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SKYCLAD LYRICS
"Tracks from the Wilderness" (1992 EP)
1. Emerald (Thin Lizzy cover)
2. A Room Next Door
3. When All Else Fails
4. The Declaration of Indifference (Live)
5. Spinning Jenny (Live)
6. Skyclad (Live)
1. Emerald (Thin Lizzy cover)
[Thin Lizzy cover, guest guitarist Brian Robertson]
Down from the glen came the marching men
With their shields and their swords
To fight the fight they believed to be right
To overthrow the overlords.
To the towns where there was plenty
They brought plunder, swords and flame
When they left the town was empty
And the children would never play again.
From the graves I heard the fallen
Above the battle cry
By the bridge near the border
There were many born to die
Then onward over the mountain
And outward toward the sea
They come to claim the Emerald
Without it they could not leave.
2. A Room Next Door
I stare at fading visions now much fainter than before
Of the faces gathered round me and the clock upon my wall
My loved-ones stand in mourning but the china timepiece laughs
As it counts away the seconds (it knows all things must pass...)
From darkness into light
Still in my mind but out of sight.
No longer held by space and time
I cross the fine dividing line...
That separates the dear departed from their final breath
The moment when my weary soul is born again in death
No longer flesh my carnal cage can keep me here no more
I leave my cell of shadows for a brighter room next door.
I fracture the shell of this solitary hell
Embrace the unknown as my friend
Mortal barriers falling (the white light is calling)
This wheel of life spins without end.
So up from the ashes a pheonix I rise
On a cord of fine silver my tired spirit flies
To a 'quickening' foetus (the new infant cries)
A bright spark ignites with each old flame that dies.
The cycle continues - incarnate once more
I embark on a journey I've travelled before.
I separate the dear departed from their final breath,
The moment when your weary soul is born again in death
No longer flesh your carnal cage can keep you here no more
You leave your cell of shadows for a brighter room next door.
3. When All Else Fails
To whom it may concern (whoever that may be)
For I can think of no-one who has shown concern for me.
My last will and testament I now bequeath
To all those I trusted (to those who deceived me)
Though by hope deserted of this I am sure
That where I am going you'll hurt me no more.
While your plotting my downfall I'm planning my wake
Still you're trying to see how much more I can take
In this game that we're playing I know I can't win
And my dreams have all ended before they begin.
One for the wish that would never come true
Two for the kisses betraying a fool
Three for the life that was my bed of nails
For there's only one answer when all else fails.
I fear I have been here too long for my own good
Outstaying my welcome when all the time I should
Have heeded my heart when it said take your bow
But I'm sadder and wiser and listening now.
In this life that you're leading you're fooling yourself
If you think you are better than anyone else
So shed not your tears for me now pretty child
For when I was crying - remember, you smiled.
The knife that I'm holding was never as sharp
As the words from your cruel lips that punctured my heart
Tell me where was your friendship in my hour of need
When you stood and you laughed while watching me bleed?
One for the wish that would never come true
Two for the kisses betraying a fool
Three for the life that was my bed of nails
For there's only one answer when all else fails.
Don't talk to me of loneliness - don't speak to me of tears
For I have had enough of both to last a thousand years
"If music be the food of love" then let a famine rage
To starve my childish innocence before it comes of age.
One for the wish that would never come true
Two for the kisses betraying a fool
Three for the life that was my bed of nails
For there's only one answer when all else fails.
I beg you forgive me - I apologise
For wasting your time with such lengthy goodbyes
But as I depart - unto destiny kneel
I pray that one day you will know how I feel.
Goodbye.
4. The Declaration of Indifference (Live)
There's a "Fat Cat" sitting in a Caddilac
Riding ten feet off the floor
Who says "I used to do a little, but I couldn't get enough
And so a little got more and more."
Well I've nothing to show for all these years -
But it still makes me smile
That the ones you always hear the most
Say nothing that's worthwhile.
No gold, no frankincense or myrrh we bring
Just faith and this "burnt offering"
So raise your voice with mine and sing
A hymn to long lost causes.
[CHORUS:]
Pledge allegiance to pretence
The white flag of indifference
You sought a grail forged of fools gold
And on the quest your souls were sold.
