Opel Lyrics (Syd Barrett Solo Album)

[The Piper]

Opel (Barrett)

On a distant shore, miles from land
stands the ebony totem in ebony sand
a dream in a mist of gray...
on a far distant shore...

The pebble that stood alone
and driftwood lies half buried
warm shallow waters sweep shells
so the cockles shine...

A bare winding carcass, stark
shimmers as flies scoop up meat, an empty way...
dry tears...
crisp flax squeaks tall reeds
make a circle of gray in a summer way, around man
stood on ground...

I'm trying
I'm trying to find you!
To find you
I'm living, I'm giving,
To find you, To find you,
I'm living, I'm living,
I'm trying, I'm giving

---

Clowns And Jugglers (Barrett)

Trip to heave and ho, up down, to and fro'
you have no word
trip, trip to a dream dragon
hide your wings in a ghost tower
sails cackling at every plate we break
was cracked by scattered needles
the little minute gong
coughs and clears his throat
madam you see before you stand
hey ho, never be still
the old original favorite grand
grasshoppers green Herbarian band
and the tune they play is "In Us Confide"
so trip to heave and ho, up down, to and fro'
you have no word
Please leave us here
close our eyes to the octopus ride!

Isn't it good to be lost in the wood
isn't it bad so quiet there, in the wood
meant even less to me than I thought
with a honey plough of yellow prickly seeds
clover honey pots and mystic shining feed...
the madcap laughed at the man on the border
hey ho, huff the Talbot
the winds they blew and the leaves did wag
they'll never put me in their bag
the raging seas will always seep
so high you go, so low you creep
the wind it blows in tropical heat
the drones they throng on mossy seats
the squeaking door will always squeak
two up, two down we'll never meet
Please leave us here
close our eyes to the octopus ride!

Sit up, touching hips
to a madcap galloping chase
"Cheat" he cried shouting kangaroo
it's true in their tree they cried
Please leave us here
close our eyes to the octopus ride!
The madcap laughed at the man on the border
hey ho, huff the Talbot

---

Rats (Barrett)

Got it hit down
spot knock inside a spider
says: "That's love yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"
"That's love yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"
says: "That's love - All know it
TV, teeth, feet, peace, feel it...
"That's love yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"
"That's love yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"

like the fall that brings me to
I like the fall that brings me to
I like the cord around sinew
I make a cord around sinew

Duck, the way to least is less
Tea craving of the metal west
'ell tomorrow's rain and test
'ell tomorrow's rain and test
Love an empty son and guess
Love an empty son and guess
pimples dangerous and blessed

Heaving, arriving, tinkling
mingling jets and statuettes
seething wet we meeting fleck
seething wet we meeting fleck
lines and winds and crib and half
each fair day I give you half
of each fair day I give you half
I look into your eyes and you,
flathe in the sun for you...

Bam, spastic, tactile engine
heaving, crackle, slinky, dormy, roofy, wham
I'll have them, fried bloke
broken jardy, cardy, smoocho, moocho, paki, pufftle
sploshette moxy, very smelly,
cable, gable, splintra, channel
top the seam he's taken off

rats, rats lay down flat
we don't need you, we act like that
and if you think you're un-loved
then we know about that...
rats, rats, lay down flat!
yes, yes, yes, yes, lay down flat!

---

Golden Hair (Barrett/Joyce)

(These lyrics are originally from "Chamber Music" by James Joyce (1907)

Lean out your window, golden hair
I heard you singing in the midnight air
my book is closed, I read no more
watching the fire dance, on the floor
I've left my book, I've left my room

For I heard you singing through the gloom
singing and singing, a merry air
lean out the window, golden hair...

---

Dolly Rocker (Barrett)

(Dolly Rocker... It's called Dolly Rocker... It's an old make of dress...
Well, months old, you know.. that sort of thing)

I know a sweet girl
she done went out and paid for me
was a sweet girl
after five we went for tea
She seen a Dolly Rocker
She want a girl, she got her
I wanna see her, I know I do
I love you darling, all for you.

You want to meet Pearl?
she's as cute as a squirrel's nut.
She done seen me
said she thought she got the lot.
She's a Dolly Rocker
want to wait 'till I got her
said she knew I know we know I do
said she gotta see me lonely with you.

Oceans may travel, away too long
senses in the gravel, to see yourself at home
nice to be at home
all I'll ever do forever
all my life, you see, when you got her
all I know, you know, I show you, baby
through your head push to you, baby
is a Dolly Rocker.
She know what she got her
She seen a Dolly Rocker
She seen a Dolly Rocker

---

Word Songs (Barrett)

(We're running)
Stained, glaucous, glycerine, gold, goat, clover
gold, local stocks, type, food, wild, national, lake, flag,
valve, gyroscope, sect
heat, helium, lead, bare, state, invention, medieval
refraction, faction, ultra-action,
hunter, interest, bullet, market...

Loads, liquids, neon, heater, jaws, jungle
mains, signal, knives, kitchen
ingot, lovely, mirror, mold
Mycenaean, moat, poppy, rubber,
radar, rags, sugar, teak
silver, poke, tin, beetroot,
carrot, ebony, fruit, copper, silk...

