John Barleycorn Must Die
Album - 1970 - Debaser id 23560

(Instrumental)

Like a hurricane around your heart when earth and sky are torn apartHe comes gathering up the bits while hoping that the puzzle fitsHe leaves you, he leaves you.Freedom riderWith a silver star between his eyes that open up at hidden liesBig man crying with defeat, see people gathering in the streetYou feel him, you feel good.Freedom riderWhen lightning strikes you to the bone, you turn around, you're allaloneBy the time you hear that silent (or siren?) sound, then your soul isin thelost and foundForever, forever.Freedom riderHere it comes

Found someone who can comfort me, but there are always exceptions
And she's good at appearing sane, but I just want you to know

She's the one makes me feel so good when everything is against me
Picks me up when I'm feeling down, so I've got something to show



Staring at empty pages, centered 'round the same plot
Staring at empty pages, flowing along in the ages

Often lost and forgotten, the vagueness and the mud
I've been thinking I'm working too hard, but I've got something to show

(Winwood/Capaldi)

Struggling with confusion, disillusionment too
Can turn a man into a shadow, crying out from pain

Through his nightmare vision, he sees nothing, only well
Blind with the beggar's mind, he's but a stranger
He's but a stranger to himself

Suspended from a rope inside a bucket down a hole
His hands are torn and bloodied from the scratching at his soul
------------------------------------------------------------------------
F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)

There were three men came out of the West,
Their fortunes for to try,
And these three men made a solemn vow:
John Barleycorn must die.

They've ploughed, they've sewn, they've harrowed him in,
Threw clods upon his head,
And these three men made a solemn vow:
John Barleycorn was dead.

They've let him lie for a very long time,
Till the rains from heaven did fall,
And little Sir John sprung up his head,
And so amazed them all.

They've let him stand till midsummer's day,
Till he looked both pale and wan,
And little Sir John's grown a long, long beard,
And so become a man.

They've hired men with the scythes so sharp,
To cut him off at the knee,
They've rolled him and tied him by the way,
Serving him most barbarously.

They've hired men with the sharp pitchforks,
Who pricked him to the heart,
And the loader he has served him worse than that,
For he's bound him to the cart

They've wheeled him around and around the field,
Till they came unto a barn,
And there they made a solemn oath,
On poor John Barleycorn.

They've hired men with the crab-tree sticks,
To cut him skin from bone,
And the miller he has served him worse than that,
For he's ground him between two stones.

And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl,
And he's brandy in the glass;
And little Sir John and the nut-brown bowl,
Proved the strongest man at last.

The huntsman, he can't hunt the fox,
Nor so loudly to blow his horn,
And the tinker he can't mend kettle nor pot,
Without a little Barleycorn

(Winwood/Capaldi)

Once again I'm northward bound, on the edge of sea and sky
Tomorrow is my friend, my one and only friend
We travel on together searching for the end

I'm a traveling soul and every mother's son
Although I'm getting tired I've got to travel on
Can you please help, my god? Can you please help, my god?
Can you please help, my god? I think it's only fair

Once again I'm northward bound, on the edge of sea and sky
Together we will go and see what waits for us
A backdoor to the universe that opens doors
------------------------------------------------------------------------
F.S. Music Ltd (PRS) & Island Music Ltd. (PRS)
All rights on behalf of F.S. Music Ltd. admin by
Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp (BMI)