Note: There are three artists with this name.
1. Prog Rock, German band<… Read Full Bio ↴Note: There are three artists with this name.
1. Prog Rock, German band
2. 60's female pop singer.
3. Low-Fi Dublin Band

1.
In the spring of 1990, Kay Söhl, the two keyboarders Volker Söhl and Matthias Harder, founded the band TEMPORAL TEMPTATION. By that summer the band had already played its first gig - the first live performance of the core founding members of the band. In a way it was also Sylvan's birth. At this time the band played hard rock music and sang in German. Only a small part of their music was progressive rock.

In Autumn 1990, the band changed its name to CHAMELEON, a symbol of changeability, representing the long instrumental parts in their music. The cover artwork had a likeness to early MARILLION covers and has never been issued. In summer 1991 Marko Heisig joined Chameleon as the lead singer and bassist. Between 1992 and 1994 the band had a gloomy and aggressive tonality to them and in this they were very different from the more rocky sounds of the previous years. In 1992 the first official demo tape of Chameleon was released. With Matthias Koops as lead singer, the second official demo tape was recorded. The title was 'Slaves' and its tracklist was 'Time', 'Slaves', 'Mirror of a Lifetime' and 'Childhood Dreams'. (By the way, 'Slaves' was the old title of a version of today's song 'Deliverance' after which Sylvan's first album was named!).

In winter 1995 one of the band's dreams was fulfilled: Marco Glühmann, an old friend who played many years before with Chameleon, joined the band. Within the same year the third and last official demo tape was recorded. The tracklist was 'Beren and Luthien', 'Golden Cage' and 'Outro'. All of these songs have merged into Sylvan's first studio album in one way or another.

In 1997 the last live concert took place under the name Chameleon. Marko Heisig left the band and the bass was taken over by Patrick Münster. The band changed its name to Sylvan. Their first cd was recorded in 1998 and the second was released in 2000. (Adapted from text on the official history website). The music of the band is progressive rock with some hard rock moments, and some spacey melodic pop-rock elements, probably lingering from earlier in their career. Also there are some Art-prog elements, but really not enough to call this music Art-rock as such. Other apparent influences include psychedelic rock, a little PINK FLOYD in the spacey elements, and surely MARILLION and GENESIS.

2. 60's female pop singer. In 2006 her record "We Don't Belong" first recorded in 1965, was featured on a Rhino Records compilation set "The Hatbox collection" "Girl Groups Lost and Found" which gained two Grammy Award nominations in January 2007. Now a successful photographer living in London. www.sylvanmason.com In 1965 Sylvan became the first and only Stowaway on Radio Caroline's Mi Amigo Pirate Ship. She spent the weekend with Tony Blackburn, Roger Gale and Mike Allen promoting her record "We Don't Belong" which had recently been banned by the BBC; helping the dj's with their quiz shows and making jingles whilst the headlines in newspapers screamed "Beautiful blonde Marooned with 15 men". Unlike the new film "The Boat That Rocked" which is based on Radio Caroline, it was cold, uncomfortable and a bit smelly says Sylvan but the boys were very sweet and well behaved.

3. Irish band Sylvan are a five-piece low-fi Dublin-based group, originally formed in 2000 by band members Colin Russell-Conway (drums), Paul Clynes (vox & lead guitar), and Adam McCormack (vox & guitar). Adam left the group in 2004, to move to Denmark and is now recording & gigging with his new band, Imagine I Had Hands. At this point Kieron (Beardy) joined the band to replace Adam on vox & guitar. And Fergus Russell-Conway was also recruited to join the band on bass & backing vox. The band have released 3 full-length albums to date. Their first album "The Ugly Lemon" was recorded in Chicago with Steve Albini in 2003. They then recorded their second album My Marble Eye themselves in Dublin in January 2005. Sylvan have just released their third album "We Are Lying to you through song" in September 2007, and are currently touring this album in Ireland and Europe. http://www.myspace.com/sylvan1

Signed Away
Sylvan Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I gave you truth – you gave me nothing
I broke and you took advantage of it
I wrote the lines – you never read them with me
Just spoke inside insidiously

