Octopus
(1974)


[Syd Barret]

Octopus / Golden Hair, 7" November 14, 1969


CD Ref.: Cleopatra CLEO57712
CD Date: 1993
N. CDs: 1

Tracks

01. Octopus (Barrett) info lyrics
02. Swan Lee (Silas Lang) (Barrett) info lyrics
03. Baby Lemonade (Barrett) info lyrics
04. Late Night (Barrett) info lyrics
05. Wined & Dined (Barrett) info lyrics
06. Golden Hair (Joyce) info lyrics
07. Gigolo Aunt (Barrett) info lyrics
08. Wolfpack (Barrett) info lyrics
09. It Is Obvious (Barrett) info lyrics
10. Lanky (Part One) (Barrett) info
11. No Good Trying (Barrett) info lyrics
12. Clowns & Jugglers (Barrett) info
13. Waving My Arms In The Air (Barrett) info lyrics
14. Opel (Barrett) info lyrics

Lyrics

01. Octopus (Barrett) tracks

Trip to heave and ho, up down, to and fro
you have no word
trip, trip to a dream dragon
hide your wings in a ghost tower
sails crackiling at ev'ry plate we break
cracked by scattered needles
little minute gong
coughs and clears his throat
madam you see before you stand
hey ho, never be still
the old original favourite gran
grasshoppers green herbarian band
and the tune they play in us confide...
so trip to heave and ho, up down, to and fro'
you have no word
Please leave us here
close our eyes to the octopus ride!
Isn't it good to be lost in the wood
isn't it bad so quiet there, in the wood
twenty even less to me than I thought
with a honey plough of yellow prickly seeds
clover honey pots and mystic shining feed...
well, the madcap laughed at the man on the border
hey ho, huff the talbot
Cheetah he cried shouted kangaroo
so through their tree they cried
Please leave us here
close our eyes to the octopus ride!
The madcap laughed at the man on the border
hey ho, huff the talbot
the winds they blew and the leaves did wag
and they'll never put me in their bag
the seas will reach and always see
so high you go, so low you creep
the winds it blows in tropical heat
the drones they throng on mossy seats
the squeaking door will always creep
two up, two down we'll never meet
so merrily trip for good my side
Please leave us here
close our eyes to the octopus ride!


02. Swan Lee (Silas Lang) (Barrett) tracks

Swan Lee got up at the Running Foot pow-wow,
heading from the fire to his waiting canoe.
Chattering Squaw untied the wigwam door,
the chief blew smoke rings two by two!

The land in silence stands...

Swan Lee, his boat by the bank in the darkness,
loosened the rope in the creek is entwined.
A feather from the wing of a wild young eagle,
pointed to the land where his fortune he'd find

The land in silence stands...

Swan Lee paddled on from the land of his fathers,
his eyes scanned the undergrowth on either side.
From the shore hung a hot, heavy, creature infested
tropic, Swan Lee had a bow by his side

The land in silence stands...

Swan Lee kept time, half on land, half on water,
Grizzly bear and raccoon his fare.
He followed his ears to the great water fall,
Swan Lee knew deep down that his squaw was there!

The land in silence stands....

Suddenly the rush of the mighty great thunder,
confronted Swan Lee as his song he sang,
In the dawn, with his squaw, he was battling homewards
It was all written down by Long Silas Lang.

The land in silence stands...
The land in silence stands...
The land in silence stands.


03. Baby Lemonade (Barrett) tracks

In the sad town
cold iron hands clap
the party of clowns outside
rain falls in grey far away
please, please, Baby Lemonade

In the evening sun going down
when the earth streams in, in the morning
send a cage through the post
make your name like a ghost
please, please, Baby Lemonade

I'm screaming, I met you this way
you're nice to me like ice
in the clock they sent through a washing machine
come around, make it soon, so alone...
please, please, Baby Lemonade

In the sad town
cold iron hands clap
the party of clowns outside
rain falls in grey far away
please, please, Baby Lemonade

In the evening sun going down
when the earth streams in, in the morning
send a cage through the post
make your name like a ghost
please, please, Baby Lemonade


04. Late Night (Barrett) tracks

When I woke up today
and you weren't there to play
then I wanted to be with you
when you showed me your eyes
whispered love at the skies
then I wanted to stay with you
inside me I feel alone and unreal
and the way you kiss will always be
a very special thing to me...

When I lay still at night seeing
stars high and light
then I wanted to be with you
when the rooftops shone dark
all alone (I) saw a spark
spark of love just to stay with you
inside me I feel alone and unreal
and the way you kiss will always be
a very special thing to me...

If I mention your name
turn around on a chain
then the sky opens for you
when we grew very tall
when I saw you so small
then I wanted to stay with you
inside me I feel alone and unreal
and the way you kiss will always be
a very special thing to me...


05. Wined & Dined (Barrett) tracks

Wined and dined, oh it seemed just like a dream!
Girl was so kind.
kind of love I'd never seen
only last summer, it's not so long ago...
just last summer, now must winds blow...

Wined and dined, oh it seemed just like a dream!
Girl was so kind.
kind of love I'd never seen
only last summer, it's not so long ago...
just last summer, now must winds blow...

Chalk underfoot, life I should prove
dancing in heat, our love and you...

Wined and dined, oh it seemed just like a dream!
Girl was so kind.
kind of love I'd never seen
only last summer, it's not so long ago...
just last summer, now must winds blow...


06. Golden Hair (Joyce) tracks

Lean out your window, golden hair
I heard you singing in the midnight air
my book is closed, I read no more
watching the fire dance, on the floor
I've left my book,
I've left my room

For I heard you singing through the gloom
singing and singing, a merry air
lean out the window, golden hair...

