"North Sea Oil"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch (1979); Stormwatch Remastered (2004); 50 For 50 (2018); Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
Black and viscous, bound to cure blue lethargy, sugar-plum petroleum for energy
Tightrope-balanced payments, need a small reprieve, oh, please believe, we want to be in North Sea Oil
New-found wealth sits on the shelf of yesterday, hot-air balloon inflation soon will make you pay
Riggers rig and diggers dig their shallow grave, but we'll be saved and what we crave is North Sea Oil
Prices boom in Aberdeen and London Town, ten more years to lay the fears, erase the frown
Before we are all nuclear, the better way, oh, let us pray, we want to stay in North Sea Oil
"Orion"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch (1979); Stormwatch Remastered (2004); Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
Bootlegs: Watchers On The Storm (1980)
Orion, won't you give me your star sign, Orion, get up on the sky-line
I'm high on my hill and I feel fine, Orion, let's sip the heaven's heady wine
Orion, light your lights, come guard the open spaces, from the black horizon to the pillow where I lie
Your faithful dog shines brighter than its lord and master, your jewelled sword twinkles as the world rolls by
So come up singing above the cloudy cover, stare through at people who toss fitful in their sleep
I know you're watching as the old gent by the station scuffs his toes on old fag packets lying in the street
Orion, won't you give me your star sign, Orion, get up on the sky-line
I'm high on my hill and I feel fine, Orion, let's sip the heaven's heady wine
And silver shadows flick across the closing bistro, sweet waiters link their arms and patter down the street
Their words lost blowing on cold winds in darkest Chelsea, prime years fly fading with each young heart's beat
Orion, won't you make me your star sign, Orion, get up on the sky-line
I'm high on my hill and I feel fine, Orion, let's sip the heaven's heady wine
And young girls shiver as they wait by lonely bus-stops, after sad parties, no-one to take them home
To greasy bed-sitters and make a late-night play, for lost virginity a thousand miles away
Orion, won't you make me your star sign, Orion, get up on the sky-line
I'm high on my hill and I feel fine, Orion, let's sip the heaven's heady wine
"Home"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch (1979); Stormwatch Remastered (2004); Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
Bootlegs: Watchers On The Storm (1980)
As the dawn sun breaks over sleepy gardens, I'll be here to do all things to comfort you
And though I've been away, left you alone this way, why don't you come awake and let your first smile take me home
The shadows in the park were longer yesterday and Lady Luck stood still, waiting for the kill
And on a jumbo ride over seas grey, deep and wide,I flew for heaven's sake and let the angels take me home
Down steep and narrow lanes, I see the chimneys smoking, above the golden fields, know what the robin feels
In his summer jamboree, all elements agree in sweet and stormy blend, midwife to winds that send me home
"Dark Ages"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch (1979); Stormwatch Remastered (2004); Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
Bootlegs: Watchers On The Storm (1980)
Darlings are you ready for the long winter's fall? Said the lady in her parlor, said the butler in the hall
Is there time for another? Cried the drunkard in his sleep, not likely said the little child, what's done the lord can keep
And the vicar stands a-praying and the television dies, as the white dot flickers and is gone and no-one stops to cry
Dark Ages, shaking the dead, closed pages, better not read, cold rages, burn in your head
The big jet rumbles over runway miles that scar the patchwork green, where slick tycoons and rich buffoons have opened up the seam
Of golden nights and champagne flights, ad-man overkill, and in the haze, consumer crazed, we take the sugar pill
Dark Ages, shaking the dead, closed pages, better not read, cold rages, burn in your head
Jagged fires mark the picket lines, the politicians weep, and mealy-mouthed, down corridors of power on tip-toe creep
Come and see bereaucracy make its final heave and let the new disorder through while senses take their leave
Dark Ages, shaking the dead, closed pages, better not read, cold rages, burn in your head
Families screaming line the street and put the windows through, in corner shops where keepers kept the country's life-blood blue
Take their pick and try the trick with loaves and fishes shared, and the vicar shouts as the lights go out and no-one really cares
Dark Ages, shaking the dead, closed pages, better not read, cold rages, burn in your head
"Warm Sporran" (Instrumental)
music by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch (1979); Stormwatch Remastered (2004); Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
"Something's On The Move"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch (1979); Stormwatch Remastered (2004); Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
Bootlegs: Watchers On The Storm (1980); A-OK 2/5/1981 (1981); Nostell Priory UK 08-24-1982 (1982)
She wore a black tiara, rare gems upon her fingers, and she came from distant waters where northern lights explode
To celebrate the dawning of the new wastes of winter, gathering royal momentum on the icy road
With chill mists swirling, like petticoats in motion, sighted on horizons for ten thousand years
The lady of the ice sounds a deathly distant rumble to Titanic-breaking children lost in melting crystal tears
Oh, sunshine, take me now away from here, I'm a needle on a spiral in a groove
