Elvis Costello Follow

I sat in a motel room with the doctor
Just before we were supposed to sing
He said regarding this guardian wing
This black and clipped misshapen thing
Hobbling on from claw to ring

Hung upside down and cawing
Pecking at the carrion of the fallen
Battalion thawing
On the frozen mooring

Blackbird in a crust no more
They fell down 4 and 20
Bloodstained on the land of want and plenty
Now the raven's standing at his shoulder
Stared with eyes of molten solder

Dripping on a lacquer box
Introducing keys to locks
Seven talents there where hidden
Mysterious and some forbidden

Take the honey from the comb
Ravel thread around the loom
Dig the dirt up from the tomb

One will follow two unknown sorrow
Three for laughter and four ever after
Five-foot flood when the waters hit
Six feet deep, the eternal pit
Seven prayers and seven pleas

To eight imagined deities
Cat o' nine tails, cat of nine lives
Brides turned into old wives tales
Your complexion colors then it pales
And into the sunset it sails

Soon these secrets will be scattered
Heaven knows what lies inside
Took a moment to discover
A lifetime to decide

Take the honey from the comb
Ravel thread around the loom
Dig the dirt up from the tomb
Dr. Watson, I presume

I sat in a motel room with the doctor
Just before we were supposed to sing
He said regarding this guardian wing