With an extensive solo career spanning dozens of albums, Peter Hammill is certainly more than just the front-man and leader of Van Der Graaf Generator (VdGG). His literate, soul-examining lyrics and his often-anguished vocal delivery make his music perhaps an acquired taste, but his uncompromising artistic vision has shone since his first release, Fool's Mate, back in 1971.
Stylistically, he has forged his own path, touching on progressive rock, punk (before it was even called that), electronic experimentation, intimate singer-songwriter settings, and even opera/musical theatre (with his adaptation of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher).
Hammill's solo career has coexisted with VdGG's activities. The band was offered a contract by Mercury Records in 1968, that only Hammill signed. When VdGG broke up in 1969 he wanted to record his first solo-album. In the summer of 1969 Hammill had a residency at The Lyceum and played weekly solo-concerts there. Eventually the intended solo-album was released under the VdGG-banner as their first album (The Aerosol Grey Machine). Hammill's first official solo-album was Fool's Mate (1971), containing songs from the early (1967/68) VdGG-days.
When VdGG broke up again in August 1972, Hammill resumed his solo-career. Songs that were intended for VdGG, now ended up on his solo-albums, notably "(In The) Black Room (Including 'The Tower')" (on Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night) and "A Louse Is Not A Home" (on The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage). This to some extent makes it difficult to separate Hammill's solo work during the 1970s from his work with the band (for the majority of both his solo-songs and the band's songs he is credited as the sole songwriter, and some of his solo albums feature all the members of Van der Graaf Generator). In general, however, solo Hammill is concerned with more personal matters, while the band's songs deal with broader themes.
Hammill's Nadir's Big Chance (1975} was a great change from the preceding album, In Camera. Whilst In Camera is characterized by extremely intense and complex songs and even has some musique concrete on it, Nadir's Big Chance is notable for its anticipation of punk rock. In a 1977 radio interview, John Lydon of the Sex Pistols played two tracks from the album and expressed his admiration for Hammill in glowing terms: "Peter Hammill's great. A true original. I've just liked him for years. If you listen to him, his solo albums, I'm damn sure David Bowie copied a lot out of that geezer. The credit he deserves, just has not been given to him. I love all his stuff"
Over (1977) contains very personal songs about the break-up of a long-term relationship.
Hammill's first solo-album after the 1978 break-up of Van der Graaf was The Future Now. With the next albums, pH7 and A Black Box, the sound got more compact, more new wave. On those albums, Hammill played the drums himself. What followed was 'the K-group'. In later years Hammill would sometimes refer to the band as a "beat group". The K-group consisted of Hammill himself on guitars and piano, with John Ellis on lead guitar, Nic Potter on bass, and Guy Evans on drums and percussion. They recorded the albums Enter K and Patience.
Hammill's early records, like the VdGG albums, were released on Charisma Records. He parted company with them after pH7 (1979), and then released albums on a number of small labels. A Black Box came out on S-Type, a label run by Hammill and his manager Gail Colson. Enter K and Patience appeared on Naive, Skin and Margin on Foundry and In A Foreign Town, Out of Water and Room Temperature: Live on Enigma Records. In 1992 he formed his own label, Fie!, on which all his albums since Fireships have been released. The label's logo is the Greek letter phi (Φ), a pun on PH-I. Ever since the 1970s he has also had his own home recording studio, appropriately called Sofa Sound (his website was later named after the studio).
Musically, Hammill's work ranges from short simple riff-based songs to highly complex lengthy pieces. Mainly because of his refusal to make anything resembling middle-of-the-road music, and the general absence of any smooth or glamorous sounds in his music, there is much debate amongst his admirers whether Hammill is to be considered a part of the so-called progressive rock scene. In many interviews however Hammill himself has stated that he does not want to be put in the progressive rock music label, or any music label at all.
His output is prolific. Many different styles of music appear in his work, among them artful complexity (for instance Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night), avant-garde electronic experiments (Loops & Reels), opera (The Fall of the House of Usher), solo keyboard accompaniment (And Close As This), solo guitar accompaniment (Clutch), improvisation (Spur of the Moment), film music (Sonix), band recordings (Enter K), and slow, melancholic balladry (None of the Above).
