Go Tell the Drummer Man

Silver drums, rhythms that he hums 
Waltzing dogs, that come when he calls 
Plans for one he keeps in a coffer 
What can I offer, I don't know 

Can I bring him love words to sing him 
Like some foolish magi 
I'll be gone and words in a song 
Won't even last till sunrise 

Go tell the drummer man 
The time glass is out of sand 
Ask him to understand 
And wait for me, and wait for me 

Streets and parks
Waltzes in the dark
Lovers now, when time will allow
An afternoon, the kind to believe in 
Why am I leaving? I don't know
Distant places, just empty spaces
Till we are together
What can I bring, time leaves me nothing
I wonder will it ever

Go tell the drummer man 
The time glass is out of sand 
Ask him to understand 
And wait for me, and wait for me 

Silver birds fly away like words 
In the wind, and soon I'll be in
Another world
The land of without him
What's it about, this other world

Go tell the drummer man 
The time glass is out of sand 
Ask him to understand
And wait for me, and wait for me

--Joni Mitchell (1943- ), Canadian singer-songwriter, artist, and poet, unreleased song written in 1967



Image: Ginger Baker, drummer for Cream, who passed away earlier this month.