Steve Hackett Album

Watcher of the skies, watcher of all
His is a world alone no world is his own
He whom life can no longer surprise
Raising his eyes beholds a planet unknown

Creatures shaped this planet's soil
Now their reign has come to end
Has life again destroyed life?
Do they play elsewhere, do they know
More than their childhood games?
Maybe the lizard's shed its tail
This is the end of man's long union with Earth

Judge not this race by empty remains
Do you judge God by his creatures when they are dead?
For now, the lizard's shed it's tail
This is the end of man's long union with Earth

From life alone to life as one
Think not now your journey's done
For though your ship be sturdy
No mercy has the sea.
Will you survive on the ocean of being?
Come ancient children hear what I say
This is my parting council for you on your way

Sadly now your thoughts turn to the stars
Where we have gone you know you never can go
Watcher of the skies watcher of all
This is your fate alone, this fate is your own

Holy mother of God
You've got to go faster than that to get to the top
Dirty old mountain all covered in smoke
She can turn you to stone so you better start doing it right
Better start doing it right

You're halfway up and you're halfway down
And the pack on your back is turning you around
Throw it away, you won't need it up there
And remember, you don't look back whatever you do
Better start doing it right

On your left and on your right
Crosses are green and crosses are blue
Your friends didn't make it through
Out of the night and out of the dark
Into the fire and into the fight
Well, that's the way the heroes go
HO! HO! HO!

Through a crack in Mother Earth
Blazing hot, the molten rock
Spills out over the land
And the lava's the lover who licks your boots away
HEY! HEY! HEY!
If you don't want to boil as well
B-B-Better start the dance
D-D-Do you want to dance with me

You better start doing it right

The music's playing, the notes are right
Put your left foot first and move into the light
The edge of this hill is the edge of the world
And if you're going to cross you better start doing it right
Better start doing it right
You better start doing it right

LET THE DANCE BEGIN!

[No lyrics]

I'm on my way, I'm stronger than before
The times I've been down
I've swept the ocean floor
Like a flower slow to open
I do believe I've been this way before

It's every man's fantasy to win victory
The world at his feet with songs of glory
The man seems smaller the child stands taller
Now I know that what you sow you reap
And every day at last must die in sleep

You want to know the story of my life
The only sin is not loving enough

I do believe I've been this way before

You want to know the future, the last act in a play
A book that falls apart with a missing last page
All the past's a frozen wasteland
You can't take back the fruits you once enjoyed
But now I know I've been this way before

The path is clear, though no eyes can see
The course laid down long before
And so with gods and men, the sheep remain inside their pen
Though many times they've seen the way to leave

He rides majestic, past homes of men
Who care not or gaze with joy
To see reflected there, the trees, the sky, the lily fair
The scene of death is lying just below

The mountain cuts off the town from view
Like a cancer growth is removed by skill
Let it be revealed

A waterfall, his madrigal
An inland sea, his symphony

Undinal songs urge the sailors on
'Till lured by the siren's cry...

Now as the river dissolves in sea
So Neptune has claimed another soul
And so with gods and men, the sheep remain inside their pen
Until the shepherd leads his flock away

The sands of time were eroded by
The river of constant change

Sunday at six when they close both the gates
A widowed pair, still sitting there
Wonder if they're late for church
And it's cold so they fasten their coats
And cross the grass, they're always last

Passing by the padlocked swings
The roundabout still turning
Ahead they see a small girl
On her way home with a pram

Inside the archway
The priest greets them with a courteous nod
He's close to God
Looking back at days of four instead of two
Years seem so few
Heads bent in prayer
For friends not there

Leaving twopence on the plate
They hurry down the path and through the gate
And wait to board the bus
That ambles down the street

Go far enough and you will reach,
A place where the sea runs underneath.
We'll see our shadow, high in the sky,
Dying away in the night.

I've sailed the world for seven years,
And left all I love behind in tears.
Oh, won't you come here, wherever you are,
I've been all alone long enough.