Hammill survived a heart attack in December 2003, less than 48 hours after having finished the recording of Incoherence. In 2005, Hammill announced the reformation of Van der Graaf Generator. In 2004 they had recorded a new album, Present, which was released in April 2005, and from May until November 2005 played a series of well received concerts.
Between 2005 and 2007 Hammill has overseen the remastering of almost all of his pre-Fie! releases, and has also started similar work on his more recent catalogue. The last of the Charisma remasters was released in September 2007.
Hammill's solo-career did not end because of the VdGG-reunion. He released his new album Singularity in December 2006. It was the first solo-album he completed after his heart attack, and for a large part it deals with matters of life and (sudden) death.
In 2007 several gigs by Van der Graaf Generator as a trio (minus David Jackson) have taken place in Britain and the rest of Europe, and their new album Trisector was released in March 2008. Hammill's new solo album, Thin Air came out 8th June 2009. Hammill and the band are touring extensively in USA, Japan and Europe these days.
Time Heals
Peter Hammill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Can lie beside you as I never truly did,
In afterglow
No afterwards at all.
Only writing love songs when it's gone and dead;
Only paying words out: strings of half-forgotten sentiments...
I mean...
I meant...
The first time that we met I said 'I bet that she's the one',
But I was talking to myself then, as always.
As time went by our steps entwined, unwritten lines drew taut
And I tried to find a way to make it all safe...
Into the play, what a production!
Into the days and ever more suction:
You hold me close, but hold me farther
Away from yourself, I make me a martyr,
For pain and love go hand in hand...
And hand in hand go you and my friend,
You are his and I am yours and just cannot evade you
My days a dream, my nights unseemly,
Stolen moments all I live for,
But theft is no way to persuade you
To come with me, leave him behind you
My hurtful eyes try to remind you
It's all I can do to keep from screaming
'I love you, I love you!' I wish I was dreaming,
But the steps we take all leave footprints...
Sooner or later the whole thing will be blown
You will leave him or I'll be left here, alone
Either way someone loses someone
But I won't mind that, I just would quite like to know
Who we love the most, well, I guess that's ourselves
The days are strange, at night we're strangers,
Lie in bed and lie inside our heads,
We come no closer than as dancers
Your eyes are change, your presence danger,
Won't look me in the face and yet you
Kiss and make up the answer
To all the questions that fly unanswered, unreasoned
Death in the sky, death in the season
If you leave me now, it might nearly kill me....
Remember me?
Remember we three?
It all seemed so important at the time,
We came so close to wrecking all our lives,
And now it's all just song lines
Time heals,
Time heals
Oh, but I still bear the weals
Thinking back, it seems that I
Can lie beside you as I never truly did,
In afterglow
No afterwards at all
Only writing love songs when it's gone and dead,
Only paying words out: streams of half-forgotten sentiments...
I mean...
I meant...
I never really quite could say
The way it was
The lyrics of "Time Heals" by Peter Hammill narrate a complex and emotional reflection about a love triangle that ended in heartbreak. The singer reminisces on his past with the woman he loved, whom he never truly felt he could be with. The relationship was filled with moments of stolen passion and love-struck nights, but it was never safe, never secure. The singer is torn between his love for her and his recognition that they both only truly love themselves. The emotions are raw and intense, with a sense of regret and longing that runs throughout the song.
The first verse sets the scene for what follows, elaborating on the complicated nature of the relationship between the singer and his lover. It's clear that he feels a tremendous amount of intensity towards her and even predicted that she was the one for him when they first met. However, as the relationship progressed, he realized he couldn't find the words to express what they had. Throughout the song, the singer reflects on how his intense emotions were ultimately unsustainable, and how his love for her and his friend cannot coexist.
The chorus of "Time Heals" acknowledges that the pain will eventually heal with time, but the scars remain. The singer has moved on, but the memories of the past still linger, perhaps even haunt him. The last verse ends where it began, with a sense of finality, as if closure has finally been found. The singer comes to the realization that the love triangle's importance was only fleeting and that it now only exists within the confines of his memories.
