The Prophet's Song
Queen Lyrics
Oh-oh, people of the earth
"Listen to the warning"
The Seer, he said
Beware the storm that gathers here
Listen to the wise man
I dreamed I saw on a moonlit stair
Spreading his hands on the multitude there
A man who cried for a love gone stale
And ice cold hearts of charity bare
Hopes of the young in troubled graves
I see no day, I heard him say
So grey is the face of every mortal
Oh-oh, people of the earth
"Listen to the warning"
The prophet, he said
For soon, the cold of night will fall
Summoned by your own hand
Oh-oh, children of the land
Quicken to the new life
Take my hand
Ooh, fly and find the new green bough
Return like the white dove
He told of death as a bone white haze
Taking the lost and the unloved babe
Late, too late, all the wretches run
These kings of beasts now counting their days
From mother's love is the son estranged
Married his own, his precious gain
The earth will shake, in two, will break
And death all around will be your dowry
Oh-oh, people of the earth
"Listen to the warning," the seer, he said
For those who hear and mark my words
Listen to the good plan
Ah-ah-ah-ah
And two by two, my human zoo
They'll be
Running for to come
Running for to come
Out of the rain
Oh, flee for your life
Who heed me not, let all your treasure make you
Oh, fear for your life
Deceive you not, the fires of hell will take you
Should death await you
Oh-oh, people can you hear me (Oh-oh, people can you hear me)
(Oh-oh, people can you hear me)
And now I know (and now I know, and now I know)
I know, I know that you can hear me (and now I know that you can hear me)
And now I know, now I know, now I know, now I know
Now I know, now I know, now I know, now I know
Now I know (now I know, now I know)
The Earth will shake, in two will break (the Earth will shake, in two will break)
The Earth will shake, in two will break (the Earth will shake, in two will break)
Doubts all around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around
(Doubts all around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around)
(Doubts all around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around)
Now I know (now I know, now I know)
Now I know, now I know, now I know, now I know
Now I know, now I know, now I know, now I know
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa (whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa)
Listen to the wise, listen to the wise, listen to the wise
Listen to the wise, listen to the wise man
(Listen to the wise man, listen to the wise man)
La-la, la-la-la-la, la-la (la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la)
La-la, la-la-la-la, la-la (la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la)
La-la, la-la-la-la, la-la (la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la)
La-la, la-la-la-la, la-la (la-la, la-la-la-la, la-la)
La-la, la-la
Come here (la-la, come here)
I, you come here (I, you come here)
I, you come here (I, you come here)
I, you (ah)
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Listen to the mad (listen to the mad)
Listen to the man (listen to the man)
Listen to the mad man (listen to the mad man)
God give you the grace to purge this place
And peace all around may be your fortune
Oh-oh, children of the land
Love is still the answer, take my hand
The vision fades, a voice I hear
Listen to the madman
Ooh, but still I fear and still I dare not
Laugh at the madman
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Brian Harold May
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them
"The Prophet's Song" was composed by Brian May. On the show In the Studio with Redbeard, which spotlighted A Night at the Opera, May explained that he wrote the song after a dream he'd had while he was recovering from falling seriously ill while recording Queen's 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack and is the source of some of the lyrics. He spent several days putting it together, and it includes a vocal canon sung first by Freddie Mercury, then by Mercury, Roger Taylor and May. Read Full Bio"The Prophet's Song" was composed by Brian May. On the show In the Studio with Redbeard, which spotlighted A Night at the Opera, May explained that he wrote the song after a dream he'd had while he was recovering from falling seriously ill while recording Queen's 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack and is the source of some of the lyrics. He spent several days putting it together, and it includes a vocal canon sung first by Freddie Mercury, then by Mercury, Roger Taylor and May. The vocal, and later instrumental canon was produced by early tape delay devices. It is a heavy and dark number with a strong progressive rock influence. At over eight minutes in length, is also Queen's longest song (Not counting the untitled instrumental track on Made in Heaven).