You, you have your own special way,
Of holding my hand keep it way 'bove the water,
Don't ever let go - Oh no, no, no.

You, you have your own special way,
Of turning the world so it's facing
The way that I'm going. Don't ever
Don't ever stop.

Whose seen the wind not you or I,
But when the ship moves she's passing by.
Between you and me I really don't think,
She knows where she's going at all.

You, you have your own special way,
Of carrying me twice round the world
Never closer to home than the day,
The day I started.

You, you have your own special way,
Hold onto my hand keep it way 'bove the water,
Don't ever let go no, no, no.

What mean the dreams night after night.
The man in the moon's a blinding light.
Won't you come out whoever you are,
You've followed me quiet long enough.

You, you have your own special way,
Of holding my hand, Don't ever let go.
You, you have your own special way,
Of turning the world so it's facing
The way that I'm going, Don't ever,
Don't ever leave me

From a dense forest of tall dark pinewood
Mount Ida rises like an island.
Within a hidden cave, nymphs had kept a child:
Hermaphroditus, son of gods, so afraid of their love.
As the dawn creeps up the sky,
The hunter caught sight of a doe.
In desire for conquest,
He found himself within a glade he'd not beheld before.

Hermaphroditus: / Narrator:
"Where are you, my father? / "Then he could go no further
Give wisdom to your son" / Now lost, the boy was guided by the sun"

And as his strength began to fail,
He saw a shimmering lake.
a shadow in the dark green depths
Disturbed the strange tranquility.

Salmacis: / Narrator:
"The waters are disturbed / "The waters are disturbed
Some creature has been stirred" / Naiad queen Salmacis has been stirred"

As he rushed to quench his thirst,
A fountain spring appeared before him.
And as his heated breath brushed through the cool mist
A liquid voice called, "Son of gods, drink from my spring."
The water tasted strangely sweet.
Behind him the voice called again.
He turned and saw her, in a cloak of mist alone,
And as he gazed, her eyes were filled with the darkness of the lake.

Salmacis: / Narrator:
'We shall be one / 'She wanted them as one
We shall be joined as one' / Yet he had no desire to be one'

Hermaphroditus:
"Away from me, cold-blooded woman.
Your thirst is not mine."

Salmacis:
"Nothing will cause us to part.
Hear me, O Gods!"

Unearthly calm ascended from the sky
And then their flesh and bones were strangely merged.
Forever to be joined as one.

The creature crawled into the lake.
A fading voice was heard:
"And I beg, yes I beg, that all who touch this spring
May share my fate."

Salmacis: / Narrator:
"We are the one / "The two are now made one,
We are the one" / Demi-god and nymph are now made one"

Both had given everything they had.
A lover's dream had been fulfilled at last.
Forever still beneath the lake.

[No lyrics]

It's one o'clock and time for lunch - dum dee dum dee dum
When the sun beats down and I lie on the bench
I can always hear them talk

There's always been Ethel:
"Jacob, wake up, you've got to tidy your room now"
And then Mr. Lewis:
"Isn't it time that he was out on his own"
Over the garden wall, two little love birds cuckoo to you
Keep them mowing blades sharp...

I know what I like
And I like what I know
Getting better in your wardrobe
Stepping one beyond your show

Sunday night, Mr. Farmer called, said:
"Listen son, you're wasting time
There's a future for you in the fire-escape trade
Come up to town"
But I remembered a voice from the past:
"Gambling only pays when you're winning"
I had to thank old Miss Mort for schooling a failure
Keep them mowing blades sharp...

I know what I like
And I like what I know
Getting better in your wardrobe
Stepping one beyond your show
I know what I like
And I like what I know
Getting better in your wardrobe
Stepping one beyond your show

When the sun beats down and I lie on the bench
I can always hear them talk
Me, I'm just a lawnmower
You can tell me by the way I walk

[No lyrics]