Black & White Television

Ian Anderson

I looked in the mirror then

saw my face in a dream.

With eyes sharp as diamonds

Blessed with clear vision

Things were not as they seemed

Black and White Television

stared back from the wall.

Is that my life?

Am I here at all?

Down in the High Road, see

motor cavalcades glide

past shopwindow dressers

desperately covering

all the parts they can hide.

Black and White Television

stares at me again.

Is that their lives?

Even dummies pretend.

The truth is so hard to deny.

The answer is here

The screen never lies.

Black and White Television.

It's the right television.

Show me it's all a dream tonight.

The boys on the corner sulk

in their Suzuki haze.

In primary colours

(each year more startling)

but they still fade to grey

on Black and White Television.

It's sweeping the land.

Is that your life?

Do you understand?

Black and White Television

Back the right television

Black and White Television

Hard to fight television

Show me it's all a dream

tonight.