Line by Line Meaning
Thinking back, it seems that I
Reflecting on the past, I realize
Can lie beside you as I never truly did,
I now recognize that I was never really honest with you
In afterglow
After the intimacy we shared
No afterwards at all.
We didn't have any meaningful conversation or connection after that moment
Only writing love songs when it's gone and dead;
I only express my love through music after the relationship has ended
Only paying words out: strings of half-forgotten sentiments...
My words are insincere and lack true emotion
I mean...
What I'm trying to say is...
I meant...
What I intended to communicate was...
I never really quite could say the way it was.
I was never able to fully articulate how I truly felt about our relationship
The first time that we met I said 'I bet that she's the one',
When we first met, I thought that you were the one for me
But I was talking to myself then, as always.
I was living in a fantasy and not truly expressing my feelings to you
As time went by our steps entwined, unwritten lines drew taut
As we spent more time together, our relationship grew stronger, but there were still things left unsaid
And I tried to find a way to make it all safe...
I wanted to ensure that our relationship was secure and stable
Into the play, what a production!
Our relationship seemed like a theatrical production with a lot of drama
Into the days and ever more suction:
As time went on, our relationship became more and more intense
You hold me close, but hold me farther
You showed affection but kept me at a distance
Away from yourself, I make me a martyr,
By keeping me at arm's length, I felt like I was sacrificing my own happiness for the sake of our relationship
For pain and love go hand in hand...
The intensity of our love caused pain and emotional turmoil
And hand in hand go you and my friend,
Our relationship was complicated by the fact that you were involved with one of my friends
You are his and I am yours and just cannot evade you
We were involved with other people, but we couldn't stay away from each other
My days a dream, my nights unseemly,
My thoughts were consumed by you both day and night
Stolen moments all I live for,
Our relationship consisted mainly of secret, fleeting moments
But theft is no way to persuade you
I know that I can't win your affection through deceitful means
To come with me, leave him behind you
I wanted you to leave your partner and be with me instead
My hurtful eyes try to remind you
I express my pain and longing through my eyes
It's all I can do to keep from screaming
I am struggling to control my emotions and not act recklessly
'I love you, I love you!' I wish I was dreaming,
I wish I could wake up from this intense emotional turmoil
But the steps we take all leave footprints...
Our actions have lasting consequences
Sooner or later the whole thing will be blown
Our secret will eventually be exposed
You will leave him or I'll be left here, alone
One of us will have to end our current relationship to be together
Either way someone loses someone
We know that someone will get hurt in the process
But I won't mind that, I just would quite like to know
I'm willing to take the risk because I want to know once and for all where we stand
Who we love the most, well, I guess that's ourselves
Ultimately, we both are looking out for our own interests and desires
The days are strange, at night we're strangers,
Our relationship feels awkward and uncertain during the day, and we feel like strangers at night
Lie in bed and lie inside our heads,
We spend time together in bed, but are consumed by our own thoughts and emotions
We come no closer than as dancers
We seem to be moving in different directions, like dancers who can't get in sync
Your eyes are change, your presence danger,
Your behavior and actions are unpredictable and potentially harmful
Won't look me in the face and yet you
You refuse to make eye contact with me, even in intimate moments
Kiss and make up the answer
We try to resolve our issues through physical intimacy
To all the questions that fly unanswered, unreasoned
We have many unresolved questions and issues that we can't seem to resolve logically
Death in the sky, death in the season
The relationship feels unstable and like it could end at any moment
If you leave me now, it might nearly kill me....
The idea of losing you is devastating to me
Remember me?
I hope that you remember me and the love we shared
Remember we three?
I hope that you remember me, my friend, and the complicated relationship between the three of us
It all seemed so important at the time,
Our relationship felt like the most important thing in the world
We came so close to wrecking all our lives,
Our relationship had the potential to cause immense harm and wreak havoc on our lives
And now it's all just song lines
Our relationship now just feels like a collection of lyrics in a song
Time heals,
The passage of time helps to alleviate the pain and difficulty of the situation
Oh, but I still bear the weals
However, I still carry the scars and pain from our relationship
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: PETER HAMMILL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind