A major figure in Sweden's rock history, guitarist/singer/composer Roine St… Read Full Bio ↴A major figure in Sweden's rock history, guitarist/singer/composer Roine Stolt led two of his country's most successful progressive rock bands: Kaipa in the 1970s and The Flower Kings in the 1990s onward. His distinctive guitar style combined David GILMOUR's debonair mid-tempo, Steve HOWE's sharp edges, and Frank ZAPPA's virtuosity. His vision of a positive world governed by beauty (akin to Yes's singer Jon ANDERSON) gave his music an aura that appealed to many progressive rock fans.

Born in Uppsala, Sweden, on September 5, 1956, Roine Stolt started playing bass in the late '60s in local rock cover bands. He quickly discovered the burgeoning British progressive rock scene and had switched to electric guitar by the summer of 1974 when, at age 17, he became the lead guitarist of the professional prog rock band KAIPA. This band recorded three albums for the Decca label (reissued on CD by Musea) and is still considered to be the most important Scandinavian prog act of the '70s.

Stolt left Kaipa in 1979 to form his own group, FANTASIA, who recorded two albums and disbanded in 1983 after a second, more commercially oriented LP for Warner. Stolt then started to work as a session musician and record producer, drifting away from symphonic rock esthetics, something very obvious on his Hall and Oates-like 1985 solo album, "Behind the Walls" (his first performance as a lead singer) and The Lonely Heartbeat, released in 1989 under the name Stolt.

Witnessing the progressive rock revival of the 1990s, a movement that partly originated from Sweden with bands like Anekdoten and Anglagard, Roine Stolt was quick to come back to his ancient love. Recruiting ex-Jonas Hellborg drummer Jaime Salazar and ex-Samla Mammas Manna percussionist Hasse Bruniusson, he released The Flower King in August 1994. Stimulated by the warm response, he enlisted brother Michael Stolt (bass, vocals) and longtime friend Tomas Bodin (keyboards) and formed The Flower Kings, which would remain his principal musical project for years to come.

At the helm of the Flower Kings, Stolt experienced international fame as the band became, with U.S.A.'s Spock's Beard, the best-selling 1990s prog rock act. Albums were released at an incredible rate: six studio albums (including two two-CD sets) in the band's first six years of existence. Meanwhile, Stolt found time to record another solo album, Hydrophonia (this time an instrumental symphonic prog CD), another one 2CD album Wall Street Voodoo and was part of the prog rock supergroup project Transatlantic, who released SMPTe and Bridge Across Forever and two 2-CD lives.

Mercy
Roine Stolt Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I've been hurting, never shown those tears
Tryin' to keep up, 1 reeling down the years
Guess I signed up for some pointless game
What a wasted card, who to blame?
Who to blame?

I've been searching for my sacred place
Not yet found it, now it's getting late

All this falling down, no control

God if you exist, have mercy on my soul!!!
Have mercy on my soul!

Overall Meaning

The song "Mercy" by Roine Stolt discusses the singer's struggles with pain and feeling lost in life. The first verse talks about how the singer has been hurting but has never shown his tears. He's been trying to keep up and move forward but feels like he's been reeling down the years. The singer feels like he's signed up for a pointless game, and he doesn't know who to blame for the wasted card he's been dealt.

In the second verse, the singer discusses how he's been searching for his place in the world but has not yet found it, and it's getting late. He feels like he's falling down and doesn't have any control. In the chorus, the singer pleads with God to have mercy on his soul if God exists.

Overall, the song "Mercy" is a powerful reflection on the human condition and the struggle to find purpose and meaning in life. It's a poignant reminder that we all have struggles, and sometimes we need help to get through them.

Line by Line Meaning

I've been hurting, never shown those tears
Throughout my life, I have been suffering emotionally but never expressed my pain through tears.

Tryin' to keep up, reeling down the years
I have been trying my best to keep up with the challenges life throws at me but in reality, I am slowly losing control over my life as the years go by.

Guess I signed up for some pointless game
I feel like my life has been a pointless game that I unwittingly signed up for, and it seems to have amounted to nothing in the end.

What a wasted card, who to blame?
I feel like I have been dealt a bad hand in life and I am questioning who to hold responsible for this situation.

I've been searching for my sacred place
I have been trying to find my purpose in life, a place where I feel fulfilled and in tune with my inner self.

Not yet found it, now it's getting late
Despite trying to find my purpose for a long time, I have not yet found my sacred place, and time is running out because life is short.

All this falling down, no control
I feel like everything around me is falling apart, and I am unable to keep a grip on things despite my best efforts.

God if you exist, have mercy on my soul!!!
Given the enormity of my struggles, I am turning to a higher power, God, and asking Him to have mercy on my soul and ease my burdens.

Have mercy on my soul!
In conclusion, I am pleading with God for mercy and help in finding my sacred place and regaining control over my life.

Contributed by Leah B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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