Birdland - Recorded At Electric Lady Studios Patti Smith

(Patti--spoken:)
This song is called Birdland and it was recorded here at Electric Lady Studios in 1975 on our first album Horses.

His father died and left him a little farm in New England
All the long black funeral cars left the scene
And the boy was just standing there alone
Looking at the shiny red tractor
Him and his daddy used to sit inside
And circle the blue fields and grease the night
It was as if someone had spread butter
On all the fine points of the stars
'Cause when he looked up they started to slip
Then he put his head in the crux of his arms
And he started to drift, drift, drift to the belly of a ship
Let the ship slide open, and he went inside of it
And saw his daddy behind the control board
Streaming beads of light
He saw his daddy behind the control board
And he was very different tonight
'Cause he was not human, he was not human

Little boy's face lit up with such naked joy
That the sun burned around his lids and his eyes were like two suns
White lids, white opals, seeing everything just a little bit too clearly
And he looked around and there was no black ship in sight
There were no black funeral cars, there was nothing except for him the raven
And fell on his knees and looked up and cried out
No, daddy, don't leave me here alone
Take me up, daddy, to the belly of your ship
Let the ship slide open and I'll go inside of it
Where you are not human, you are not human