As detailed by Brian May in a documentary about this album, the speed-up effect that happens in the middle of the guitar solo was achieved by starting a reel-to-reel player with the tape on it, as the original tape player was stopped.
The dream he had was about The Great Flood, and lyrics have references from the Bible and the Noah's Ark account.
In an interview held in 1975, May elaborated on writing the song:
"I had a dream about what seemed like revenge on people, and I couldn't really work out in the dream what it was that people had done wrong. It was something like a flood. Things had gone much too far and as a kind of reparation, the whole thing had to start again. In the dream, people were walking on the streets trying to touch each others hands, desperate to try to make some sign that they were caring about other people. I felt that the trouble must be – and this is one of my obsessions, anyway – that people don't make enough contact with each other. A feeling that runs through a lot of the songs I write is, that if there is a direction to mankind, it ought to be a coming together, and at the moment, it doesn’t seem to be happening very well. I worry about it a lot. I worry about not doing anything about it. Things seem to be getting worse.
"But I wasn't trying to preach in the song at all. I was just trying to put across the questions which are in my mind, rather than the answers, which I don't believe I have. The only answer I can see is to be aware of things like that and to sort of try to put yourself to rights. There is an overseer in the song, though, whose cry to the multitudes is to 'listen to the warning of the seer'. In the song is this guy who also appeared in the dream. I don't really know whether he was a prophet or an impostor, but anyway, he's standing up there and saying, 'Look, you've got to mend your ways.' I still don't know whether he's the man who thinks he's sent from God or whether he isn't. The song asks questions rather than gives answers." "
Interview with Freddie Mercury, 5/21/1976 The Record Mirror:
"That's a Brian May track really. It's one of the nicest songs on the album. It really took a long while to record that one. A lot of work has gone into that track, and he practically went insane trying to get it together. We do that completely different on stage... It's one of the things that we wanted to do, y'know; the same as I wanted to do the operatic side of things in Bohemian Rhapsody. Brian wanted to try a completely different angle on that track. It's something that he had in mind for a long while and I think it's been very successful."
As detailed by Brian May in a documentary about this album, the speed-up effect that happens in the middle of the guitar solo was achieved by starting a reel-to-reel player with the tape on it, as the original tape player was stopped.
The dream he had was about The Great Flood, and lyrics have references from the Bible and the Noah's Ark account.
In an interview held in 1975, May elaborated on writing the song:
"I had a dream about what seemed like revenge on people, and I couldn't really work out in the dream what it was that people had done wrong. It was something like a flood. Things had gone much too far and as a kind of reparation, the whole thing had to start again. In the dream, people were walking on the streets trying to touch each others hands, desperate to try to make some sign that they were caring about other people. I felt that the trouble must be – and this is one of my obsessions, anyway – that people don't make enough contact with each other. A feeling that runs through a lot of the songs I write is, that if there is a direction to mankind, it ought to be a coming together, and at the moment, it doesn’t seem to be happening very well. I worry about it a lot. I worry about not doing anything about it. Things seem to be getting worse.
"But I wasn't trying to preach in the song at all. I was just trying to put across the questions which are in my mind, rather than the answers, which I don't believe I have. The only answer I can see is to be aware of things like that and to sort of try to put yourself to rights. There is an overseer in the song, though, whose cry to the multitudes is to 'listen to the warning of the seer'. In the song is this guy who also appeared in the dream. I don't really know whether he was a prophet or an impostor, but anyway, he's standing up there and saying, 'Look, you've got to mend your ways.' I still don't know whether he's the man who thinks he's sent from God or whether he isn't. The song asks questions rather than gives answers." "
Interview with Freddie Mercury, 5/21/1976 The Record Mirror:
"That's a Brian May track really. It's one of the nicest songs on the album. It really took a long while to record that one. A lot of work has gone into that track, and he practically went insane trying to get it together. We do that completely different on stage... It's one of the things that we wanted to do, y'know; the same as I wanted to do the operatic side of things in Bohemian Rhapsody. Brian wanted to try a completely different angle on that track. It's something that he had in mind for a long while and I think it's been very successful."