(Lyrics from a poem by James Joyce)
(Texte provenant d'un poème de James Joyce)


07. Gigolo Aunt (Barrett) tracks

Grooving around in a trench coat
with the saturn on trail
Seems to be all around in tin and lead pail, we pale
Jiving on down to the beach
to see the blue and the grey
seems to be all and it's rosy-it's a beautiful day!

Will you please keep on the track
'cause I almost want you back
'cause I know what you are
you are a giglo aunt, you're a gigolo aunt!
Yes I know what you are
you are a gigolo aunt, you're a gigolo aunt!

Heading down with the light, the dust in your way
she was angrier than, than her watershell male
life to this love to me - heading me down to me
thunderbird shale
seems to be all and it's rosy - it's a beautiful day!
will you please keep on the track
'cause I almost want you back
'cause I know what you are
you are a giglo aunt

Grooving on down in a napsack superlative day
some wish she move and just as she can move jiving away
she made the scene should have been-superlative day
everything's all and it's rosy, it's a beautiful day
will you please keep on the track
'cause I almost want you back
'cause I know what you are
you are a giglo aunt...


08. Wolfpack (Barrett) tracks

Howling the pack in formation appears
diamonds and clubs, light misted fog, the dead
waving us back in formation,
the pack in formation
bowling they bat as a group
and the leader is seen - so early...
the pack on their backs, the fighters
through misty the waving - the pack in formation
far reaching waves
on sight, shone right
I lay as if in surround...
all enmeshing, hovering...
the milder I gaze
all the animals laying trail
beyond the far winds
mild the reflecting electricity eyes...
tears, the life that was ours
grows sharper and stronger away and beyond
short wheeling - fresh spring
gripped with blanched bones - moaned
magnesium, proverbs and sobs...
howling the pack in formation appears
diamonds and clubs, light misted fog, the dead
waving us back in formation,
the pack in formation...


09. It Is Obvious (Barrett) tracks

It is obvious
may I say, oh baby, that it is found on another plane?
Yes I can creep into cupboards, sleep in the hall
your stars - my stars, a simple cock bar
only an impulse - pie in the sky
mumble listen dolly
drift over your mind - holly
creep into bed when your head's on the ground
she held the torch on the porch,
she winked an eye

Reason it is written on the brambles
stranded on the spikes - my blood red, oh listen:
remember those times I could call
through the clear day
time - be there...
braver and braver, a handkercheif waver
the louder you lips to a loud hailer
growing together, they ('re) growing each either
no wondering, stumbling, fumbling
rumbling minds shot togther,
our minds shot together...

So equally over a valley, a hill
wood on quarry stood, each of us crying
a velvet curtain of grey
mark the blanket where the sparrows play
and the trees by the waving corn stranded
my legs move the last empty inches to you
the softness, the warmth from the weather in suspense
mote to a grog - the star a white chalk
minds shot together, our minds shot together...


11. No Good Trying (Barrett) tracks

It's no good trying to place your hand
where I can't see because I understand
that you're different from me
yes I can tell
that you can't be what you pretend
and you're rocking me backwards
and you're rocking towards the
red and yellow mane of a stallion horse.

It's no good trying to hold your love
where I can't see because I understand
that you're different from me
yes I can tell
that you can't be what you pretend
the caterpillar hood won't cover the head of you
know you should be home in bed.

It's no good holding your sequin fan
where I can't see because I understand
that you're different from me
yes I can tell
that you can't be what you pretend
yes you're spinning around and around in a car
with electric lights flashing very fast...


13. Waving My Arms In The Air (Barrett) tracks

Waving My Arms In The Air / I Never Lied To You

Waving my arms in the air
love, my love, got no care
no care, no, no, pressing my feet to the ground
stand up right where you stand
call to you and what do you do
laying back in a chair?
she's so high on the air
she's so high on the air
half and half, half and half
all you have to do to call
is hold her her hand, stand a while
and then smile and we'll understand
yes we do - yes, yes we do!
Oh waht a girl I've got too!
Oh waht a girl I've got too!
with her slinky look she held her tie to her hair
(and I) could see everywhere
no-one in the land, no-one
no-one in the land, no-one
but it rains on saturday - cats and dogs in the way
stormy day, hey, hey
and you shouldn't try to be
what you can't be
and you shouldn't try to be
what you can't be
call to you and what do you do

There will be shoulders pressing in the hall
and I won't know if you're here at all
there will be wine and drinking in the yard
there won't be anybody very hard
there will be lots of things that we can do
and all and more will be for you
everything I knew I tried with you
but everything to you was never easy
so I went ahead around my world
I saw the things you do arriving by your side
to see you looking too
but I know this. I know, I never lied to you
it's been just like you're gone
for just one day for so long!
It's been so hard to bear with you not there
but thought I think of you, the things you do
when I'm with you, to be with you,
to be alone...can only think:
"Why I am here? What's meant to be?"


14. Opel (Barrett) tracks

On a distant shore, miles from land
stands the ebony totem in ebony sand
a dream in a mist of grey...
on a far distant shore...

The pebble that stood alone
and driftwood lies half buried
warm shallow waters sweep shells
so the cockles shine...

A bare winding carcase, stark
shimmers as flies scoop up meat, an empty way...
dry tears...
crisp black squeaks tore reeds
make a circle of grey in a summer way, around man
so don't ground...

I'm trying
I'm trying to find you!
To find you
I'm living, I'm giving,
To find you, To find you,
I'm living, I'm living,
I'm trying, I'm giving