Jabberwocky Revisited

Walking in the footsteps of literary giants reveals many strange things ...

In downtown Oxford, England, there is a pleasant little pub called the Eagle and Child. For a time, this pub played weekly host to the Tuesday morning meetings of the Inklings, a literary group that had at its core such names as J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, and others. Half a century earlier, Lewis Carroll - also an Oxford professor - might well also have stopped by here for an ale or two; these words find their roots in his works, and were written over a beer in the Eagle and Child on the site (according to the plaque on the pub wall) where the Inklings held their meetings.

Jabberwocky Revisited

Her majesty the Queen
Drives her motorboat machine
Down the River Thames into the sea
The caterpillar flies
While another green leaf dies
The wizard smiles it matters not to he
The rabbit in the room
Signals not the time for doom
So the train tracks dance around the bitter end
And books change up the words
To a song we've never heard
The griffin thinks he's made another friend

The lion starts to roar
While the elf can do no more
Toyota makes a killing in Japan
The question standing still
Is who will eat the bigger pill
The referees just do the best they can

      -- (And this) shattered mind
      Leaves it all behind
      Leaves it all behind
      Who knows where
      And the final score
      Doesn't tell the tale
      Who could tell the tale
      Who would dare --

His majesty the King
Teaches peasants how to sing
Their voices break the glass in Bastion Square
The barber makes a sale
While the cat stands on his tail
The tree roots wave surrender in the air
A shiny lump of coal
Chases rabbits down the hole
Says which came first, the runway or the plane
Through the empty cups of mind
Where the dormouse sleeps you'll find
The hatter is the only one who's sane

      -- ('Cause his) shattered mind
      Leaves it all behind
      Leaves it all behind
      Who knows where
      And the final score
      Doesn't tell the tale
      Who could tell the tale
      Who would dare --

The majesty of dawn
Long lost before it's gone
And found another day but who knows when
The statue's eye is teared
The wizard strokes his beard
While father time bangs mother goose again

      -- ('Cause his) shattered mind
      Leaves it all behind
      Leaves it all behind
      Who knows where
      And the final score
      Doesn't tell the tale
      Who could tell the tale
      Who would dare --

Rob – most of the keyboards; production, mixdown
Malcolm – guitar
Keith – vocals, a few keyboards, electronic percussion

music by Keith, Malcolm, and Rob
lyrics by Keith
Recorded at the Mansion On the Hill, Oct 2007.