And the turntable spins as the last waltz begins and the weather-man says something's on the move
Capturing black pieces in a glass-fronted museum, the white queen rolls on the chessboard of the dawn
Squeezing through the valleys, pausing briefly in the corries, the Ice-Mother mates and a new age is born
Oh, sunshine, take me now away from here, I'm a needle on a spiral in a groove
And the turntable spins as the last waltz begins and the weather-man says something's on the move
Driving all before her un-stoppable, un-straining her cold creaking mass, follows reindeer down
Thin spreading fingers seek to embrace the sill-warm bundles that huddle on the doorsteps of a white London Town
Oh, sunshine, take me now away from here, I'm a needle on a spiral in a groove
And the turntable spins as the last waltz begins and the weather-man says something's on the move
She wore a black tiara, rare gems upon her fingers, and she came from distant waters where northern lights explode
To celebrate the dawning of the new wastes of winter, gathering royal momentum on the icy road
Oh, sunshine, take me now away from here, I'm a needle on a spiral in a groove
And the turntable spins as the last waltz begins and the weather-man says something's on the move
"Old Ghosts"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch (1979); Stormwatch Remastered (2004); Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
Bootlegs: Watchers On The Storm (1980)
Hair stands high on the cat's back, like a ridge of threatening hills
Sheepdogs howl, make tracks and growl, their tails hanging low
And young children falter in their games at the altar of life's hide-and-seek
Between tall pillars where Sunday-night killers in grey raincoats peek
I'll be coming again like an old dog in pain, blown through the eye of the hurricane
Down to the stones where old ghosts play
Misty colours unfold a backcloth cold, fine tapestry of silk
I draw around me like a cloak and soundless glide a-drifting
On eddies whirled in beech leaves furled, brown and gold they fly
In the warm mesh of sunlight sifting now from a cloudless sky
I'll be coming again like an old dog in pain, blown through the eye of the hurricane
Down to the stones where old ghosts play
Yes, I'll be coming again like an old dog in pain, blown through the eye of the hurricane
Down to the stones where old ghosts play
"Dun Ringill"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch (1979); 20 Years of Jethro Tull: The Essential Tull (1988); The Best of Jethro Tull: The Anniversary Collection (1993); Stormwatch Remastered (2004);
'A' Remastered (2004); The Best of Acoustic Jethro Tull (2007); All The Best (2012); 50 For 50 (2018); 50th Anniversary Collection (2018);
Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
Bootlegs: Watchers On The Storm (1980); A-OK 2/5/1981 (1981)
Six. The weathers on the change.
Lines joint in faint discord and the stormwatch brews a concert of kings
as the white sea snaps at the heels of a soft prayer whispered
Clear light on a slick palm as I mis-deal the day
Slip the night from a shaved pack, make a marked card play
Call twilight hours down from a heaven home
High above the highest bidder for the good Lord's throne
In the wee hours I'll meet you down by Dun Ringill
Oh, and we'll watch the old gods play by Dun Ringill
We'll wait in stone circles 'til the force comes through
Lines joint in faint discord and the stormwatch brews
A concert of kings as the white sea snaps at the heels of a soft prayer whispered
In the wee hours I'll meet you down by Dun Ringill
Oh, and I'll take you quickly by Dun Ringill, by Dun Ringill, by Dun Ringill
"Flying Dutchman"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch (1979); Stormwatch Remastered (2004); Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
Old lady with a barrow; life near ending, standing by the harbour wall, warm wishes sending
Children on the cold sea swell, not fishers of men
Gone to chase away the last herring, come empty home again
So come all you lovers of the good life on your supermarket run
Set a sail of your own devising and be there when the Dutchman comes
Oh, you'd better be there when the Dutchman comes
Wee girl in a straw hat, from far east warring, sad cargo of an old ship, young bodies whoring
Slow ocean hobo, ports closed to her crew, no hope of immigration, keep on passing through
So come all you lovers of the good life, your children playing in the sun
Set a sympathetic flag a-flying, oh, and be there when the Dutchman comes
Oh, you'd better be there when the Dutchman comes
Death grinning like a scarecrow, Flying Dutchman
Seagull pilots flown from nowhere, try and touch one
As she slips in on the full tide and the harbour-master yells
All hands vanished with the captain, no one left, the tale to tell
So come all you lovers of the good life, look around you, can you see?
Staring ghostly in the mirror, it's the Dutchman you will be
Floating slowly out to sea, in a misty misery
"Elegy" (Instrumental)
music by David Palmer
Stormwatch (1979); Stormwatch Remastered (2004); Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019); Live In Berlin 1985 (2025)
Bootlegs: Watchers On The Storm (1980); Live In Berlin 1985 (2023)
Tributes: A Classic Case (1985)
"A Single Man" (Instrumental)
music by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019); Live: Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition (2024)
"Urban Apocalypse"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
---to come---
"Man of God"
music and lyrics by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)
I'm a Man of God
"Rock Instrumental (Unfinished Master)" (Instrumental)
music by Ian Anderson
Stormwatch: 40th Anniversary Force 10 Edition (2019)