Lyrics from Taste the Wall (this page)
Lyrics from Summerland
Lyrics from Diogenes

1. "Taste the Wall"
Lyrics copyright 1996 Polly Moller/Silver Wheel Music

Once there was a child born in chains just like all the children of her tribe
and day by day week by week the chains grew heavier
They told her, we are the people who live humbly behind the wall
We wear our chains to remember that it's there
And then one morning she awoke to find that the chains had melted away in the warmth of the sun

What is it they say about the wall, that nobody who reached it ever lived to tell the tale?
She said, well if I must meet the wall, I'll build up a good head of steam, maybe I can knock it over, 'cause without my chains I can fly
A crowd gathered, looking up, they all cried out
"child, come down, you'll hurt yourself"
Looking down she said

2. "Keeny Zuke"
Lyrics copyright 1996 Polly Moller/Silver Wheel Music

I sensed you with my right hand
Before I saw you dancing
I sensed you with my left hand
Before I saw your eyes
I hear your mother warned you
What your eyes would do to me
Is it all right if I watch you
Is it all right if I stare

Blake says, I will find out
Thy bed of crimson joy
And I will with my hunger
Thy complacent life destroy
I promise I won't hurt you
I won't disappoint you either
Do you think it might be fun
If they all saw us leave together

3. "Smoke"
Lyrics by Jenny Valcov

Breath control must be very important to a flute player.
Feel the sensation in your lungs as you breathe in and out.
Smoking is like that, only the smoke adds a slightly irritating quality.
Sounds strange, but it's a little like scratching an itch,
or a very mild nerve pain,
not yet strong enough to cause real pain,
but just enough to be an interesting distraction.

4. "Skara Brae"
Lyrics traditional in Scots Gaelic, collected by Mr. Carmichael for the "Carmina Gaedelica"

Ri faicinn domh na gealaich uir
Is duth domh mo shuil a thogail
Is duth domh ma ghlun a leagail
Is duth domh ma cheann a bhogadh
Tor cliu dhuit fein, a re nan iul
Gum faca mi thu a rithist,
Gum faca mi a ghealach ur
Ailleagan iuil na slighe.
Is iomadh neach a chaidh a null
Eadar uine an da ghealaich
Ged tha mise a mealtainn fuinn,
A re nan re's nam beannachd!

5. "The Swan"
Verse lyrics copyright 1996 Polly Moller/Silver Wheel Music...
chorus lyrics collected by Mr. Carmichael for the "Carmina Gaedelica"

Buried somewhere in the mix
I can almost hear your laughter
With your chubby little fingers
you pulled off both my wings
If I took enough of the right kind of drug
Maybe I could climb out of the boiling water on your stove
And if I'm smart I'll bring both barrels of a shotgun to end your reign
Reign of terror, reign of error and your arbitrary rage
And cut down my hanged kinfolk
from the helpless anguished trees
Empathy has no place
in a matter of survival

From my window I see the lake
From the lake I gather my courage
From my window I watch the swans
From my window I watch and wait
For the city to destroy me

6. "Four Lives"
Lyrics copyright 1997 Polly Moller/Silver Wheel Music

Shall I tell you about my four lives
One life I lived lasted but an hour
Just as I'd managed to break through my shell
Something enclosed me my feet hanging down
The only things I said were some small calls for Mother
And I was thrown to land smack on the water
Where the crocodiles floated in green
Crushed and swallowed and dissolved alive
There was no air to convey my cries

One life I lived lasted quite a while
I circled many years in green
watching huge dinners just out of reach
They'd throw small living morsels at me
that melted so quickly away
I learned every minute detail of my enclosure
And once I raged and bit my keeper
How salty was his blood and flesh
The last I remember before the shotgun blast

One life I lived lasted twenty years
and when I was five I was the only son
Mother handed me something damp
with pink horny feet that moved so slow
It had a small bleating voice
Mother's eyes laughed and she told me to throw
I threw hard and hoped she was pleased
I almost hit one of the floating things

One life I lived to be an old, old man
with daughter grown and married to a rich man
I knew I had done the right thing to keep her hidden
when she was born, she was my second child
I was relieved and still so very proud
when she brought my grandson into the world
And the three of us journeyed together
to see the zoo and buy a newborn chick
for my treasure to feed the crocodiles.

7. "Road Spiders"
Lyrics copyright 1995 Polly Moller/Silver Wheel Music

Clearly I've been on the road too long
I'm seeing what should not be seen
Sky shining on the road
The road gleaming over there
The moving light is getting closer
The light is made of spiders
Spiders of all sizes
and they're coming this way

8. "Aerodynamic"
Lyrics copyright 1997 Polly Moller/Silver Wheel Music

A father and his daughter hand in hand
approach the airplane, slowly getting closer
It's early morning and the parking lot is empty
except some men in uniform
guarding a creature so superb
ringed with velvet ropes for all to see
The father says, what a fabulous flying machine
Our country's greatest weapon, the F-16

The daughter is now full grown
and she stands briefcase in hand
before the terminal window
Under a dark Chicago sky
the plane waits with windscreen eyes
An attendant speaks, a little too loudly
Ladies and gentlemen, de-icing is complete
This is your final boarding call