The most clever thing you've heard in prog lyrics

The Lyrics to "Supper's Ready" by Genesis are very clevar to me because it was inspired by The Book of Revelations. It was the best song Genesis ever recorded with Pete.

Porcupine tree trains



The whole lyrics of this song are just incredible Admin Edit - just a short quotation is permissible


Edited by ExittheLemming - June 20 2012 at 03:36

I love Hammill's clever rhyme of "empty" with "exempts me."

"Compassion" you plead, as though they kept it in a box -

that's long since been empty.
I'd like to help you somehow, but I'm in the self-same spot:
my condition exempts me.  

- Peter Hammill, "Arrow"

As everyone has already mentioned Hammill's Lyrics, my favorite come from Childlike Faith in Childhood's End.  Two relevant sections:  "Human we can all be, but humanity we must rise above, in the name of all faith and hope and love." and "And though dark is the highway, and the peak's distance breaks my heart, for I never shall see, still I play my part, believing that what waits for us is the cosmos, compared to the dust of the past.  In the death of mere humans, life shall start."

And here's a poignant set from Matching Mole's Signed Curtain: "This is the first verse.  This is the first verse.  And this is the first verse.  And this is the first verse, verse.  This is the first verse.  And this is the chorus, or perhaps it's a bridge, or just another part of the song that I'm singing." 

MattGuitat wrote: Peter Gabriel could have been a rapper  Seriously, he rhymes very well The fleas cling to the golden fleece hoping they'll find peace Lenny bruce declares a truce and waves his other hand Marshall Magluin casual viewin head buried in the sand

Tell me I'm not the only one who rapped that in my head. 

Ink in vain across the page now run from morning dew
Hands which chance upon it lead to eyes which strain to read
Heart which pound from love long overdue
Lips which press together, stifle rhythmic heavy breathes
Oh how she cries from vicarious love from the one he writes about
She must have been so glad for him to throw it outif nothing else, a clever use of words :) I rarely find myself actually paying much attention to prog lyrics, to me it's always been about the music and the vocals are just sort of there as another instrument to compliment everything.

Meddle71 wrote: Everything under the sun is in tune But the sun is eclipsed by the moon -"Eclipse", Pink Floyd   I don't know how many people interpret this the way I do, but that's one of my favourite parts about music; it means different things to everyone.   Anyway, the way I see it, this means that everything might be a little chaotic, going poorly, or "out of tune" at the moment, but just like an eclipse, it'll pass. Then everything will be under the sun again, and "everything under the sun is in tune". I think it's worded cleverly too; everything's fine, except for the fact that actually nothing is at the moment. But it will be! Those two lines single-handedly changed my view on music from something people listen to, to something people live through.

It's a mighty song and deffinitely one of the songs that changed my life. When i'm listening to it i have this vision:

"Though the towers of the city
are denied to we men of clay
still we know we shall scale the heights some day.
Frightened in the silence-
frightened, but
thinking very hard,
let us make computations of the stars."

Rush - BU2B

and

Rush - BU2B2

story of my life.

SigmundFloyd wrote: "Strangers passing in the street, by chance two separate glances meet, and I am you and what I see is me" from Echoes by Pink Floyd. "I am you and what I see is me" What a line!