After Clive MITTEN joined in 1979, TWELFTH NIGHT as a band were born and got straight down to the work of recording. A live LP followed several tapes and experiments with other musicians, including one Electra McLEOD who performed vocals for one tape only. A vocalist was needed - but where to get one? Many were auditioned - including Geoff, who also performed a gig or two with the band and wrote some words for "Sequences".
A successful series of gigs was followed by the band being booked for the Reading Festival - the first local Reading band to have achieved this in the history of the festival. After much deliberating, Geoff MANN, the backdrop painter became Geoff MANN the poet, lyricist and vocalist.
It's important to consider the musical, social and political climate of the late 1970s - early 1980s to get a handle on what TWELFTH NIGHT were about; The roots of the music lie mainly in Andy Revell's HACKETT/HILLAGE guitar sound, but GENESIS, early PINK FLOYD and WISHBONE ASH are the most obvious influences. It has been said that there is a punk element to TN, and while there is a certain amount of aggression, that energy comes more directly from NWOBHM than punk. MANN's vocal style and lyrics may be laced with anarchism, but they run a whole lot deeper than that - Geoff was a deep thinker and poet, and later became ordained. His words attack the idle non-thinking majority in a cajoling way, they attack the governments at a grass-roots level and they attack the nonsense of war - but also support the positive aspects of life, like love. After MANN left (amicably) to join the church in 1983, a new era of TN started with Andy SEARS as vocalist, co-writer.
With Andy SEARS on board, the band began a very successful period. An accomplished vocalist and musician, Andy brought a more melodic edge to TWELFTH NIGHT. Andy's lyrics also dealt with compassion, whilst attacking authority and ignorance in a vitriolic way, touching on themes that are still very much issues today. SEARS preferred a more succinct lyrical style to MANN's. Less than two months after joining the band, TWELFTH NIGHT were invited to record a live MARQUEE show for European transmission. By the time the acclaimed album Art & Illusion was released, the last for Music For Nations, the band were signed to no other than HIT & RUN MANAGEMENT, home to GENESIS and PETER GABRIEL. Art & Illusion itself entered the National Charts at no 83, the only Twelfth Night album to accomplish this. An extraordinary feat given that the album received no hype of promotion whatsoever. The band embarked on their most successful tour, included two sell out shows at London's Dominion Theatre. TWELFTH NIGHT signed a 10 album deal with VIRGIN RECORDS on the back of the new SEARS line-up, recording their eponymously titled album (affectionately known as XII or the Virgin Album). The album was a very brave move away from more traditional progressive rock, and an attempt to move progressive rock onwards. As such, it is TWELFTH NIGHT's most polemic album to date. Between HIT & RUN and VIRGIN RECORDS the band were badly handled, and in 1986, disillusioned by this, SEARS left, closely followed by MITTEN.
In 2007, SEARS and MITTEN reformed the band for a series of acclaimed sell out shows. TWELFTH NIGHT are still making music in one form or another - but it tends to be fitted around the day jobs. Sadly, Geoff died of cancer in 1993, though his legacy lives on, predominantly through the Fact and Fiction album.
The more narrow-minded critics tend to make puerile comparisons between MANN and SEARS, but in truth both the "MANN-era" and the "SEARS-era" were successful periods in Twelfth Night's musical journey, showing the versatility of a band that dared to make changes where many others were still following old formulas and outdated trends. MANN and SEARS were in fact good friends and would often appear together for encore numbers!
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Last Song
Twelfth Night Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The harder the means of escape
The deeper the nail
The stronger the coffin we make
You're free--glory
Hope you'll find silence
The biggest attraction
The hardest the habit to break
The lesser the mark that we make
In my heart is something
More precious than gold
You know something
I love you--
Take it all
Young hearts in pain
Look to the rain--
So lonely--
Nothing to say
Cloudy and grey
The louder the brave
The darker the secrets they fear
The weaker the mind
The stronger the voice will appear
Oh you'll get over glory
Song of joy today is gold
All this time what have we solved
Circle on circle of
Young hearts in pain
Look to the rain--
So lonely--
Nothing to say
Cloudy and grey
Sleep tight
Tired of learning--
How are you?
Sleep tight
Tired of learning--
How are you?
There may be times
I dream away
Young hearts in pain
Look to the rain--
So lonely--
Nothing to say
Cloudy and grey
So lonely--
Young hearts in pain
Who's going to take your nightmares away
They're going to take you for one last song
So lonely--
The song Last Song by Twelfth Night seems to talk about the complexities of life and how different circumstances in life, whether good or bad, affect us in various ways. The song begins by saying that the tighter the turn, the harder it is to escape and the deeper the nail, the stronger the coffin we make. This phrase corresponds to the idea that the more problems we face, the harder it is to escape from them, and the more we fail, the harder it is to get up and overcome them. The following line, "you're free--glory, hope you'll find silence," is a message of hope that despite the tough times, people can find freedom and inner peace.
The song then continues to talk about how the hardest the habit to break, the bigger the attraction, and how the sharper the needle, the lesser the mark we make. This section of the song seems to address the fact that, sometimes, the things that attract or addict us are the hardest to break, and even when we give them up, the marks they leave behind are small. The song then takes a softer turn, with the line "in my heart is something more precious than gold, you know something I love you--take it all," which conveys a feeling of love and compassion.
The chorus talks about young hearts in pain and how they look to the rain for comfort, and how there is nothing to say, cloudy, and grey. This may represent the feeling of hopelessness that young people may experience when facing tough times or uncertainty. But the song then ends on a melancholic note, with the line "they're going to take you for one last song, so lonely," which may signify the unrelenting nature of life's struggles and how we need to keep fighting against them.
Line by Line Meaning
The tighter the turn
The more difficult the situation
The harder the means of escape
The more challenging it is to find a way out
The deeper the nail
The more intense the pain
The stronger the coffin we make
The more permanent the damage we create
You're free--glory
Enjoy your freedom
Hope you'll find silence
Wishing you peace and quiet
The biggest attraction
The most tempting thing
The hardest the habit to break
The most challenging change to make
The sharper the needle
The more painful the experience
The lesser the mark that we make
The less we leave a lasting impact
In my heart is something
There's something I hold dear
More precious than gold
It's something of immeasurable value
You know something
I have something to tell you
I love you--
I care deeply for you
Take it all
Accept everything I have to offer
Young hearts in pain
Innocent souls hurting
Look to the rain--
Turning to the Earth for solace
So lonely--
Feeling alone in my struggles
Nothing to say
Unable to express my feelings
Cloudy and grey
The world around me seems dull and colorless
The louder the brave
The more they hide their true fears
The darker the secrets they fear
The deeper the secrets they're afraid to confront
The weaker the mind
The more susceptible to influence
The stronger the voice will appear
The more authoritative one sounds even if unsure
Oh you'll get over glory
Don't get too caught up in success
Song of joy today is gold
Today's happiness is priceless
All this time what have we solved
Despite everything we've been through, what have we truly accomplished?
Circle on circle of
A cycle of the same problems
Sleep tight
Sweet dreams
Tired of learning--
Exhausted from constantly gaining knowledge
How are you?
How are you feeling?
There may be times
At times
I dream away
I let my mind wander
Who's going to take your nightmares away
Who will ease your fears?
They're going to take you for one last song
They will bring you to your final resting place
So lonely--
Feeling alone in my struggles
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ANDREW REVELL, ANDREW SEARS, BRIAN DEVOIL, CLIVE MITTEN, RICHARD BATTERSBY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Tuurke01
This is a great song! Thanks for posting!