They took on the name as they focused on injustices worldwide, but particularly in western democratic society. Their lyrics have often been controversial and some radio stations have banned airplay of their songs, while other groups refused to be associated with them. They released their first album, Mindhallucination in 1994 and Assassinate in 1995, followed by Error of Judgement in 1996 and finally Resurrection in 1999.
All lyrics on the album Error of Judgement were sung by Jean-Luc de Meyer, better known as a member of Front 242.
Birmingham 6 also released as a single a cover of "Godlike" by KMFDM, which included samples from the original, and backing vocals by En Esch of KMFDM.
Birmingham 6 has written several songs questioning governmental systems and their unwillingness to admit their own fallibilty. Israel talks about the issues between the Palestinians and the Jews. Contagious discusses AIDS and Who Do You Love? points out the difficulty in telling good from evil. The song 6794700 describes some hypocritical church views on abortion. Love Child describes how the tourism agency in Thailand helps western travel agencies fulfill certain men's desire for an underage prostitute.
The song Policestate talks about the riots in Copenhagen in 1993 during the re-voting for the European Union in which police shot into the angry mob, causing several casualities.
The Garden
Birmingham 6 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The Garden Proud And Free
Where Time Has Come And Gone And Spent
Throughout Eternity
The Primrose Sweet, The Carefree Air
Memories, Mesmerize
A Calm So True, A Love Affair
Whispering Warm Good-Byes
Reflect The Sunlights's Eyes
Wild The Rushing Wind It Blows
No Soul Where Beauty Lies
The Seeds That Seem So Keen To Find
A Secret Hiding Place
Down Paths That Twirl And Twist And Wind
An Endless, Timeless Race
The Silence Takes A Sudden Breath
And Darkness Rings With Hate
As Shadows Move To Ugly Dephts
This Wilderness Spells Fate
At First With Wonder They Explore
And Sleep And Sleep Beneath The Skies
They Watch The Sunset Rise And Fall
With Poignant Jealous Jealous Eyes
They Watch The Sunset Rise And Fall
But Slowly Then They Come To See
Their Image Is So Coarse
And Ponder On Their Vanity
With Uncontrolled Remorse
And The Tree Houses Start To Shake
Their Roots Scream Silent Tears
For All The Heart It Took To Make
It Won't Last Out The Year
Ripped Is The Bark, The Petals Shed
Beauty Faces Her Death
Destruction Rears Its Ugly Head
Crushes The Last Weak Breath
This Day The Sun Became As Dark
As Feathers Of A Crow
The Only Light That Dares Embark
Is The Covering Snow
The Water Lilies Float No More
Upon The Murky Pond
Red Apples Rot Right To The Core
Forever Lost Beyond
So Sigh Now For Those Radiant Days
When Silence Was A Breeze
When Birds With Happiness Could Bathe
And Hide And Play Among The Leaves
They Watch The Sunset Rise And Fall
Retreat Of Mine How Low You Steep
Your Flowers Laid To Rest
Lost In Time With No Grass To Reap
All Visitors Incensed
The Wind It Too Seems To Avoid
Passes By, Never Stays
That Perfect Garden Now Destroyed
Life Cruelly Washed Away
The Garden by Birmingham 6 portrays a garden that was once perfect with beautiful flowers and a calm tranquil atmosphere with memories that mesmerize. The garden is personified as "proud and free" and has gone through time and eternity. The beautiful scents of the primrose along with the carefree air captivate all the senses. The garden is described as having "foliages plenty to boast" which reflects the beautiful sunlight's eyes, a refreshing site. However, the once beautiful garden is now a wilderness, where there are no souls left where beauty lies, which spells fate.
The lyrics demonstrate the changes the garden undergoes over time. At first, the garden is explored with wonder and is a place where one can sleep beneath the skies and watch the sunset rise and fall. But slowly, the garden begins to lose its charm and is consumed by destruction, where even the treehouses start to shake, and their roots scream silent tears, with petals and beauty facing their death. The garden which was once perfect with beautiful scents and flowers is now steeped with no grass to reap and visitors incensed.
