The signature Van der Graaf Generator sound in the 1970s was a combination of Peter Hammill's distinctive and dynamic voice and David Jackson's electronically-treated saxophones, generally playing over thick chordal keyboard parts (such as Hammond organ and/or clavinet). Van der Graaf Generator albums tended to be darker in atmosphere than many of their prog-rock peers (a trait they shared with King Crimson, whose guitarist Robert Fripp guested on two of their albums), and guitar solos were the exception rather than the rule.
Hammill is the primary songwriter for the band, and the line between music written for his solo career and for the band is often blurred.
The band first formed in 1967 while its members were studying at Manchester University. The three-piece was comprised of Peter Hammill (guitar and vocals), Nick Pearne (organ) and Chris Judge Smith (drums and wind instruments). The group was named after a piece of electric equipment designed to produce static electricity, the Van de Graaff generator. The name was suggested by early member, Chris Judge Smith (the misspellings are accidental). On the basis of a demo, this blues- and jazz-influenced first incarnation were offered a recording contract with Mercury Records.
In 1968, Pearne was replaced by Hugh Banton. The band were able to secure Tony Stratton-Smith as a full-time manager. Through him, the band acquired a bass guitar player, Keith Ian Ellis. Drummer Guy Evans joined not too long afterward. This line-up recorded a series of demos for Mercury, before releasing a single ("People You Were Going To" b/w "Firebrand") on Polydor Records. The single was withdrawn under pressure from Mercury, since it violated the contract band members Hammill and Smith signed the previous year. Judge Smith left the band, amicably, shortly after the recording of the single.
Although the band performed on BBC Radio 1's Top Gear radio show in November, and was touring successfully, it broke up in June 1969. Pressures leading to this included financial difficulties, the theft of the band's gear and transport in London, combined with Mercury's refusal to let the band record and Stratton-Smith's refusal to let the other members of the band sign to Mercury too (only Hammill remained now of the original three who had signed with Mercury).
In July 1969, Hammill went to record his first solo album at Trident Studios. Banton, Evans, and Ellis joined him as session musicians. Through a deal worked out by their manager, Hammill's intended solo album, The Aerosol Grey Machine, was released by Mercury under the band's name in return for releasing the band from their contract. The album was initially only released in the United States with hardly any promotion at all, so sales were minimal.
Ellis left (eventually joining Juicy Lucy and a very brief incarnation of Iron Butterfly among others) and was replaced by Nic Potter, and David Jackson (saxophones and flutes) was added to the line-up. Tony Stratton-Smith formed Charisma Records and signed the band as his first act. Before recording their second album, The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other.
A new sound was established, leaving behind the psychedelic influence of The Aerosol Grey Machine in favour of darker textures influenced by jazz and classical music. The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other was well received, and was swiftly followed by H to He, Who Am the Only One. Potter left mid-way through that recording, and the band decided to carry on without a bass guitarist, with Banton on hand and feet bass pedals. Robert Fripp of King Crimson contributed guitar on the song, "The Emperor in His War-Room".
The Hammill/Banton/Jackson/Evans quartet that resulted from H to He, Who Am the Only One is now considered the 'classic' line-up, and went on to record Pawn Hearts. The album contains just three tracks, "Lemmings", "Man-Erg" and the twenty-three-minute concept piece "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers". Fripp again provided a cameo appearance on guitar. The album proved highly successful in Italy, topping the chart there for twelve weeks. The single "Theme One" was a success in Italy too, an instrumental piece, originally written by the Beatles producer George Martin as a fanfare for the BBC radio station Radio 1, later to appear on U.S. pressings of Pawn Hearts. They toured Italy for a while, but the shows were plagued by different extremist organizations from Red Brigade to neo-fascists. The band toured extensively from 1970 to 1972, but a lack of support from the record company and also financial difficulties caused the band to implode, and Hammill left to pursue a solo career.
The three remaining members recorded an instrumental album with Nic Potter, Ced Curtis, and Piero Messina, under the name The Long Hello. Their self-titled album (The Long Hello) was released in 1974.
Hammill's split with the group was amicable, and Banton, Jackson and Evans, among others, all contributed to his solo work at various times. By 1975, the members of the band were ready to work with each other again, and they recorded three new albums in just twelve months. The sessions were produced by the band themselves (all previous Van der Graaf Generator albums had been produced by John Anthony at Trident Studios), and displayed a somewhat tauter, more streamlined sound. Godbluff in particular saw Hammill making significant use of the Hohner clavinet keyboard. Still Life followed within the same year.
At the end of 1976, following World Record, first Banton and then Jackson departed in 1977. Nic Potter returned to replace Banton, and in a typically eccentric move Jackson was replaced by a violinist, Graham Smith (formerly of Charisma folk-rock band String Driven Thing). This line-up produced the album The Quiet Zone / The Pleasure Dome. The band also shortened its name to Van der Graaf. Charles Dickie then joined the band on cello, documented on the live double-album Vital. By the time Vital was released, in the summer of 1978, the band had already split, because of lack of record company support in the United States and financial difficulties.
In 1982 a collection of out-takes and rehearsal recordings from the period 1972-1975 was released (initially on cassette only), called Time Vaults. These are not studio-quality recordings.
Banton, Jackson and Evans all made occasional appearances on Hammill's solo albums following the 1978 split, and the classic line-up also played occasionally together. In 1996, the quartet appeared on stage during a concert by Hammill and Evans at the Union Chapel in London to perform "Lemmings" (the whole recording was released as The Union Chapel Concert in March 1997). In 2003, Banton, Jackson, and Evans joined with Hammill to perform the song "Still Life" at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Both of these appearances were unannounced to the audience in advance.
Following the Queen Elizabeth Hall performance, discussions between the band members led to writing and rehearsal of new material in mid-2004. A double CD, Present, containing this material was released in April 2005. A reunion concert took place at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on the 6th May 2005, followed by several European dates in the summer and autumn of 2005. The concert in Leverkusen, Germany on the 5th November 2005 was filmed for a TV show ("Rockpalast") and was broadcast on the 15th January 2006. A DVD from that concert had been announced on Hammill's website in 2006. However, so far only one track thereof, "Wondering", has been officially released (on a DVD that came with the Rockpalast anniversary edition of the German magazine Eclipsed in June 2007).
Hammill stated in a December 2005 newsletter that there were no plans for further recordings or performances by the classic Van der Graaf Generator line-up. In September 2006, Hammill announced that the band would be continuing as a trio, for live and studio work, without Jackson.
A live album, Real Time, was released on the 5th March 2007 on Hammill's label, Fie! Records. It contains the entirety of the band's 2005 concert at the Royal Festival Hall.
In April and July 2007 the band played as a trio in different places in Europe. A concert on the14th April 2007 in the Melkweg in Amsterdam was recorded and streamed on the FabChannel website.
The first trio recording, Trisector, was released on the 17th March 2008. Live concerts were played in Europe in March and April, and in Japan in June, among them, one at the Gouveia Art Rock Festival. There were further concerts in January 2009 in Europe, and it was announced that the band would play several concerts in Canada and the United States in 2009, among them one at NEARfest in 2009. It was the first time Van der Graaf Generator had visited the United States since 1976.
A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers: Eyewitness/Pictures/Lighthouse/Eyewitness
Van der Graaf Generator Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Still waiting for my saviour,
storms tear me limb from limb;
my fingers feel like seaweed...
I'm so far out I'm too far in.
I am a lonely man, my solitude is true
my eyes have borne stark witness
and now my nights are numbered, too.
the stars shine, but they're not for me.
I prophesy disaster and then I count the cost...
I shine but, shining, dying,
I know that I am almost lost.
On the table lies blank paper
and my tower is built on stone
I only have blunt scissors,
I only have the bluntest home...
I've been the witness, and the seal of death
lingers in the molten wax that is my head.
When you see the skeletons
of sailing-ship spars sinking low
You'll begin to wonder if the points
of all the ancients myths
are solemnly directed straight at you...
Pictures/Lighthouse
(Eddies, rocks, ships, collision, remorse)
Eyewitness
No time now for contrition:
the time for that's long past.
The walls are thin as tissue and
if I talk I'll crack the glass.
So I only think on how it might have been,
locked in silent monologue, in silent scream.
I'm much too tired to speak
and, as the waves crash on the bleak
stones of the tower, I start to freak
and find that I am overcome...
S.H.M.
'Unreal, unreal' ghost helmsmen scream
and fall in through the sky,
not breaking through my seagull shrieks...
no breaks until I die:
the spectres scratch on window-slits -
hollowed faces and mindless grins
only intent on destroying what they've lost.
I crawl the wall till steepness ends
in the vertical fall;
my pain has sailed into the sea:
no joking hopes at dawn.
White bone shine in the iron-jaw mask
lost mastheads pierce the freezing dark
and parallel my isolated tower...
no paraffin for the flame
no harbour left to gain.
Presence of the Night / Kosmos Tours
'Alone, alone' the ghosts all call,
pinpoint me in the light.
The only life I feel at all
is the presence of the night.
Would you cry if I died?
Would you catch the final words of mine?
Would you catch my words?
I know that there's no time
I know that there's no rhyme...
false signs find me
I don't want to hate,
I just want to grow;
why can't I let me
live and be free?
but I die very slowly alone.
I know more ways,
I am so afraid,
myself won't let me
just be myself
and so I am completely alone...
The maelstrom of my memory
is a vampire and it feeds on me
now, staggering madly, over the brink I fall.
(Custard's) Last Stand
Lighthouses might house the key
but can I reach the door?
I want to walk on the sea
so that I may better find a shore...
but how can I ever keep my feet dry?
I scan the horizon
I must keep my eyes on all parts of me.
Looking back on the years
it seems that I have lost my way:
Like a dog in the night, I have run to a manger
now I am the stranger I stay in.
All of the grief I have seen
leaves me chasing solitary peace;
But I hold experience in my head...
I'm too close to the light
I don't think I see right, for I blind me...
The Clot Thickens
Where is the God that guides my hand?
How can the hands of others reach me?
When will I find what I grope for?
Who is going to teach me?
I am me / me are we / we can't see
any way out of here.
Crashing sea - a trophied history:
Chance has lost my Guinevere...
I don't want to be one wave in the water
But sea will drag me deep
One more haggard drowned man...
I can see the lemmings coming,
but I know I'm just a man;
Do I join or do I founder?
Which can is the best I may?
Van der Graaf Generator's song A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers is a complex and introspective 23-minute-long piece about the isolation and loneliness of a lighthouse keeper. The song has 5 distinct sections, each with its own unique mood and melody. The lyrics are divided into 4 parts - Eyewitness, Pictures/Lighthouse, S.H.M., Presence of the Night/Kosmos Tours, and (Custard's) Last Stand.
In Eyewitness, the singer describes himself as a lonely man with a deep sense of solitude. He has seen things that have left him scarred and knows that his days are numbered. He has seen dead hands and knows that the stars do not shine for him. The singer prophesizes disaster but also knows that he is almost lost. He is stuck in an isolated tower with blunt scissors and blank paper. He has witnessed death and now carries the seal of death lingering in the molten wax of his head.
Pictures/Lighthouse describe how the time for contrition has passed and the walls around him are thin as tissue. The singer is overcome by the waves crashing on the bleak stones of the tower. He hears ghost helmsmen scream and falls through the sky himself. The spectres scratch on window-slits with hollowed faces and mindless grins intent on destroying what they've lost. He crawls the wall till the steepness ends and falls into the sea.
S.H.M. is a section where the singer is being dragged into the sea as his ship sinks. He sees the ghosts of other sailors and feels the claws of the sea dragging him in, but mockingly the ghost helmsmen screams "unreal, unreal," indicating the futility of his resistance. The maelstrom of his memory is like a vampire and feeds on him.
