Song Lyrics

Lyrics & Music: Paul Kantner
Lyrics: Grace Slick

He's stronger by talk than by sight
But by sight he'll know you
You buy him a ride he'll know you
Somebody's bound to lead you
Sooner or later you're bound to go

You don't know what this man feels like
He doesn't care if you think you know
Somebody's bound to lead you
If that man got a smile on his face
Sooner or later you're bound to go
Bound to go

Let me tell you bout a man I knew
He roamed the depth and the breadth of China
On a horse that he grew himself
From the bark of a tree on mainland China
And he had a time yes he had the time of his life in China
He carried strife and harmony to all the people on the mainland

And there was a warlord who rode the murky depths of China
With a shotgun in his hand and he wondered where the people'd gone to
Have you got the time to listen while I sing this song
I had the time to listen to the man go right and wrong and right through
China

chorus

And it ain't what you want it's what you need
No it ain't what you want it's what you need
And I'd rather be here than yesterday
It ain't what you want it's what you need

And there was a lady she rolled around in town in China
And there was a lady she rolled and rolled
And she killed a war she made the warlord rise in time
She sat him down took him down and she laid him out for just one more
Round

Drunk in a beautiful garden celebration
Here comes the Khan Storm the palace look for Alice
Rising Oriental girl diving back for just one more pearl

chorus

And it ain't what she wants it's what she needs
She don't want your sound she wants your country
And I'd rather be next year than on the way to Bombay
It ain't what you want it's what you need

Grace Slick, Paul Kantner

The duration of Sketches of China is 5:14 minutes and seconds.