Hi everybody!! I'm new around here and it's te first time I post. I've been taking a look at this forum recently and I think it is one of the best to talk about prog, it couldn't have been another way as the web is really interestingjavascript:AddSmileyIcon(''), I've discovered many groups which sounded totally unfamiliar to me.

I'm looking for great lyrics of any progressive band, maybe touching lyrics, philosophical lyrics or simply well crafted lyrics. Maybe this topic has been already posted, but I hope you give me a hand.

Sorry if my english is not good enough, I'm spanish and I'm not used to write in english.
Thanks all!

Fish's lyrics, especially those he wrote while he was with Marillion are utterly brilliant, containing many layers and poetic devices - for example (Assassing);

"Listen as the syllables of slaughter cut with calm precision
Patterned frosty phrases rape your ears and sow the ice incision
Apocalyptic alphabet casting spell the creed of tempered diction
Adjectives of annihilation bury the point beyond redemption
Venomous verbs of ruthless candour plagiarise assassins fervour"

Also check out "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" - or any other Gabriel/Genesis LP.

Pink Floyd are masters of minimalism in lyrics - they get to the point without faffing around, and King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Jethro Tull all have unique, imaginative approaches.

Hammill is very complex, but worth the effort, and I would also put Geoff Mann of Twelfth Night into the same category, even though Mann's lyrics have a more immediate surface accessibility. These are intelligent lyrics, but with baffling references verging on the obscure.

On a more spacey note, check out Hawkwind (Master of the Universe);

"I am the centre of this universe
The wind of time is blowing through me
And it's all moving relative to me,
It's all a figment of my mind
In a world that I've designed
I'm charged with cosmic energy
Has the world gone mad or is it me?

Well I prefer Greg Lake's lyrics in ELP... and Greg Lake w/ Pete Sinfield... or Pete Sinfield's lyrics with King Crimson, solo and PFM.

They all have a sort of magical/fantasy element about them..

Greg Lake: "The Sage"

I carry the dust of a journey
that cannot be shaken away
It lives deep within me
for I breathed it every day

You and I are yesterday's answers
the earth of the past come to flesh
Eroded by time's rivers
to the shapes we now possess

Come share of my breath and my substance
and mingle our streams and our times
In bright infinite moments
our reasons are lost in our eyes

Greg Lake/Pete Sinfield:  Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression-Pt.2

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We're so glad you could attend
Come inside! Come inside!
There behind a glass is a real blade of grass
be careful as you pass.
Move along! Move along!

Come inside, the show's about to start
guaranteed to blow your head apart
Rest assured you'll get your money's worth
The greatest show in Heaven, Hell or Earth.
You've got to see the show, it's a dynamo.
You've got to see the show, it's rock and roll ....

Right before your eyes we pull laughter from the skies
And he laughs until he cries then he dies then he dies
Come inside the shows about to start
Guaranteed to blow your head apart

You gotta see the show - It's a dynamo
You gotta see the show - It's rock and roll

Soon the Gypsy Queen in a glaze of Vaseline
Will perform on guillotine - What a scene! What a scene!
Next upon the stand will you please extend a hand
to Alexander's Ragtime Band
Roll up! Roll up! Roll up! - See the show!

Performing on a stool we've a sight to make you drool
Seven virgins and a mule - Keep it cool. Keep it cool.
We would like it to be known the exhibits that were shown
were exclusively our own, All our own. All our own.
Come and see the show! Come and see the show! Come and see the show!
See the show!

Pete Sinfield:  "In the Court of the Crimson King"

The rusted chains of prison moons
Are shattered by the sun.
I walk a road, horizons change
The tournament's begun.
The purple piper plays his tune,
The choir softly sing;
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue,
For the court of the Crimson King.

The keeper of the city keys
Put shutters on the dreams.
I wait outside the pilgrim's door
With insufficient schemes.
The black queen chants
the funeral march,
The cracked brass bells will ring;
To summon back the fire witch
To the court of the Crimson King.

The gardener plants an evergreen
Whilst trampling on a flower.
I chase the wind of a prism ship
To taste the sweet and sour.
The pattern juggler lifts his hand;
The orchestra begin.
As slowly turns the grinding wheel
In the court of the Crimson King.

On soft grey mornings widows cry
The wise men share a joke;
I run to grasp divining signs
To satisfy the hoax.
The yellow jester does not play
But gently pulls the strings
And smiles as the puppets dance
In the court of the Crimson King.

 

You're not the only one, I love them too!

And now you've got me started, I like the lyrics on LE ORME's excellent concept album "Felona e Sorona". That is the little that I can understand, as Italian is not a language I speak (but, as you know, has enough similarities to the other Latin languages to enable me to undertand some of it). Here are the lyrics - which I like very much - of the track 'Felona' from that album:

Una luce chiara si affaccia lentamente
Offre la visione di grandi bolle bianche
La gente che le abita vive un nuovo giorno
Una nuova festa oggi come ieri.

Non ci son segreti nelle sfere trasparenti
Si specchiano nell'aria, si contagiano la gioia
Limpidi e sereni volano i pensieri
Le donne e le cicale discorrono d'amore.

Le case di cristallo si muovono col vento
Scorrono le valli, rimbalzano sul mare
Ruotano leggere nel sorvolare i monti
Lasciano una scia come una cometa.

Quando cala il sole il vento si riposa
Si fermano le sfere e formano un villaggio
La gente si ritrova e si corre incontro
Per un' altra festa mentre muore il giorno.

¿Agradable también, no son?

 

IMHO A good lyric is the one that transmits a powerful feeling the way the artist pretended, fear, anger, solitude, claustrophobia are really powerful feelings so this are my favorite lyrics:

In the Cage

There's sunshine in my stomach
Like I just rocked my baby to sleep.
There's sunshine in my stomach
And I can't keep me from creeping sleep,
Sleep, deep in the deep.