I knew my fortune but believed my lies
A million reasons just to prove me right
I built it with you but without a doubt

You where never with me, now I found it out …

I signed my life away
And spilled the ink of trust I should have saved
I offered all my tears I used to hide
To blur the lines of truth I kept inside

If you'd asked for rainbows – would have brought them here
For in brightest colors you would have shone for me
And a thousand treasures – would have searched for all
But the colors darkened – they will shine no more …

… and I write it down inside … inside …
… and I fight and I turn the page of sighs …

… and I feel it here tonight … tonight …
… and I cried and I signed off my life …

Overall Meaning

In "Signed Away," Sylvan expresses a deep feeling of betrayal and regret over an intense relationship that ended badly. The song speaks of a person who gave their all to someone they trusted, only to have that trust shattered when they realized that the other person was not reciprocating equally. The opening lines, "I gave you truth – you gave me nothing," highlight the one-sided nature of the relationship, with one party putting in all the effort, while the other person failed to reciprocate. Despite this, the singer continued to write lines and express their emotions to the other person, but they were never heard. Instead, their partner spoke insidiously, taking advantage of them whenever possible.

As the song progresses, the tone becomes more regretful, with Sylvan lamenting their failure to see the situation for what it was. They describe how they knew their fortune but still believed their own lies, providing a million reasons to justify their actions. The singer built a life with the other person, only to realize that they were never truly present, and had signed their life away to someone who never deserved it. The chorus further emphasizes this despair, as the singer realizes that they offered everything they had, including their tears, only to have the other person use and abuse them.

In essence, "Signed Away" is a beautiful and haunting exploration of the darker aspects of love and relationships. It speaks to the pain and betrayal that can come from putting everything you have into another person, only to have them take advantage of your trust. The song is a powerful reminder to be careful about who we choose to give our hearts to and to recognize when a relationship is no longer healthy.

Line by Line Meaning

I gave you truth – you gave me nothing
I tried to be honest with you, but you didn't reciprocate and gave me nothing in return

I broke and you took advantage of it
When I was vulnerable, you exploited the situation instead of being there for me

I wrote the lines – you never read them with me
I expressed my thoughts and feelings through my writing, but you never took the time to understand them with me

Just spoke inside insidiously
You communicated in a harmful, sneaky way that caused me pain

I knew my fortune but believed my lies
I was aware of the good things in my life, but I chose to believe falsehoods instead

A million reasons just to prove me right
I searched for countless excuses to justify my own beliefs and actions

I built it with you but without a doubt
I thought we were working together to create something, but now I know that you were never really there

You where never with me, now I found it out …
I have come to the realization that you were never truly on my side

I signed my life away
I made a commitment that has serious consequences for my future

And spilled the ink of trust I should have saved
I gave away my trust too easily, and now I regret it

I offered all my tears I used to hide
I exposed my vulnerabilities to you and allowed myself to be emotional in ways I never had before

To blur the lines of truth I kept inside
I hoped that by being emotionally vulnerable, I could somehow obscure the fact that I was not being truthful with myself or others

If you'd asked for rainbows – would have brought them here
I would have done anything for you, even if it seemed impossible, and brought you joy in any way I could

For in brightest colors you would have shone for me
If you had been happy and fulfilled, it would have brought light and joy to my life

And a thousand treasures – would have searched for all
I would have gone to great lengths to find things that would make you happy and fulfilled

But the colors darkened – they will shine no more …
The joy and brightness in the relationship have been extinguished, and things seem bleak and hopeless

… and I write it down inside … inside …
I am processing my emotions and experiences through writing, and keeping them private to myself

… and I fight and I turn the page of sighs …
I am struggling to move on from the pain of the relationship and am trying to start anew

… and I feel it here tonight … tonight …
The pain and sadness of the relationship are still present and weighing heavily on me at this moment

… and I cried and I signed off my life …
I was deeply emotional when making the choice to commit to something that will affect me greatly in the future

Contributed by Mackenzie R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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