From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing (1977)

I’m hearing the light from the window
I’m seeing the sound of the sea
My feet have come loose from their moorings
I’m feeling quite wonderfully free

And I think I will travel to Rio
Using the music for flight
There’s nothing I know of in Rio
But it’s something to do with the night

It’s only a whimsical notion
To fly down to Rio tonight
And I probably won’t fly down to Rio
But, then again, I just might

There’s wings to the thought behind fancy
There’s wings to the thought behind play
And dancing to rhythms of laughter
Makes laughter the rhythm of rain

So I think I will travel to Rio
Using the music for flight
There’s nothing I know of in Rio
But it’s something to do with the night

It’s only a whimsical notion
To fly down to Rio tonight
And I probably won’t fly down to Rio
But, then again, I just might

[break]
“This is the first call for flight seventy-seven to Rio de Janerio. Now boarding at gate seventeen. This is the first call.”

I feel such a sense of well-being
The problems have come to be solved
And what I thought was proper for battle
I see now is proper for love

So I think I will travel to Rio
Using the music for flight
There’s nothing that I know of in Rio
But it’s something to do with the night

It’s only a whimsical notion
To fly down to Rio tonight
And I probably won’t fly down to Rio
But, then again, I just might

[break]

I think I will travel to Rio
Using the music for flight
There’s nothing I know of in Rio
But it’s something to do with the night

It’s only a whimsical notion
To fly down to Rio tonight
And I probably won’t fly down to Rio
But, then again, I just might

“Reno? Why Reno?”
“Not Reno, dummy. Rio. Rio de Janerio.”

Motor yacht pulses in the Casablanca moonlight
Pomade and perfume fill the summer air
Ladies of the island
Ladies of estate
Mingle close and dance the rumba
That’s why they’re there

Moroccan magic pouring off the silver screen
Taking me to places no one has ever been
Fly the China Clipper
Sail the Sally B.
There’s no need to try to tell me
It’s not what it seems

And it all takes me home
It all takes me home
It all takes me home

Summer sun Havana palms sway beside the clear green sea
Movies of Havana, all that I can see
Still enchantment wakes me
Enchantment takes me
To the promise of perfection
Outside the dream

[break]

And it all takes me home
It all takes me home
It all takes me home

Motor yacht pulses in the Casablanca moonlight
Pomade and perfume fill the summer air
Ladies of the island
Ladies of estate
Mingle close and dance the rumba
That’s why they’re there

It all takes me home
It all takes me home
It all takes me home

More than we imagine
Gently, step by step
The gaze upon the heavens
Stretches far above the test
Of groping mortal senses
And their self-inflected wounds

More than we imagine
More than we even know

The fields are white with harvest
And unfolding endless rows
Harmony’s sweet blossom
And the glint of joy’s bright tune
Imagination’s empty
It’s bereft of what’s in store
Beyond its meager boundaries
Available to all

For in mind is no confinement
To reverie’s light play
Conceptions are unlimited
They are reflections of the way
Your consciousness provides for us
Ideas that light our day

And more than we ever can imagine
Life extends beyond our dreams
It spread out its lasting promises
And shelters with its wing
It strikes down ignorance and want
It lifts the drooping heart
Love guides us back to where we are
Establishing our worth

It’s more than we imagine
More than we even know
The fields are white with harvest
The triumph has been shown
The fields are white with harvest
The triumph has been shown

Every day
Along about evening
When the sunlight’s
Beginnin’ to fade
I ride
Through the slumbering shadows
Along the Navajo trail

When it’s night
And the crickets are callin’
And the coyot’s
Are making a wail
I dream
By a smouldering fire
Along the Navajo trail

Love to lie and listen to the music (Ah-ah-ah)
When the wind is strummin’ a sage brush guitar (Ah-ah-ah)
While over yonder hill, the moon is climbin’
It always finds me wishin’ on a star

Well, what do you know?
It’s mornin’ already
There’s a dawnin’
So silver and pale
It’s time
To climb into my saddle
And ride the Navajo trail

Love to lie and listen to the music (Ah-ah-ah)
When the wind is strummin’ a sage brush guitar (Ah-ah-ah)
While over yonder hill, the moon is climbin’
It always finds me wishin’ on a star

Well, what do you know?
It’s mornin’ already
There’s a dawnin’
So silver and pale
It’s time
To climb into my saddle
And ride the Navajo trail

