1976 A Trick Of The Tail - Genesis

 L.P U.K - Charisma Records - CDS 4001.

Contraportada.

 Interior carpeta.

 Interior.

 Interior.

Interior.

Album Lyrics:

Dance on a Volcano.

(Rutherford, Banks, Hackett, Collins)

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 stone 

So you better start doing it right 

better start doing it right. 

You're halfway up and you're halfway down 

And the pack on your back is turning you around. 

Throw it away, you won't need it up there, 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 heroes 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.

Entangled.

(Hackett, Banks)

When you're asleep they may show you 

Aerial views of the ground, 

Freudian slumber empty of sound. 

Over the rooftops and houses, 

Lost as it tries to be seen, 

Fields of incentive covered with green. 

Mesmerised 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 our kindness and skill 

You'll have no trouble until 

You catch your breath 

And the nurse will present you the bill!" 

Squonk.

(Rutherford, Banks)

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 our eyes. 

All the while in perfect time 

His tears are falling on the ground 

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 difference 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 huntsman'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'd really 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 on the ground.

Mad Man Moon.

(Banks)

Was it summer when the river ran dry, 

Or was it just another dam. 

When the evil of a 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 high. 

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 shepherds of lies 

Forced me to land and take a disguise. 

I would welcome a 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 sand man. 

And boy have I news for you; 

They're gonna throw you in goal 

And you know they can't fail 

'Cos sand is thicker than blood. 

But a prison in sand is a haven in hell, 

For a goal can give you a goal 

[and a] goal can find you a role 

On a 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 shadowless 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 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.

Robbery, Assault and Battery.

(Banks, Collins)

The streets were deserted though the police were alerted, 

They considered the phone call a hoax. 

Furtively glancing then 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 it 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 forever. 

Robbery, assault and battery, the felon and his felony. 

Robbery, assault and battery, the felon and his felony. 

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," 

it's the same old song forever. 

Robbery, assault and battery, the felon and his felony. 

Robbery, assault and battery, the felon and his felony. 

"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 will have changed. 

Some day they'll catch me, 

to a chain they'll attach me, 

Until that day I'll ride the old crime wave. 

If they try to hold me for trial 

I'll stay out of goal by paying my bail 

And after I'll go 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.

Ripples.

(Rutherford, Banks)

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 down 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 it's time 

To close the book and gracefully decline, 

The song has found a tale. 

My, what a jealous pool is she. 

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. 

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... 

Sail away, away 

Ripples never come back. 

Gone to the other side. 

Look into the pool, 

The ripples never come back, come back, 

Dive to the bottom and go to the top 

To see where they have gone 

They've gone to the other side 

A Trick of the Tail.

(Banks)

Bored of the life on the City of Gold 

He'd left and let nobody know. 

Gone were the towers he had known from a child, 

Alone with the dream of a life 

He traveled 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 existence. 

Am I wrong to believe in a 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 they prodded his frame 

And questioned his story again. 

But soon they grew bored of their prey 

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 existence. 

Am I wrong to believe in a 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 you weak imagination 

Lie the noble towers of my city, bright and gold. 

Let me take you there, 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 existence 

Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold 

That lies in the deep distance, he cried. And wept. 

And so we set out with the best and his horns 

And his crazy description of home. 

After many days journey we came to a peak 

Where the beast gazed abroad and cried out. 

We followed his gaze and we thought that maybe we saw 

A spire of gold - no, 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 existence 

Am I wrong to believe in a city of gold 

That lies in the deep distance 

Hello friend, welcome home.

Los Endos.

(Collins, Hackett, Rutherford, Banks)

Instrumental.

Promo:

 Atco Records - Promo.

Charisma Records - Promo NME 1976-02.

  Atco Records - Promo.

  Atco Records - Promo.

Charisma Records - Promo.