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Jakob Čepon
1970. Freddie joined the band.
1970. Queen was formed.
1971. John deacon joined the band.
1973. Debut album
1975. The greatest song.
1977. Two of the greatest rock anthem ever.
1978. The happiest song ever.
1980. The greatest bassline
1981. The most iconic bassline
1985. The greatest performance.
1991. The greatest frontman in rock history. Died 😞.
1992. The greatest tribute concert for Freddie.
1995. The most emotion album was released. And it was made in heaven 😔.
2018. A great movie. Bohemian rhapsody.
R.I.P freddie mercury.
Queen forever 🤩.
Johann Edelmann
Brian May speaks about The Great Flood and its different stories or interpretations according to other religions.
This song's main reason has to do with a specific dream he had a long time ago. It's about the people on the street trying to hold hands, but because of the selfishness that was going on at the time, it was more complicated. They needed guidance and direction from one another.
This song is tuned in D (regarding the guitar), to obtain lower notes and particular effects on the guitar, as he shared his points on this piece.
Before the official title of this piece, they called it previously PEOPLE OF THE EARTH , BUT after thorough consideration, it should be better to add it to the lyrics, instead of naming the song that way in the first place.
It has a lot of Japanese influence, that's why you can hear a Koto (a kind of string instrument that you pluck like a harp) during the beginning of the song; it's mentioned that there's a reference to Noah's Ark and that the animals went in two by two (male and female), boarding the vessel (also mentioning US as animals too).
This was accomplished by Roy Thomas Baker . Mercury designed all the vocals and played with them along the song, like a kind of manifestation of things and holy prophecy.
Francesca
My top ten queen songs (at the moment)- they change all the time are
1. Mad the swine- Queen
2. The fairy fellers master stroke- Queen II
3. Seaside Rendezvous- A Night at the Opera
4. I’m in love with my car- A Night at the Opera
5. Spread your wings- News of the World
6. Seven seas of rhye- Queen II
7. In the lap of the gods (original)- Sheer Heart Attack
8. Lily of the Valley- Sheer Heart Attack
9. You take my breath away- A Day at the Races
10. Flick of the wrist- Sheer Heart Attack
But I also really like
Keep passing the open windows- The Works
I want it all- The Miracle
Hammer to fall- The Works
It’s a hard life- The Works
Brighton rock- Sheer Heart Attack
Crazy Little Thing Called Love- The Game
I’m going slightly mad- innuendo
The show must go on- innuendo
Need your loving tonight- The Game
Doing alright- Queen
Rain must fall- The Miracle
Don’t try suicide- The Game
Now I’m here- Sheer Heart Attack
Jesus- Queen
One vision- A Kind of Magic
We will rock you- News of the World
Killer queen- Sheer Heart Attack
Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy- A Day at the Races
Under pressure- hot space
Life is real- hot space
Get down make love- News of the World
Made in heaven- made in heaven
Liar- Queen
Some day one day- Queen II
The prophets song- A Night at the Opera
Las palabras de amor- hot space
In only seven days- jazz
Love kills- Queen forever
Somebody to love- A Day at the Races
These are the days of our lives- innuendo
Innuendo- innuendo
Don’t try so hard- innuendo
The miracle- The Miracle
Princes of the universe- A Kind of Magic
Barcelona- greatest hits III
But I love them all :)
Havannah
This song with headphones on is a spiritual experience
Andrew Kielbasowycz
this song would be a spiritual experience to a deaf man.
Keith Grosch
Just a good vintage system in mono does it. I do it all the time!!
Les Salazar
Got a pair of Sony noise cancelling headphones for my birthday, this was the first song I listened to to test them out
Eric Curtis II
Yes indeed
Gustavo Albornoz
Asacto
Adilette
WARNING FOR HEADPHONE USERS:
THIS SONG IS A MASTERPIECE
Therapyx
@RoyalBank 556 if I put my headphones to full volume - I will die... :(
Mila💞
I KNOW
Magnificent Failure
@Impact Fan Since 2004 Glam/Prog/Metal