Quicksilver Messenger Service: I Heard You Singing

words - Robert Hunter
music - David Freiberg

I heard you singing
What were you singing when the people got right?
Were you singing Stand and Deliver?
Or was it Down by the River?
Were you singing a fine old tune like Gone to Glory?
Laying it down with grace and power
Long about the midnight hour

I heard the people all singing
Like they'd never sung before
All over the country
Who could help but stand beside you?

Hello, hello - is there anybody here?
My knuckles are sore from rapping all day
I said: Give me one more chance
I'd do it for you if I had your way
If I had your way

What do I know? What do I see?
Don't know nothing but the name of the game
It's high-card draw with everything wild
You bet your life like anyone's child
What else would you want to do?

I heard the people all singing
Like they never sung before
Singing in key and strumming
Everything they heard from you
Hello, hello, hello, hello ... goodbye

Looking back across the years


Other matters disappear
In the murmur I can hear
Familiar voices loud and clear
Hello, hello, hello, hello ... goodbye

I heard you singing
Like one last song in the middle of the night
Were you singing in tongues of fire
Or was it knots of anger?

Were you singing a fine old tune like
Love Me, Love Me, Love Me Only?
Were you caught btween the curtains
Thinking this was too uncertain?

Remember ... the people were singing
Like they never sung before
All over the country
Did you love the way they loved you?

Ain't no knocker on the last big door
Just push on the panel and walk on in
Hello, hello, is there anybody here
But a two-bit high and a busted mirror?
Hello, hello - is anybody here?
My tongue is so sore from rapping all day

Sunshine in the dead on night
I know that can't be right
Could it be? I don't know
But it never done that thing before
So close to my own back door
It got me wondering what to do
And the only thing was to come and tell you
Because - I heard you singing - I heard you