It’s time
To climb into my saddle
And ride the Navajo trail

Did not know the language
But I understood the talk
Felt like I was standing in a wind

Started to unravel
The unmitigated walk
And from the door marked “Exit”, they came in

Was I awake? (We are awake)
Could not stop the sights before my eyes
Was I awake? (We are awake)
Unending joy that did not cease to rise
(Ah-ah-ah)
(Ooh, ah-ah-ah)
(Ooh, ah-ah-ah)

Did not seem the answer
To speak in such a rush
So I sat there and waited for the move

Something came and kissed me
And it caused my mind to blush
I touched the open hand of selfless love

I was awake (We are awake)
There could be no mistaking for a dream
I was awake (We are awake)
Nothing else establishes the theme
(Ah-ah-ah)
(Ooh, ah-ah-ah)
(Ooh, ah-ah-ah)

[break]

(Ah-ah-ah)
(Ooh, ah-ah-ah)
(Ooh, ah-ah-ah)

It came and went but did not pass
There was too much to see
Movin’ through the middle of my life

With this gentle power
It has knocked me to my knees
To watch the golden arrow as she flies

I am awake (We are awake)
Only mortal senses tie my wings
I am awake (We are awake)
Transfixed, I hear the mountains as they sing
(Ah-ah-ah)
(Ooh, ah-ah-ah)
(Ooh, ah-ah-ah)

I am awake (We are awake)
Only mortal senses tie my wings
I am awake (We are awake)
Transfixed, I hear the mountains as they sing

The forest deep within revealed the struggle
Between two lovers caught inside themselves
And each one blamed the other for the trouble
That made their cloistered lives a broken spell

But wisdom has its way
And patience has her perfect work
And you will see the day
When they both smile

Wisdom has its way
And patience has her perfect work
And you will see the day
When they both smile

The streets were yelling poverty to millions
While those who tried to help just made it worse
And lying in the dust and cut to ribbons
The fortunes of each one could find no purse

But wisdom has its way
And patience has her perfect work
And you will see the day
When they both smile

Wisdom has its way
And patience has her perfect work
And you will see the day
When they all smile

Time is pushed aside
For lessons that eternally abide
Thought marches on
Ten thousand strong
Gaining the ground and the might

[break]

The echoes of the anguished are enraging
To intellects who stare at baseless woe
While answers are successfully evading
The foolishness of those who think they know

But wisdom has its way
And patience has her perfect work
And you will see the day
When they both smile

Wisdom has its way
And patience has her perfect work
And you will see the day
When they all smile

Wisdom has its way
And patience has her perfect work
And you will see the day
When they both smile

Wisdom has its way
And patience has her perfect work
And you will see the day
When they all smile

The sharp crowded moments
And disinterested blur
Slip far back in memory
As thought rises higher

Painting scenes of forests
Welded white with snow
Breath that hung in stillness
The quietness of the road

You were warm as winter’s snowflake
Settled on your hair
That first touch was intimate
And drove away the fear

Somehow I saw the moon that night
It peaked through broken cloud
It seemed quite odd to see the moon
But I understand it now

It had come to bless
Love’s first kiss
To keep romance alive
And give us both
Sweet memories
And help our thoughts to rise

It had come to bless
Love’s first kiss
To keep romance alive
And give us both
Sweet memories
And help our thoughts to rise higher
Rise higher
Rise higher
Rise higher
Rise higher

“Count it and start it, David.”
“One, two, three, four.”

Carlos slammed his foot down
Hard upon the pavement
And watched his daydream die
Too much had been expected
From the games that he was playing
And much of what he’d said had been a lie

So now the bitter anguish
Delivered him to sadness
Too well he knew the meaning of despair
But this time, something happened
And he saw his long dilemma
As the product of his unconfronted fears

For years now he had felt like
A cork upon the ocean
And injustice was the wind that blew him ill
But he began to feel the power
Of his own enlightened thinking
Real power on beyond his human will

No, it did not come at once
It unfolded to him slowly
And the next few months were crowded with ideas
Ideas that weren’t reactive
Ideas that were brand new
And unopposed, they conquered each new fear

[break]

Well, Carlos found that consciousness
Would unfold upon its own
When lifted out of selfish, mean desire
And expose things unsuspected
That were hidden in the throes
Of jealousy and stupid mortal lies

Well, it came in bits and pieces
But it came without a doubt
And it came because his pit of gloom
Left him no other action
But to open up his thinking
And to find within his heart the other room