John Cale: piano, harmonium, brass arrangement

Pat Donaldson: bass

Gerry Conway: drums

Tony Cox: VCS 3 



Soft lapped the bark boats 

A wounded shoulder hurt me not 

Snake - like branches quietly hid my eyes so bright in the swamp-red sun 

Soft edged the foreign words 

Coloured by the dark waves splash in the mist 

Brown the breasts and purple-stained 

Dye deep-pounded with the stone 

The warm wind now lifts the haze 

I looked and I caught my breath 

And I raised my head up high 

And I shouted out loud in my soul 

Beautiful stranger I'm glad I found you 



Bright the sky above my head 

Streaked with red and yellow wing 

Warm the mud between my toes 

Darkest green the inland trail 

Distant now the bark boats 

Golden beads on silver wire of sea 

Long bathed by salty spray 

Visions float on the dry earths smell 

Drifting back through younger days 

I looked and I caught my breath 

And I shouted out loud in my soul 

Beautiful stranger I'm glad I found you 



Moist and cool the river bank 

Laid me down against a tree 

Remembering as in a dream 

Shoulder cut in the dark waves splash 

In that place no wound there was 

Only a ring of finest bronze there gleamed 

Soft lapped the back boats 

Brown the breasts and purple stained 

River green reflect the gaze 

I looked and I caught my breath 

And I raised my head up high 

And I shouted out loud in my soul 

Beautiful stranger I'm glad I found you