Presence of the Night/Kosmos Tours is about the presence of death, where ghosts pinpoint him in the light. The singer wonders if anyone will mourn his death or catch his final words. False signs find him, and he doesn't want to hate; he just wants to grow. But he is alone and dying very slowly.
(Custard's) Last Stand is a section where the singer holds on to the hope that lighthouses hold the key to his liberation. He wants to walk on water and find a shore but is stuck in the middle of the ocean. Looking back over the years, he realizes that he has lost his way like a dog in the night. He chases solitary peace but holds experience that blinds him. The Clot Thickens is a section where the singer is looking for guidance and knows that he is just a man, and he can see the lemmings (colloquially used to describe herd behavior) coming, and he wonders if he should join or founder, indicating a crisis of identity.
Line by Line Meaning
Still waiting for my saviour,
storms tear me limb from limb;
my fingers feel like seaweed...
I'm so far out I'm too far in.
I am stranded in the middle of a hostile and violent environment, waiting for someone to rescue me. However, the storms are destroying me, leaving me feeling as if my limbs are being torn away. My fingers feel weak and tenacious, like floating seaweed. I feel like I'm out in the sea to such a degree that I'm too far gone to return.
I am a lonely man, my solitude is true
my eyes have borne stark witness
and now my nights are numbered, too.
I've seen the smiles on dead hands,
the stars shine, but they're not for me.
I am entirely isolated and alone, with nothing but my experiences and my own eye to bear witness to my situation. My nights are coming to an end because of the unrelenting storms assaulting me. I've seen the evidence of death and decay all around me, whether it's the dead bodies, or the stars that are distant and cold instead of offering warmth.
I prophesy disaster and then I count the cost...
I shine but, shining, dying,
I know that I am almost lost.
I can feel that disaster is coming, even though I haven't yet experienced it. I can see how much this will cost in terms of my own personal losses. I may be shining and alive now, but I know that death is going to eventually take me. I'm very close to being lost to the sea forever.
I only have blunt scissors,
I only have the bluntest home...
I've been the witness, and the seal of death
lingers in the molten wax that is my head.
I'm ill-equipped to face what's coming. I'm trapped in a lighthouse, which is the only home I have, though it is not particularly helpful or sturdy. I've seen so much death and decay that I feel somewhat like a witness to every tragedy that occurs. My head is full of the evidence of all these deaths, as if the knowledge has been melted and hardened inside it like wax.
When you see the skeletons
of sailing-ship spars sinking low
You'll begin to wonder if the points
of all the ancients myths
are solemnly directed straight at you...
As you watch the ruins of destroyed ships sink beneath the waves, it's natural to feel that the ancient stories and myths hold some meaning for you personally. When everything is lost, and there's nothing to cling to, humans have always sought comfort in legends and stories that might hold some broader truth for them.
No time now for contrition:
the time for that's long past.
The walls are thin as tissue and
if I talk I'll crack the glass.
It's too late to regret or apologize for anything that's happened. There's simply no time left. The walls of my lighthouse are weak and paper-thin. Even talking out loud could damage or even break the glass walls entirely.
S.H.M.
'Unreal, unreal' ghost helmsmen scream
and fall in through the sky,
not breaking through my seagull shrieks...
no breaks until I die:
the spectres scratch on window-slits -
hollowed faces and mindless grins
only intent on destroying what they've lost.
I'm losing my grip on reality, and as I do, the ghosts of the dead and the lost come screaming into my mind. Nothing can save me from their voices, which are like the shrieking of seagulls in my head. As they scratch and gnaw at my mind, I realize that all they're after is the destruction of what they once had and never will have again.
I crawl the wall till steepness ends
in the vertical fall;
my pain has sailed into the sea:
no joking hopes at dawn.
I head upwards, climbing higher and higher, until there's nothing else left to climb, and I fall vertically to the bottom. All my pain has vanished, and I am numb as I hit the water. There's no hope of anything better to come in the morning.
'Alone, alone' the ghosts all call,
pinpoint me in the light.
The only life I feel at all
is the presence of the night.
All around me, I hear the ghosts of the dead asking for company. The only thing that provides me with any sense of life is the vast presence of darkness that surrounds me.
