I'm a Reader and a Writer

Album: none

Picture sleeve: 

Cover-version: 

Words by
Keith Reid

Best guess as to the words of a song heard once or twice in concert in 1977; this number is one of those missing from the Something Magic album; please mail us if you can decipher these words more clearly.

Sam Cameron notes: did Keith Reid get this from Philip Larkin's review of WH Auden where he quipped that Auden is "more of a reader than a writer" as his poetry was 'forced' rather than 'natural'? It is of note that KR said that Auden was one poet he really identified with, when he was interviewed in 1997 à propos the 30th anniversary celebrations. I assumed the title was a reference to the Chuck Berry song I'm a lover not a fighter that goes 'baby don't bell push me', which the Kinks did in their early days. [And let's not forget Gilbert O'Sullivan's album entitled I'm a Writer not a Fighter, which came out in the very early seventies]

I'm a reader and a writer
Not a lover or a fighter
When it comes to push and shove
I'm as peaceful as a dove

I'm a tiger in the night
When I'm talking of the fight
When it comes to trading blows
I'm the first one on my toes

I'm a leopard in a cage
When I'm on the printed page
When it comes to blood and gore
I'm the first one on the floor

I'm a tiger in the night
When I'm talking of the fight
When it comes to trading blows
I'm the first one on my toes

Well I'm a man of stern repute
When the opposition's mute
When I start to lose my grip
I'm the first one off the ship

I'm a tiger in the night
When I'm talking of the fight
When it comes to trading blows
I'm the first one on my toes

I'm a man of stern repute
When the opposition's mute
When I start to lose my grip
I'm the first one off the ship

I'm a tiger in the night
When I'm talking of the fight
When it comes to trading blows
I'm the first one on my toes

More words of
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Procol Harum songs

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