Rockface moves to press my skin
White liquids turn sour within
Turn fast-turn sour
Turn sweat-turn sour.
Must tell myself that I'm not here.
I'm drowning in a liquid fear.
Bottled in a strong compression,
My distortion shows obsession
In the cave.
Get me out of this cave!

If I keep my self-control,
I'll be safe in my soul.
And the childhood belief
Brings a moment's relief,
But my cynic soon returns
And the lifeboat burns.
My spirit just never learns.

Stalactites, stalagmites
Shut me in, lock me tight.
Lips are dry, throat is dry.
Feel like burning, stomach churning,
I'm dressed up in a white costume
Padding out leftover room.
Body stretching, feel the wretching
In the cage
Get me out of this cage!

In the glare of a light,
I see a strange kind of sight;
Of cages joined to form a star
Each person can't go very far;
All tied to their things
They are netted by their strings,
Free to flutter in memories of their wasted wings.

Outside the cage I see my Brother John,
He turns his head so slowly round.
I cry out help! before he can be gone,
And he looks at me without a sound.
And I shout 'John please help me!'
But he does not even want to try to speak.
I'm helpless in my violent rage
And a silent tear of blood dribbles down his cheek,
And I watch him turn away and leave the cage.
My little runaway.

In a trap, feel a strap
Holding still. Pinned for kill.
Chances narrow that I'll make it,
In the cushioned straight-jacket.
Just like 22nd Street,
When they got me by my neck and feet.
Pressures building, can't take any more.
My headaches charge. My earaches roar.
In the pain
Get me out of this pain.

If I could change to liquid,
I could fill the cracks up in the rock.
But I know that I am solid
And I am my own bad luck.
But outside John disappears and my cage dissolves,
and without any reason my body revolves.

Makes me feel the terror pain, loneliness all together. What a masterpiece!!!!

Iván

Edited by ivan_2068

Well, since I live in NYC.. and I see this everyday, with the homeless, with each other, I think the lyrics to this song are very poignant... I get so upset when some young PF fan tries to tell me that AMLOR sucks cause Roger's not on it... Give me a break, this song is beautiful, and I don't care who wrote the lyrics...

On the Turning Away
On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"

It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud

On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night

No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

A somewhat overlooked lyricist in the world of Prog is Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. His lyrics are intelligent, often bleakly and cynically humourous, well-crafted and most importantly very well suited to the music. Here's an extract from the brilliant "epic" Baker Street Muse:

 

Windy bus-stop. Click. Shop-window. Heel.
Shady gentleman. Fly-button. Feel.
In the underpass, the blind man stands.
With cold flute hands.
Symphony match-seller, breath out of time.
You can call me on another line.

Indian restaurants that curry my brain.
Newspaper warriors changing the names,
they advertise from the station stand.
With cold print hands.
Symphony word-player, I'll be your headline if you catch me another time.

Didn't make her with my Baker Street Ruse.
Couldn't shake her with my Baker Street Bruise.
Like to take her but I'm just a Baker Street Muse.

Ale-spew, puddle-brew boys, throw it up clean.
Coke and Bacardi colours them green.
From the typing pool goes the mini-skirted princess
with great finesse.
Fertile earth-mother, your burial mound is fifty feet
down in the Baker Street underground. (What the hell!)

Didn't make her with my Baker Street Ruse.
Couldn't shake her with my Baker Street Bruise.
Like to take her but I'm just a Baker Street Muse.

Walking down the gutter thinking, "How the hell am I today?''
Well, I didn't really ask you but thanks all the same.

 

Great song, great band, great lyrics.

 

For detailed and perceptive annotations of Tull lyrics, plus comprehensive listings of them all... www.cupofwonder.com - Very handy site indeed.

Jigsaw

We are jigsaw pieces aligned on the perimeter edge,
Interlocked through a missing piece.
We are Renaissance children becalmed beneath the bridge of sighs,
Forever throwing firebrands at the stonework.
We are Siamese children related by the heart,
Bleeding from the surgery of initial confrontation,
Holding the word scalpels on trembling lips.

---

Stand straight, look me in the eye and say goodbye, say goodbye.
Stand straight, we've drifted past the point of reasons why.
Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today,
The problems always seem to be, we're picking up the pieces on the ricochet.
This is the ricochet...

---

Drowning Tequila sunsets, stowaways on midnight ships,
Refugees of romance plead asylum from the real.
Scrambling distress signals on random frequencies,
Forever repatriated on guilt laden morning planes.
We are pilots of passion sweating the flight on course
To another summit conference, another breakfast time divorce,
Screaming out a ceasefire, snowblind in an avalanche zone.

---

Stand straight, look me in the eye and say goodbye, say goodbye.
Stand straight, we've drifted past the point of reasons why.
Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today,
The problems always seem to be, we're picking up the pieces on the ricochet.
This is the ricochet...

---

Are we trigger happy, happy, happy?
Russian roulette in the waiting room,
Empty chambers embracing the end.
Puzzled visions haunt the ripples of a trevi moon,
Dream coins for the fountain or to cover your eyes.
We reached ignition point from the sparks of pleasantries,
We sensed the smoke advancing from horizons,
You must have known that I was planning, considering an escape.

---

Stand straight, look me in the eye and say goodbye, say goodbye.
Stand straight, we've drifted past the point of reasons why.
Yesterday starts tomorrow, tomorrow starts today,
And the problems always seem to be,
we're picking up the pieces on the ricochet.

---

This is the ricochet
I'll be seeing you again on the ricochet,
Will you show me the pieces next time on the ricochet, (ricochet)
I'll be seeing you again on the ricochet,
There's a problem, there's a ricochet, (ricochet)