Tear it down in double quick time 

To get the eighth truck shifted 'bout midnight 

The locker rooms are empty but the [Strobo Tickers?][strobe boats?] 

still spin with their pitching lights 

And someone with a yellow pass 

Gives out precise directions as to where and when 



And here am I with a drumstick, 

While young girls set to rendezvous, and be recognized again 

Tomorrow is an off-day, 

Be in Baltimore by Thursday is the only law. 

There's a suite down at the hotel 

Reserved for making merry with connecting doors. 

The lighting man's already improvised a bar, 

And printed invitations to the ball. 

Off duty cops line corridors wearing Tull [two?] T-shirts proudly 

on the band's [...] wall 



Crew nights, no flashlights or folding knives, 

Best boots and road suits and nine lives. 



Feeling that it might be wrong to 

Temporarily belong to the P.A. man [men?] 

Some angel from the midwest is regretting being 

Undressed with no suntan 

His polaroid is snapping 

The head carpenter is rapping on 

The gates of dawn 



Sitting lonely with a warm beer 

The girl with dental braces wishes that she hadn't gone. 



Crew nights, no bar fights or [feeders?] [veeders?] wives 

Thin walls and late [blade?] calls and nine lives. 



  [Ken Stitzel writes: Still no clue on the first line, but I think 

   ``late calls'' is definitely correct for the second line. It makes 

   sense from a stagehand terminology perspective. I know that it 

   sounds like there's a ``b'' sound in there, but I think it's just a 

   minor flaw in Ian's diction. (It's really tough to sing clearly, 

   especially in rock music.)] 



Crew nights, no flashlights or folding knives, 

Best boots and road suits and nine lives.