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Into the Labyrinth
Miscellaneous: |
| Performed by
Lisa Gerrard & Brendan Perry Engineered and Produced by Brendan Perry at Quivvy Church Front cover image: "Hands of the World" A Photograph by Touhami Ennadre, Copyright by Touhami Ennadre Inside images by Ken Kavanagh Design by Chris Bigg & Brendan Perry "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" is dedicated to the memory of Maureen Copper |
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I thought that you knew it all
Well you've seen it ten times before.
I thought that you had it down
With both your feet on the ground.
I love slow...slow but deep.
Feigned affections wash over me.
Dream on my dear
And renounce temporal obligations.
Dream on my dear
It's a sleep from which you may not awaken.
You build me up then you knock me down.
You play the fool while I play the clown.
We keep time to the beat of an old slave drum.
You raise my hopes then you raise the odds
You tell me that I dream too much
Now I'm serving time in disillusionment.
I don't believe you anymore...I don't believe you.
I thought that I knew it all
I'd seen all the signs before.
I thought that you were the one
In darkness my heart was won.
You build me up then you knock me down.
You play the fool while I play the clown.
We keep time to the beat of an old slave drum.
You raise my hopes then you raise the odds
You tell me that I dream too much
Now I'm serving time in a domestic graveyard.
I don't believe you anymore...I don't believe you.
Never let it be said I was untrue
I never found a home inside of you.
Never let it be said I was untrue
I gave you all my time.
I sat within the valley green
I sat me with my true love.
My sad heart strove the two between
The old love and the new love.
The old for her the new
That made me think on Ireland dearly.
While the soft wind blew down the glade
and shook the golden barley.
T'was hard the woeful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us.
But harder still to bear the shame
of foreign chains around us.
And so I said the mountain glen
I'll meet at morning early.
And I'll join the bold united men
While soft winds shook the barley.
T'was sad I kissed away her tears
My fond arm round her flinging.
When a foe, man's shot burst on our ears
From out the wild woods ringing.
A bullet pierced my true love's side
In life's young spring so early.
And on my breast in blood she died
While soft winds shook the barley.
But blood for blood without remorse
I've ta'en at oulart hollow.
I've lain my true love's clay like corpse
Where I full soon must follow.
Around her grave I've wandered drear
Noon, night, and morning early.
With breaking heart when e'er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley.
Outside
The storm clouds gathering,
Moved silently along the dusty boulevard.
Where flowers turning crane their fragile necks
So they can in turn
Reach up and kiss the sky.
They are driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye
Someone is calling.
I remember when you held my hand
In the park we would play when the circus came to town.
Look! Over here.
Outside
The circus gathering
Moved silently along the rainswept boulevard.
The procession moved on the shouting is over
The fabulous freaks are leaving town.
They are driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye.
The carinval is over.
We sat and watched
As the moon rose again
For the very first time.
Farewell now my sister
Up ahead there lies your road
And your conscience walks beside you
It's the best friend you will ever know
And the past is now your future
It bears witness to your soul
Make sure that the love you offer up
Does not fall on barren soil.
For the wind cries of late
In the whispering grass.
Our way of life is held
In the spinning wheels of chance.
I believe in the ways of an older law
When we used to dance to a different drum
And we are changing are ways
Yes we are taking on different roads
Tell me more about the forest
That you once called home.
For the wind cries of late
In the whispering leaves
And the sun will turn to waste
The heavens we build above.
Father teach your children
To treat our mother well
If we give her back her diamonds
She will offer up her pearl.
But I'm not bitter no I'm surviving
To face the world, to raise the future.
So why don't you tell me, come on and tell me
About the world you left behind.
Come on and tell me.
You saw sagacious Solomon
You know what came of him,
To him complexities seemed plain.
He cursed the hour that gave birth to him
And saw that everything was vain.
How great and wise was Solomon.
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's wisdom that had brought him to this state.
How fortunate the man with none.
You saw courageous Caesar next
You know what he became.
They deified him in his life
Then had him murdered just the same.
And as they raised the fatal knife
How loud he cried: you too my son!
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's courage that had brought him to that state.
How fortunate the man with none.
You heard of honest Socrates
The man who never lied:
They weren't so grateful as you'd think
Instead the rulers fixed to have him tried
And handed him the poisoned drink.
How honest was the people's noble son.
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's honesty that brought him to that state.
How fortunate the man with none.
Here you can see respectable folk
Keeping to God's own laws.
So far he hasn't taken heed.
You who sit safe and warm indoors
Help to relieve out bitter need.
How virtuously we had begun.
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's fear of god that brought us to that state.
How fortunate the man with none.
Ihr saht den weisen Salomon
Ihr wisst, was aus ihm wurd.
Dem Mann war alles sonnenklar
Er verfluchte die Stunde seiner Geburt
Und sah, dass alles eitel war.
Wie gross und weis war Solomon!
Und seht, da war es noch nicht Nacht
Da sah die Weld die Folgen schon:
Die Weisheit hatte ihn so weit gebracht!
Beneidenswert, wer frei davon!
Ihr saht den kuehnen Caesar dann
Ihr wisst, was aur ihm wurd.
Der sass wien Gott auf dem Altar
Und wurde ermordet, wie ihr erfuhrt
Und zwar, als er am grossten war.
Wie schrie der laut: Auch du, mein Sohn!
Denn seht, da war es noch nicht Nacht
Da sah die Welt die Folgen schon:
Die Kuehnheit hatte ihn so weit gebracht!
Beneidensweit, wer frei davon!
Ihr kennt den redlichen Sokrates
Der stets die Wahrheit sprach:
Ach, nein sie wussten ihm keinen Dank
Vielmehr stellten die Obern boese ihm nach
Und reichten ihm den Schierlingsstrank.
Wie redlich war des Volkes grosser Sohn!
Und seht, da war es noch nicht Nacht
Da sah die Welt die Folgen schon:
Die Redlichkeit hatt' ihn so weit gebracht!
Beneidensweit, wer frei davon!
Der heilige Martin, wie ihr wisst
Ertrug nicht fremde Not.
Er sah im Schnee ein armen Mann
Und er bot seinen halben Mantel ihm an
Da frorn sie alle beid zu Tod.
Der Mann sah nicht auf irdischen Lohn!
Und seht, da war es noch nicht Nacht
Da sah die Welt die Folgen schon:
Selbstlosigkeit hatt' ihn so weit gebracht!
Beneidensweit, wer frei davon!
Hier seht ihr ordentliche Leut
Haltend die zehn Gebot.
Es hat uns bisher nichts genuetzt:
Irh, die am warmen Ofen sitzt
Helft lindern unsre grosse Not!
Wie kreuzbrav waren wir doch schon!
Und seht, da war es noch nicht Nacht
Da sah die Welt die Folgen schon:
Die Gottesfurcht hat uns so weit gebracht!
Beneidensweit, wer frei davon!
Originally titled 'Solomon-Song', this poem,
actually a song, is taken from a German collection of Bertolt Brecht's writings,
author of the Three Penny Opera. Brecht actually includes this song, in an
earlier version, in the Three Penny Opera with music by Kurt Weill.
Brendan has left out one stanza of this song, perhaps in order to cut down on
the total time of the song. The extra stanza concerns Martin Luther, the founder
of the Luthern Church movement. Otherwise the song is a fairly on target
translation.