"...And The Mouse Police Never Sleeps"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses (1978); Heavy Horses Remastered (2003); Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018)
Muscled, black with steel-green eye, swishing through the rye grass
With thoughts of mouse-and-apple pie, tail balancing at half-mast
And the mouse police never sleeps, lying in the cherry tree
Savage bed foot-warmer of purest feline ancestry
Look out, little furry folk! He's the all-night working cat
Eats but one in every ten, leaves the others on the mat
And the mouse police never sleeps, waiting by the cellar door
Window-box town crier, birth and death registrar
With claws that rake a furrow red, licensed to multilate
From warm milk on a lazy day, to dawn patrol on hungry hate
No, the mouse police never sleeps, climbing on the ivy
Windy roof-top weathercock, warm-blooded night on a cold tile
"Acres Wild"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses (1978); Through The Years (1997); Heavy Horses Remastered (2003); Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018)
I'll make love to you in all good places, under black mountains, in open spaces
By deep brown rivers that slither darkly, through far marches where the blue hare races
Come with me to the Winged Isle, northern father's western child
Where the dance of ages is playing still through far marches of acres wild
I'll make love to you in narrow side streets, with shuttered windows, crumbling chimneys
Come with me to the weary town, discos silent under tiles
That slide from roof-tops, scatter softly on concrete marches of acres wild
By red bricks pointed with cement fingers, flaking damply from sagging shoulders
Come with me to the Winged Isle, northern father's western child
Where the dance of ages is playing still, through far marches of acres wild
"No Lullaby"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses (1978); Live: Bursting Out (1978); Heavy Horses Remastered (2003); Live: Bursting Out Remastered (2004); Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018);
Live: Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition (2024)
Bootlegs: Rainbow Theatre London 8 May 1978 (1978)
Keep your eyes open and prick up your ears, rehearse your loudest cry
There's folk out there who would do you harm, so I'll sing you no lullaby
There's a lock on the window, there's a chain on the door, a big dog in the hall
But there's dragons and beasties out there in the night to snatch you if you fall
So come out fighting with your rattle in hand, thrust and parry
Light a match to catch the devil's eye, bring a cross of fire to the fight
And let no sleep bring false relief from the tension of the fray
Come wake the dead with the scream of life, do battle with ghosts at play
Gather your toys at the call-to-arms and swing your big bear down
Upon our necks when we come to set, you sleeping safe and sound
It's as well we tell no lie to chase the face that cries
And little birds can't fly so keep an open eye
It's as well we tell no lie, so I'll sing you no lullaby
"Moths"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses (1978); 20 Years of Jethro Tull: Flawed Gems and The Other Sides of Tull (1988); Heavy Horses Remastered (2003); Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018); 50 For 50 (2018)
The leaded window opened to move the dancing candle flame
And the first Moths of summer suicidal came
And a new breeze chattered in its May-bud tenderness
Sending water-lillies sailing as she turned to get undressed
And the long night awakened and we soared on powdered wings
Circling our tomorrows in the wary month of Spring
Chasing shadows slipping in a magic lantern slide
Creatures of the candle on a night-light-ride
Dipping and weaving, flutter through the golden needle's eye
In our haystack madness, butterfly-stroking on a Spring-tide high
Life's too long (as the Lemming said). as the candle burned and the Moths were wed
And we'll all burn together as the wick grows higher, before the candle's dead
The leaded window opened to move the dancing candle flame
And the first moths of summer suicidal came
To join in the worship of the light that never dies
In a moment's reflection of two moths, spinning in her eyes
"Journeyman"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses (1978); Heavy Horses Remastered (2003); Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018)
Spine-tingling railway sleepers, sleepy houses lying four-square and firm
Orange beams divide the darkness, rumbling fit to turn the waking worm
Sliding through Victorian tunnels, where green moss oozes from the pores
Dull echoes from the wet embankments, battlefield allotments, fresh open sores
In late night commuter madness, double-locked black briefcase on the floor
Like a faithful dog with master, sleeping in the draught beside the carriage door
To each Journeyman his own home-coming, cold supper nearing with each station stop
Frosty flakes on empty platforms, fireside slippers waiting, flip, flop
Journeyman night-tripping on the late fantasic, too late to stop for tea at Gerard's Cross
And hear the soft shoes on the footbridge shuffle, as the wheels turn biting on the midnight frost
On the late commuter special, carriage lights that flicker, fade and die
Howling into hollow blackness, dusky diesel shudders in full cry
Down redundant morning papers, abandon crosswords with a cough
Stationmaster in his wisdom told the guard to turn the heating off
Journeyman night-tripping on the late fantasic, too late to stop for tea at Gerard's Cross
And hear the soft shoes on the footbridge shuffle, as the wheels turn biting on the midnight frost
"Rover"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses (1978); Heavy Horses Remastered (2003); Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018)
I chase your every footstep and I follow every whim
When you call the tune, I'm ready to strike up the battle hymn
My lady of the meadows, my comber of the beach
You've thrown the stick for your dog's trick, but it's floating out of reach
The long road is a rainbow and the pot of gold lies there
So slip the chain and I'm off again, you'll find me everywhere, I'm a Rover
As the robin craves the summer to hide his smock of red
I need the pillow of your hair in which to hide my head
I'm simple in my sadness, resourceful in remorse
Then I'm down straining at the lead, holding on a windward course
Strip me from the bundle of balloons at every fair
Colourful and carefree, designed to make you stare
But I'm lost and I'm losing, the thread that holds me down
And I'm up hot and rising, in the lights of every town
"One Brown Mouse"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses (1978); Live: Bursting Out (1978); Heavy Horses Remastered (2003); Live: Bursting Out Remastered (2004); The Best of Acoustic Jethro Tull (2007);
Songs From The Wood: The 40th Anniversary Country Set Edition (2017); Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018); 50 For 50 (2018);
The Broadsword and The Beast: The 40th Anniversary Monster Edition (2023); Live: Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition (2024)
Bootlegs: Rainbow Theatre London 8 May 1978 (1978); Hard Times of Old England (2021); Live In Freiburg 1982 (2022)
Tributes: To Cry You A Song: A Collection of Tull Tales (1996)
Smile your little smile, take some tea with me awhile, brush away that black cloud from your shoulder
Twitch your whiskers feel that you're really real, another tea-time, another day older
Puff warm breath on your tiny hands, you wish you were a man, who every day can turn another page
Behind your glass you sit and look at my ever-open book, one brown mouse sitting in a cage
Do you wonder if I really care for you, am I just the company you keep
Which one of us exercises on the old treadmill, who hides his head, pretending to sleep?
