Lyrics Sketches of China - Grace Slick, David Freiberg, Paul Kantner

Sketches of China

He’s stronger by talk than by sight
But by sight he’ll know you
You buy him a ride he’ll know you
Somebody’s bound to lead you
Sooner or later you’re bound to go
You don’t know what this man feels like
He doesn’t care if you think you know
Somebody’s bound to lead you
If that man got a smile on his face
Sooner or later you’re bound to go
Bound to go
Let me tell you bout a man I knew
He roamed the depth and the breadth of China
On a horse that he grew himself
From the bark of a tree on mainland China
And he had a time yes he had the time of his life in China
He carried strife and harmony to all the people on the mainland
And there was a warlord who rode the murky depths of China
With a shotgun in his hand and he wondered where the people’d gone to
Have you got the time to listen while i sing this song
I had the time to listen to the man go right and wrong and right thru
China
And it ain’t what you want it’s what you need
No it ain’t what you want it’s what you need
And I’d rather be here than yesterday
It ain’t what you want it’s what you need
And there was a lady she rolled around in town in China
And there was a lady she rolled and rolled
And she killed a war she made the warlord rise in time
She sat him down took him down and she laid him out for just one more
Round
Drunk in a beautiful garden celebration
Here comes the Khan Storm the palace look for Alice
Rising Oriental girl diving back for just one more pearl
And it ain’t what she wants it’s what she needs
She don’t want your sound she wants your country
And I’d rather be next year than on the way to Bombay
It ain’t what you want it’s what you need