Time (I Want To Fly)

(Gemini, Spring Reaches for the Sky)

Missiles fly, the president lies--so what else is new?
I'm in this here apartment with a head that's full of you.
Media and magazines distract only so long,
And then I'm left with silence like the ringing of a gong.
I've caught a cold, I'm not so bold to say that I don't care:
My life and yours are too entwined, even with you out there.
I know we'll sit and talk one day, laugh at this whole thing;
Right now I'm too inside of it to forgive anything,
But in time...

Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'
Into the future
I want to fly...

I want to fly to shores that aren't my own, like Icarus, although
I'd make my wings of steelier stuff and aim my sights below
On all the rings and shiny things that gather on the ground;
Like a crow I'd dive to pick them up, an avian lost and found.
Words are like that--shiny dimes that catch my eye and ear;
You were too--but all that glitters not mine to commandeer.
A thimble, wrapper, ticking watch, of aluminum, foil, steel--
All gleam the same, though different things in shininess conceal,
Just like time...

Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'
Into the future.
Into the future.
I want to fly like an eagle
Fly like an eagle to the sea
Fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me
I want to fly like an eagle 'til I'm free
Fly through the revolution

So admit it--now you're not around,
You regret it--the way it went down;
There I said it--so gimme a break;
I won't let it be a word that makes
Us part in a leaden way,
Like a Hollywood couple on holiday--
There's got to be a compromise
For those of us who philosophize
About how we're different from the tribe,
How it's up to us to keep alive
Our own traditions, our own things--
Shiny wrappers and golden rings;
I've got mine sitting in a drawer--
More glittering baubles than I have room for;
But all of this stuff only serves to remind:
Eventually, all we have is
Time....

Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'
Into the future
Doo-doo-doodoo
I want to fly...

I want to fly like a crow or Icarus, buzz the flickering ground--
Wrappers, rings, and sun-caught things; distractions of sight and sound.
My life and yours are too entwined to truly separate;
I guess these seeming accidents have more to do with fate.
But eventually, I realize, there's no one left but me--
Facing my own demons, at least the ones I see;
I'm left with time....

Time keeps on
Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin'
Into the future


© Alan Reade, 2001
Lyrical excerpts are from "Fly Like an Eagle" by the Steve Miller Band.