Crew Nights lyrics

Song information

Artist: Jethro Tull
Album: Nightcap: The Unreleased Masters 1973-1991

Lyrics

Tear it down in double quick time
To get the eighth truck shifted 'bout midnight
The locker rooms are empty but the [strobo tickers?][strobe boats?]
Still spin with their pitching lights
And someone with a yellow pass
Gives out precise directions as to where and when

And here am I with a drumstick
While young girls set to rendezvous, and be recognized again
Tomorrow is an off-day
Be in baltimore by thursday is the only law
There's a suite down at the hotel
Reserved for making merry with connecting doors
The lighting man's already improvised a bar
And printed invitations to the ball
Off duty cops line corridors wearing tull [two?] t-shirts proudly
On the band's [...] wall

Crew nights, no flashlights or folding knives
Best boots and road suits and nine lives

Feeling that it might be wrong to
Temporarily belong to the p.a. man [men?]
Some angel from the midwest is regretting being
Undressed with no suntan
His polaroid is snapping
The head carpenter is rapping on
The gates of dawn

Sitting lonely with a warm beer
The girl with dental braces wishes that she hadn't gone

Crew nights, no bar fights or [feeders?] [veeders?] wives
Thin walls and late [blade?] calls and nine lives

[Ken stitzel writes: still no clue on the first line, but I think
''Late calls'' is definitely correct for the second line. it makes
Sense from a stagehand terminology perspective. I know that it
Sounds like there's a ''b'' sound in there, but I think it's just a
Minor flaw in ian's diction. (it's really tough to sing clearly
Especially in rock music.)]

Crew nights, no flashlights or folding knives
Best boots and road suits and nine lives