Their sound has been described as an amalgamation of psychedelic rock, industrial, synth-pop and avant-garde. They have released over 40 records and continuously tour the world.
Members of the band have also collaborated with Nurse With Wound, The Dresden Dolls, Jarboe, HNAS, Jim O'Rourke, Skinny Puppy's cEvin Key, forming The Tear Garden. Ka Spel accompanied Skinny Puppy for a small part of their 1988 European 'Head Trauma' tour in Sweden. Key also appears on the 1994 album 9 Lives to Wonder.
Godless
The Legendary Pink Dots Lyrics
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The lyrics to The Legendary Pink Dots' song Godless describe an experience of an earthquake or some other kind of disaster. The lyrics begin by describing the ground vibrating and then a second, more intense wave hitting. The wave is strong enough to cause pictures to fall from the wall, cutlery in a kitchen drawer to rattle, and cracks to appear in the ceiling. As the song continues, the situation gets more dire as the vibration keeps going and more damage occurs, with walls collapsing and the singer crouched under a table with their hands over their ears. The song then takes a more abstract turn, describing a fragment detached from time and space, memory blackouts, and a face desperate for a name but finding none. The song ends with the repeated question "Were you ever there?".
The lyrics to Godless can be interpreted in a few ways, depending on how poetic or metaphorical one wants to get. At a surface level, the song is describing the experience of a disaster, possibly an earthquake, and the aftermath of trying to come to terms with what just happened. The abstract turn in the second half of the song suggests that there's more going on than just a literal disaster, and the repeated question "Were you ever there?" could be read as existential or philosophical, asking whether we're truly present in our own lives, or whether reality is just a construct that we're disconnected from.
Line by Line Meaning
First of all, the ground vibrated
The beginning of a catastrophic event, where the ground starts shaking
Then there was a second wave, more intense: Pictures fell from the wall
The shaking gets stronger and more violent, causing items on the walls, like pictures, to fall
This wave persisted, getting steadily stronger: The cutlery in the kitchen drawer rattled, cracks appeared in the ceiling
The shaking continues to increase in intensity, causing objects in the kitchen to shake, and cracks forming in the ceiling
After approximately six minutes I crouched under the table with my hands on my ears
The artist takes cover under a table to protect themselves from the shaking, which has been going on for about six minutes
The vibration kept on going, plagues of plaster piled up on the carpet
The shaking does not stop, causing plaster to fall from the ceiling and pile up on the floor
It was a new carpetโฆ The lights went out
The shaking has caused a power outage, leaving the singer in darkness, and ruining their new carpet
After eighteen minutes, the first wall collapsed - I was not injured
After a long time of continuous shaking, the first wall finally collapses, but the singer emerges unharmed
I decided to crawl through the debris to get outside -- There was nothing outside
The artist tries to leave the building, only to find out that there is nothing outside
A fragment detached from time and space, forgotten, rejected
A piece of reality breaks away from space and time, becoming lost and rejected
This unchained night bird, hungry for souls but finding none
A supernatural being, searching for souls to feed on but not finding any
Memory blacked out on both sides, but still something's there
The memory of what happened before and after the earthquake is lost, but the feeling of something lingering remains
Something lurking, flashing
Something dangerous and unpredictable, with sudden flashes of violence
A face desperate for a name, but finding none
A recognizable face that cannot be identified or named
Always on the point of recognition, hovering on an answer, but not finding one
The face is familiar, but its identity remains unknown and elusive
Thirsty for contact, finding none
The being craves for human contact, but never finding any
Weightless, directionless, a vacuum, with all sense functioning, acute in its pain
Feeling lost and empty, with all senses still active, but the pain is even more intense
No space that goes on forever, no time that goes on forever, removed, abandoned
No infinite space or time, just the feeling of being separated and forgotten
Nothing that goes on forever, removed, abandoned
Nothing lasts forever, and everything eventually becomes abandoned and forgotten
Were you ever there?
The singer questions if anyone else experienced the same events
Were you ever there?
The artist repeats the question, still searching for anyone who may have gone through the same experience
Contributed by Elizabeth N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.