mellotron,
                                 12 String Guitar, Backing Vocals
Phil Collins            -        Drums, percussion, lead & Backing Vocals
Steve Hackett           -        Electric Guitar, 12 String Guitars

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