Carpet, distant, pigmy, hid, pack,
timber, pudding, straw
raindrops, spattering, ramps
chameleon, prairie, pods, trigger
museum, scales, square, ultra, out of map, vent
volcano, vain, wreck, tactic
tidal, arches, valley, hand
inflect, impression, loom, last, molten
you gamma, meeting
lighting, signal, island, coral-cold

---

Wined And Dined (Barrett)

Wined and dined, oh it seemed just like a dream!
Girl was so kind.
kind of love I'd never seen
only last summer, it's not so long ago...
just last summer, now musk winds blow...

Wined and dined, oh it seemed just like a dream!
Girl was so kind.
kind of love I'd never seen
only last summer, it's not so long ago...
just last summer, now musk winds blow...

Chalk underfoot, life I should prove
dancing in heat, our love and you...

Wined and dined, oh it seemed just like a dream!
Girl was so kind.
kind of love I'd never seen
only last summer, it's not so long ago...
just last summer, now musk winds blow...

---

Swan Lee (Silas Lang) (Barrett)

Swan Lee got up at the Running Foot pow-wow,
heading from the fire to his waiting canoe.
Chattering Squaw untied the wigwam door,
the chief blew smoke rings two by two!

The land in silence stands...

Swan Lee, his boat by the bank in the darkness,
loosened the rope in the creek is entwined.
A feather from the wing of a wild young eagle,
pointed to the land where his fortune he'd find

The land in silence stands

Swan Lee paddled on from the land of his fathers,
his eyes scanned the undergrowth on either side.
From the shore hung a hot, heavy, creature infested
tropic, Swan Lee had a bow by his side

The land in silence stands

Swan Lee kept time, half on land, half on water,
Grizzly bear and raccoon his fare.
He followed his ears to the great water fall,
Swan Lee knew deep down that his squaw was there!

The land in silence stands....

Suddenly the rush of the mighty great thunder,
confronted Swan Lee as his song he sang,
In the dawn, with his squaw, he was battling homewards
It was all written down by Long Silas Lang.

The land in silence stands...
The land in silence stands...
The land in silence stands.

---

Birdie Hop (Barrett)

Birdie Hop - he do, he hop along
a lonely bird upon a window there
he, he, there he blow
a windy snow, he knew the snow,
I know the snow, a hoppy bird

The antelope ride around the parasol
just to see if he's a man
enough to meet you in the sandpit
on a flying kind of sign in a meddlesome way
you know the way - I see the flies
she's a little kite the sort
you think you might like to fly
and like a kite you get to see her
every night, you know the way
she's only paving her way -
hectochrome plane - I see the flies.

Birdie Hop - he do, he hop along
a lonely bird upon a window there
he, he, there he blow
a windy snow, he knew the snow,
I know the snow, a hoppy bird

A camel woke up to a polish dawn
wouldn't look to see his feet had gone
he wouldn't like it
wouldn't have the strength to fight it,
I see the flies
I'm the only bird, a little third,
I lost a quarter
had a yearning to be earning just a dollar a day
in a way you shouldn't like it, hectochrome plane
I see the flies.

---

Let's Split (Barrett)

Everything about,
about to go out,
me out, you out,
yes and everything is out
about, out...
out, out, out, out, out, out,
Let's split!
I'm telling you this is it!

Everything is down,
and hound, hound, hound
back down, down, down
even everything is down
abound and down,
down, down, down, down, down, down
Let's split!
Tellin' you this is it!

Nobody is right tonight,
night, height, right, tight,
it isn't right
Me out, you out
And everything is out
out, out, out, out, out, out
Let's split!

Hold it, can you?
That's all - just.

---

Wouldn't You Miss Me (Dark Globe) (Barrett)

Oh where are you now
pussy willow that smiled on this leaf?
When I was alone you promised the stone from your heart
my head kissed the ground
I was half the way down, treading the sand
please, please, lift a hand
I'm only a person whose armbands beat
on his hands, hang tall
won't you miss me?
Wouldn't you miss me at all?

The poppy birds way
swing twigs coffee brands around
brandish her wand with a feathery tongue
my head kissed the ground
I was half the way down, treading the sand
please, please, please lift the hand
I'm only a person with Eskimo chain
I tattooed my brain all the way...
Won't you miss me?
Wouldn't you miss me at all?

---

Milky Way (Barrett)

What'd you ever say today when you're in the milky way

oh tell me please
if I met you - I told you what to do
seems a while
since I could smile the way you do...

how many times, if I try, if I may,
when you're in the milky way

half of your time -beside me only atmosphere
since I could smile the way you do...

What can anyone mean to you
standing in the milky way

take life easy
Why so empty...?
I told you - I can tell you
what to do - when I hold you
and I tell you "I love you"
I feel that I'm way you do...

Give a grasp of life today
when you're in the milky way
oh, try to please! Knock on wood of the trees
glad you, mold you, mold you and hold you
means five miles
and everyway for you...

[The Piper]

• Album information (from Discography)