Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967 (Album Version)

Walt Grace's Submarine Test

Walt Grace desperately hating his whole place

Dreamed to discover a new space

And buried himself alive

Inside his basement

Tongue on the side of his face where

He's working away on displacement

And what it would take to survive

Cos when you're done with this world

You know the next is up to you

And his wife told his kids he was crazy

And his friends said he'd fail if he tried

But with a will to work hard

And a library card

He took a homemade

Fan-blade one-man submarine ride

That morning the sea was mad and I mean it

Waves as big as he'd seen it

Deep in his dreams at home

From dry land

He rolled it over to wet sand

Closed the hatch up with one hand

And peddled off alone

Cos when you're done with this world

You know the next is up to you

And for once in his life it was quiet

As he learned how to turn in the tide

And the sky was a flare

When he came up for air

In his homemade fan-blade

One-man submarine ride

One evening

When weeks had passed since his leaving

The call she'd planned on receiving

Finally made it home

She accepted

The news she'd never expected

The operator connected

A call from Tokyo

Cos when you're done with this world

You know the next is up to you

Now his friends

Bring him up when they're drinking

At the bar with his name on the side

And they smile when they can

As they speak of a man

Who took a homemade fan-blade

One-man submarine ride