Originally coming to fame in the mid-1960s singing orchestral pop ballads as the frontman of The Walker Brothers, Walker went on to a solo career balancing a light entertainment/MOR ballad approach with increasing artistic innovations in arrangement and writing. Despite a series of acclaimed albums, a disastrous drop in sales forced him back into straight Middle of the road recordings with little of his own artistic input. This in turn eventually led to a Walker Brothers reunion in the mid-1970s (although the latter eventually moved, by mutual consent, into more avant-garde areas).
From the mid-1980s, Walker revived his solo career while drastically reinventing his artistic and compositional methods, via a series of acclaimed and vividly avant-garde albums. These combined his iconic voice with an unsettling avant-garde approach which owed more to modernist and post-modernist classical composition than to his pop singer past. This change in approach has been compared to "Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen".
Walker has been a continuing influence on other artists, in particular The Last Shadow Puppets, Marc Almond, Goldfrapp, Douglas Pearce of the band Death in June, Billy MacKenzie of The Associates, David Sylvian, Julian Cope, Antony Hegarty, Thom Yorke, Steven Wilson, David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Trey Spruance, Perry Blake, Radiohead, Noah Lennox, Mikael Åkerfeldt, and the Divine Comedy/Neil Hannon.
Walker continued to release solo material until his death, and was signed to 4AD Records. As a record producer or guest performer he worked with a number of artists including Pulp, Ute Lemper, Bat For Lashes and Sunn O))).
Track Three
Scott Walker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Resembled to breaking-point
I swear you never slept at night
When the growing is slow.
After me I'm no man's son
Run out of recognize.
Split back without his prisoner
The distance rigged in his eyes
Rock of cast-offs
Bury me
Hide my soul
And sink us free.
Rock of cast offs
Bury me
Hide my soul
And pray us free.
From the host of late-comers
A miracle enters the streets
Shining with rain
He is shaking to wash
The murder away.
The shadow of the son
Made the son a shadow
It's never night when I die.
That desert clouds under
And so Lord lightens
Sleepers wait there
With wounds in their sides.
In the strength of the crime
You sing like a stranger
And your failure fulfills
Your most secret defeat.
After me I'm no man's son
Run out of recognize.
A life of it's own
Lays down the horizon
The distance rigged in it's eyes
Rock of cast-offs
Bury me
Hide my soul
And sink us free.
Rock of cast offs
Bury me
Hide my soul
And pray us free.
In Scott Walker's Track Three, the lyrics paint a picture of a chaotic and confused world. The first stanza talks about feeling delayed and near breaking point, with a sense of restlessness and unease. The second stanza suggests a feeling of displacement, of not belonging anywhere. The lines "After me I'm no man's son / Run out of recognize" suggest a lost sense of identity and belongingness. The next stanza brings in the concept of bloodshed and murder, with the image of split blood and a distant gaze that hints at a dissociative or traumatic experience. The repeated refrain of "rock of cast-offs, bury me, hide my soul, and sink us free" is a plea for escape, a desire to be free of the pain and confusion that is being experienced.
The second half of the song takes a more spiritual turn. The stanza "From the host of late-comers / A miracle enters the streets" evokes a sense of hope and renewal, and the image of rain washing away murder suggests a cleansing and purifying power. The shadow of the son making the son a shadow can be interpreted as a reference to religious imagery of the son of God casting a shadow of protection, and this idea continues in the lines "It's never night when I die" suggesting a belief in eternal life. The final stanza once again mentions bloodshed and failure, but ends on a more uplifting note with the image of a new horizon and a distant gaze.
Overall, Track Three is a complex and emotionally charged song that grapples with themes of identity, trauma, and spirituality.
Line by Line Meaning
Delayed in the headlong
Feeling stuck and unable to move forward
Resembled to breaking-point
Close to reaching a limit
I swear you never slept at night
Expressing amazement at someone's constant activity
When the growing is slow.
When progress is slow
After me I'm no man's son
After my death, I will be lost and forgotten
Run out of recognize.
No longer recognizable or remembered
The blood of our
Our shared history and experiences
Split back without his prisoner
Divided without a clear cause or solution
The distance rigged in his eyes
Feeling disconnected from others or reality
Rock of cast-offs
A place for outcasts and rejects
Bury me
Symbolizing death and letting go
Hide my soul
Desiring to keep something hidden and protected
And sink us free.
To be freed from burdens or troubles
From the host of late-comers
From those who arrive after the fact
A miracle enters the streets
Something unexpected happens in the mundane world
Shining with rain
Appearing bright and hopeful in the midst of sorrow
He is shaking to wash
He is fervently trying to cleanse or purify
The murder away.
The need to forget or move past a tragic event
The shadow of the son
Feeling overshadowed by someone else
Made the son a shadow
Losing one's sense of individuality and identity
It's never night when I die.
The finality of death and its impact on the living
That desert clouds under
The unsettling feeling of being alone and forgotten
And so Lord lightens
Finding hope and comfort through faith
Sleepers wait there
Those who are unaware or uninvolved in the situation
With wounds in their sides.
Signifying vulnerability and pain
In the strength of the crime
The power and influence of wrongdoing
You sing like a stranger
Feeling disconnected from one's own thoughts and emotions
And your failure fulfills
Acknowledging the inevitability of one's failures
Your most secret defeat.
One's deepest and most personal failures
A life of it's own
Something that has developed independently
Lays down the horizon
Changing one's perception of the future
The distance rigged in it's eyes
The ominous feeling of being watched or scrutinized
Pray us free.
Hoping to be released from pain or hardship
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Cameren Lee
it's really weird how well Ocean's voice works with Scott's
bl4nkd4hli4
Very. I like it.
eastjinks
RIP Scott. The world feels a little colder without you.
ruivog
@Dave Marriott Thank you. My confusion.
Dave Marriott
Oh god, Ranking Roger now. ☹️
Dave Marriott
@ruivog Btw, Ian Ogilvy of the flycatchers died 25th August 2017.
Ian Ogilvie from SLF is still alive! 😃
Dave Marriott
@ruivog How come, what? 🤔
ruivog
@Dave Marriott Ian Ogilvy? How come?
YSLVENUS
His voice is awesome man what's everyone talking about??
Yves Altana
Awesome as always. His voice is incomparable.