Line by Line Meaning
Breathe In With Awe The Perfect Scent
Take a deep breath and appreciate the wonderful aroma that fills the air
The Garden Proud And Free
This garden is a symbol of pride and freedom
Where Time Has Come And Gone And Spent
Throughout the ages, time has passed by this garden
Throughout Eternity
This garden will be here forever
The Primrose Sweet, The Carefree Air
There are sweet smelling flowers and relaxing breezes blowing in the garden
Memories, Mesmerize
Memories of this garden are captivating
A Calm So True, A Love Affair
The peaceful atmosphere of this garden is like falling in love
Whispering Warm Good-Byes
As you leave this garden, it seems to say goodbye in a comforting way
Foliages Plenty Of To Boast
This garden has a lot of plants and trees to show off
Reflect The Sunlights's Eyes
The sunlight reflects beautifully off the plants and trees
Wild The Rushing Wind It Blows
The wind is blowing fiercely and freely in this garden
No Soul Where Beauty Lies
Even though the garden is beautiful, there is nobody there to enjoy it
The Seeds That Seem So Keen To Find
The seeds are eagerly searching for a place to grow
A Secret Hiding Place
They are searching for a hidden spot to grow
Down Paths That Twirl And Twist And Wind
They search through winding paths
An Endless, Timeless Race
Their search feels like a race that never ends
The Silence Takes A Sudden Breath
An abrupt silence falls over the garden
And Darkness Rings With Hate
Sudden darkness represents hatred and negativity
As Shadows Move To Ugly Dephts
Shadows deepen and become ugly
This Wilderness Spells Fate
This area of the garden is destined to fail
At First With Wonder They Explore
At first, they explore the garden with childlike wonder
And Sleep And Sleep Beneath The Skies
They enjoy sleeping outside under the stars
With Poignant Jealous Jealous Eyes
But they are also envious of the beauty around them
But Slowly Then They Come To See
Eventually, they realize something about themselves
Their Image Is So Coarse
They begin to feel unrefined and inadequate compared to the beauty around them
And Ponder On Their Vanity
They start to think about their own superficiality
With Uncontrolled Remorse
They feel guilty for their past behaviors
And The Tree Houses Start To Shake
Even inanimate tree houses seem to be affected by their realization
Their Roots Scream Silent Tears
The trees seem to cry out silently after realizing the visitors' true nature
For All The Heart It Took To Make
The effort that it took to create this garden is disrespected
It Won't Last Out The Year
The garden won't survive much longer
Ripped Is The Bark, The Petals Shed
The garden is falling apart and losing everything that made it beautiful
Beauty Faces Her Death
Beauty is dying within the garden
Destruction Rears Its Ugly Head
Destruction is taking over the garden
Crushes The Last Weak Breath
Finally, the garden succumbs to destruction
This Day The Sun Became As Dark
The day of destruction was dark and negative
As Feathers Of A Crow
As black as the feathers of a crow
The Only Light That Dares Embark
The only light now is the snow that covers everything
Is The Covering Snow
The only thing that covers this ruin is snow
The Water Lilies Float No More
Even the flowers that were once a focal point of the garden are gone
Upon The Murky Pond
The water is no longer crystal clear, but murky
Red Apples Rot Right To The Core
Even the fruit is rotten
Forever Lost Beyond
There's no hope for any of the garden's former beauty to return
So Sigh Now For Those Radiant Days
Remember those better days and feel a sense of loss
When Silence Was A Breeze
When silence was refreshing and the breeze carried peace
When Birds With Happiness Could Bathe
Birds were once happy in this garden
And Hide And Play Among The Leaves
They had a fun and safe place to play
Retreat Of Mine How Low You Steep
The garden was once a retreat, but it has fallen
Your Flowers Laid To Rest
All of the once-beautiful flowers are now gone
Lost In Time With No Grass To Reap
Time has passed, and the potential of the garden will never be realized
All Visitors Incensed
Those who visit the garden are angry and saddened by its condition
The Wind It Too Seems To Avoid
Even the once-strong wind seems to have lost interest in this garden
Passes By, Never Stays
The wind only blows through briefly then moves on
That Perfect Garden Now Destroyed
The garden that was once flawless is now no longer whole
Contributed by Liliana S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
MrDarkfreak666
TOP !!!
Kieran Kylo
instablaster.
Birmingham 6
B6 live videos here: https://youtu.be/5ydN4k-TBg4
Valerie Oxford
My lyrics :) Jean Luc from Front 242 Vocalist brilliant!
Birmingham 6
The vocal for The Garden was originally recorded for another track on the album ”Error of Judgement”, but after J.L had finished his part and left the recording session, we decided, that the vocal needed a more organic feeling, to give it justice. So a new track was written and recorded in the late night/early morning, during the last 2 session days. Even though the lyrics at first glance does´nt seem to be ”a kind of B6 style”, its very powerfull. The track is a B6 favorite. All thanks to you Valerie!