Smile your little smile, take some tea with me awhile and every day we'll turn another page
Behind our glass we'll sit and look at our ever-open book, one brown mouse sitting in a cage
"Heavy Horses"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses (1978); The Best of Jethro Tull: The Anniversary Collection (1993); 25 Years of Jethro Tull: Remixed Classic Songs (1993); Live At The BBC (1996); 36 Greatest Hits (1998);
The Very Best of Jethro Tull (2001); Heavy Horses Remastered (2003); 'A' Remastered (2004); All The Best (2012); The String Quartets (2017);
Songs From The Wood: The 40th Anniversary Country Set Edition (2017); Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018); 50 For 50 (2018);
Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019); 'A': The 40th Anniversary A La Mode Edition (2021); The Broadsword and The Beast: The 40th Anniversary Monster Edition (2023);
Live: Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition (2024)
Bootlegs: Rainbow Theatre London 8 May 1978 (1978); Caught In The Crossfire (1980); The Pine Ian's Jig (1980); Watchers On The Storm (1980); A-OK 2/5/1981 (1981);
Jack In The Green: Live In Germany 1970-1993 (1993); Songs From The Tower (2023); Live From Baloise Session Basel 11-15-2008 (2025)
Iron-clad feather-feet pounding the dust, an October's day, towards evening
Sweat embossed veins standing proud to the plough, salt on a deep chest seasoning
Last of the line at an honest day's toil, turning the deep sod under
Flint at the fetlock, chasing the bone, flies at the nostrils plunder
The Suffolk, the Clydesdale, the Percheron vie, with the Shire on his feathers floating
Hauling soft timber into the dusk, to bed on a warm straw coating
Heavy Horses, move the land under me, behind the plough gliding, slipping and sliding free
Now you're down to the few and there's no work to do, the tractor's on its way
Let me find you a filly for your proud stallion seed, to keep the old line going
And we'll stand you abreast at the back of the wood, behind the young trees growing
To hide you from eyes that mock at your girth and your eighteen hands at the shoulder
And one day when the oil barons have all dripped dry and the nights are seen to draw colder
They'll beg for your strength, your gentle power, your noble grace and your bearing
And you'll strain once again to the sound of the gulls, in the wake of the deep plough, sharing
Standing like tanks on the brow of the hill, up into the cold wind facing
In stiff battle harness chained to the world, against the low sun racing
Bring me a wheel of oaken wood, a rein of polished leather
A Heavy Horse and a tumbling sky, brewing heavy weather
Bring a song for the evening, clean brass to flash the dawn
Across these acres glistening like dew on a carpet lawn
In these dark towns folk lie sleeping as the heavy horses thunder by
To wake the dying city with the living horseman's cry
At once the old hands quicken, bring pick and wisp and curry comb
Thrill to the sound of all the heavy horses coming home
"Weathercock"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses (1978); The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003); Heavy Horses Remastered (2003); The Best of Acoustic Jethro Tull (2007); Live Christmas At St. Bride's 2008 (2009);
Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018); 50 For 50 (2018); The Broadsword and The Beast: The 40th Anniversary Monster Edition (2023)
Bootlegs: Nostell Priory UK 08-24-1982 (1982); Hard Times of Old England (2021); Live In Freiburg 1982 (2022); Live In Switzerland 2005 (2023)
Good morning Weathercock, how did you fare last night?
Did the cold wind bite you, did you face up to the fright?
When the leaves spin from October and whip around your tail?
Did you shake from the blast, did you shiver through the gale?
Give us direction; the best of goodwill, put us in touch with fair winds
Sing to us softly, hum evening's song, tell us what the blacksmith has done for you
Do you simply reflect changes in the patterns of the sky
Or is it true to say the weather heeds, the twinkle in your eye?
Do you fight the rush of winter, do you hold snowflakes at bay?
Do you lift the dawn sun from the fields and help him on his way?
Good morning Weathercock, make this day bright, put us in touch with your fair winds
Sing to us softly, hum evening's song, point the way to better days we can share with you
"Everything In Our Lives"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018)
"Horse-Hoeing Husbandry"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018)
"Botanic Man"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018); Live: Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition (2024)
"Botanic Man Theme" (Instrumental)
music by Ian Anderson
Heavy Horses: 40th Anniversary New Shoes Edition (2018)