Living the life of milk and honey
I bet it tastes real sweet
Now the "chicks" are queueing cus
They all want screwing down on
Institution street.
Does it feel so cool when you act
The fool with "Charlie", "H" and "E"?
Well to my way of thinking there's
A whole lot of nothing where your
Brains should be.
This planet burns and you couldn't really care
That your head (unlike the Earth) is full of air
If there's anybody in there - time has come to face the real world
[REPEAT CHORUS]
They're walking tall yet heading nowhere
Shouting loud but saying nothing
So empty-headed, hollow hearted
Tell me how this farce got started
If there's anybody in there - time has come to face the real world.
[REPEAT CHORUS]
5. Spinning Jenny (Live)
She came down from the Western Hills when we were not prepared
I turned deaf ears to words of warning now I'm running scared.
Casting caution to the wind now that the cat's away
I say my grace - fill my face (then for forgiveness pray).
Gon knows I was an honest man - the same as any other
Who loved his wife - worked all his life to keep his family
Until the 'beast' that never sleeps beneath my silken covers
Reared its head and bit its thumb at my morality.
[Chorus:]
Her passion for passion - it will devour
Cruel are the thorns of this delicate flower
Her lust for lust - it will consume
A siren song summons all men to their doom.
She whispered of her innocence - (a plea I must contest)
While baptising helpless sinners with a missionary zest
She will exorcise your demons - then exercise your thighs
Await your 'second-coming' with a hunger in her eyes.
Her sweetmeats are the souls of men - she'll gorge herself to bursting
And for yours her heart is thirsting - as a spider craves a fly
No mortal man could ever hope to suit her as a suitor
Sh'll rewrite the Kama Sutra if you'd care to watch her try.
[Repeat Chorus]
I reach for heaven - desire drags me down
When fools choose their king I'll be heir to that crown
A strange kind of madness I cannot condone
If you are without sin come cast the first stone.
6. Skyclad (Live)
I'll sing to you of days departed,
Times when men proud and stouthearted carved their names on history's bloody
Page,
The corpse of chivalry long dead
Is turning in his loamy bed indignant at your new 'enlightened' age
White-collared knights at boardroom tables dream their own financial fables,
Fight to make their incomes larger--mounted on their 'credit charges.'
Held within the safety of this mundane existence--
Facing endless grey Mondays of dull nine to fives,
We all climb the social ladder with a dogged persistence,
Forging chains we shall carry for the rest of our lives.
We cannot see through clothes may maketh man they cannot give us shelter--
On this mortal helter-skelter if our loyalties are torn,
Between the values we believe in and the egos we are feeding--
We stand all together naked as the day we were born.
And so cast off the lies that are our lives and find the truth within.
SKYCLAD--the veil has lifted,
SKYCLAD--now I see through,
SKYCLAD--your mask of illusion,
SKYCLAD--to the fake that is you.
Financial wizards read their spells from filofaxes
Concrete hells of their own making pass for Avalon.
These men self-made by shrewd investing spend their weekends child-molesting,
Lost in 'green-belt' dreams they do no wrong.
Your mortgage payment rocket--
Like your blood pressure rising,
Executive stresses are the dragons you fight.
In your Armani armour you are practically shining,
So have no code of honour--you must always be right.
Just give me a simple life--my tastes are not demanding,
And whatever life may hand me I'll accept it with good grace;
For I'm just a simple lad with few ideas about my station,
So ale and song will apt suffice to keep me in my place.
How can you know the cost of everything yet never see its worth?
If you think because you've paid the piper you should call the tune--
Well think again my friend life is a gain of chance,
By Fate's command we win or lose,
But still retain the right to choose
If we should stumble on--or shed our cares and dance
SKYCLAD--the veil has lifted,
SKYCLAD--no I see through,
SKYCLAD--your mask of illusion,
SKYCLAD--to the fake that is you.
You charge each other for the time and breath it takes to say 'good morning,'
But the truth is slowly dawning--things are getting out of hand,
We all pursue our shattered dreams along the roads to our own ruin--
Watch our empires sink and wash away like castles made of sand.
And so cast off the lies that are your lives and find the truth within
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