Lyrics to
The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive)

This version of The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive) was released by Jethro Tull in 1976.

Our About Jethro Tull page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive) from 1976 as well as all of the other lyrics from Jethro Tull that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Jethro Tull or about the 1970s in general.

The disc brakes drag,
the chequered flag sweeps across the oil-slick track.
The young man’s home; dry as a bone.
His helmet off, he waves: the crowd waves back.
One lap victory roll. Gladiator soul.
The taker of the day in winning has to say,
Isn’t it grand to be playing to the stand,
dead or alive.

The sunlight streaks through the curtain cracks,
touches the old man where he sleeps.
The nurse brings up a cup of tea —
two biscuits and the morning paper mystery.
The hard road’s end, the white god’s-send
is nearer everyday, in dying the old man says,
Isn’t it grand to be playing to the stand,
dead or alive.

The still-born child can’t feel the rain
as the chequered flag falls once again.
The deaf composer completes his final score.
He’ll never hear the sweet encore.
The chequered flag, the bull’s red rag,
the lemming-hearted hordes
running ever faster to the shore singing,
Isn’t it grand to be playing to the stand,
dead or alive.

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Jethro Tull has released many songs over the years besides The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive). Jethro Tull released songs from 1968 to 2003 spanning across albums like This Was, Stand Up, Benefit, Aqualung, Living In The Past, Thick As A Brick, A Passion Play, Warchild, Minstrel In The Gallery, Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young To Die!, Songs From The Wood, Heavy Horses, Stormwatch, A, The Broadsword And The Beast, Under Wraps, Crest Of A Knave, Rock Island, Catfish Rising, Nightcap, Roots To Branches, J-Tull Dot Com, and The Jethro Tull Christmas Album. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Jethro Tull.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive) by Jethro Tull

The lyrics for The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive) are defined as the words making up the song released by Jethro Tull in 1976. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive) have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Jethro Tull and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive) by Jethro Tull if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive)" means the words set to the music of The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive), or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Jethro Tull. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive) and the lyrics to The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive) are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Jethro Tull who came here looking just for the lyrics to The Chequered Flag (Dead Or Alive), but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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