Would you cry if I died?
Would you catch the final words of mine?
Would you catch my words?
I know that there's no time
I know that there's no rhyme...
false signs find me
I don't want to hate,
I just want to grow;
why can't I let me
live and be free?
but I die very slowly alone.
As I wonder what will happen when I die, I can't help but wonder if anyone will mourn for me or if my last thoughts will go unheard. I know that my time is running out, but there's no poetry or sense to my last days. All that's around me are lies and false hopes. All I want is to grow and live freely and why I can't just let myself be who I am. I'm coming to terms with the death that's waiting for me, but it's a very slow and lonely process.
Where is the God that guides my hand?
How can the hands of others reach me?
When will I find what I grope for?
Who is going to teach me?
I am me / me are we / we can't see
any way out of here.
Crashing sea - a trophied history:
Chance has lost my Guinevere...
I feel lost and adrift, with no guiding hand or higher power to help me. Even other people can't save me or reach me. I'm not sure what I'm looking for, or if anyone can teach me how to get it. I am myself, but my sense of self is confused and intertwined with others. There's no clear way out of my situation. The history of life around me is violent and chaotic, like the crashing of the sea against the shore. My chance to be with someone I care about has already been lost.
Lighthouses might house the key
but can I reach the door?
I want to walk on the sea
so that I may better find a shore...
but how can I ever keep my feet dry?
I scan the horizon
I must keep my eyes on all parts of me.
The lighthouses that I've relied on for safety might have some answers for me, but I'm not sure that I'll be able to take advantage of them. I'm searching for safety in a sea of danger, hoping that I'll eventually find a shore. But how can I do this without getting wet? I must be hyper-vigilant in all directions, keeping watch for danger wherever it might be.
Looking back on the years
it seems that I have lost my way:
Like a dog in the night, I have run to a manger
now I am the stranger I stay in.
All of the grief I have seen
leaves me chasing solitary peace;
But I hold experience in my head...
I'm too close to the light
I don't think I see right, for I blind me...
As I reflect on the years gone by, I can't help but feeling lost and directionless. All my running and hoping has led me nowhere. Now, trapped in my own world, I am experiencing a deep sense of isolation. The grief and despair that I've experienced make me want to retreat to my own inner world, but I know that I hold valuable experience in my head. The light inside of me is so strong that I can't even see things properly anymore, and it's blinding me to reality.
Where is the God that guides my hand?
How can the hands of others reach me?
When will I find what I grope for?
Who is going to teach me?
I am me / me are we / we can't see
any way out of here.
Crashing sea - a trophied history:
Chance has lost my Guinevere...
I feel lost and adrift, with no guiding hand or higher power to help me. Even other people can't save me or reach me. I'm not sure what I'm looking for, or if anyone can teach me how to get it. I am myself, but my sense of self is confused and intertwined with others. There's no clear way out of my situation. The history of life around me is violent and chaotic, like the crashing of the sea against the shore. My chance to be with someone I care about has already been lost.
I don't want to be one wave in the water
But sea will drag me deep
One more haggard drowned man...
I don't want to be another casualty in the sea, destroyed by the waves and the currents. But I know that the sea is too powerful, and I am too weak to resist its pull for much longer. Eventually, like so many others, I will drown.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DAVID JACKSON, HUGH ROBERT BANTON, PETER HAMMILL, PETER JOSEPH ANDREW HAMMILL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Retro VZQZ
The Mellotron at the end alone in this is beyond demented
Pretty sure that's a mix of some truly creative playing
And some very crafty edits
And with how hard it is to pull anything tuneful out of one those temperamental proto synths, just shows the skill and mastery on display here
Truly a twisted prog masterwork for the ages
Sublime
frettickk
[I. Eyewitness]
[Instrumental Intro]
[Verse 1]
Still waiting for my saviour
Storms tear me limb from limb
My fingers feel like seaweed
I'm so far out I'm too far in
I am a lonely man
My solitude is true
My eyes have borne stark witness
And now my knights are numbered too
I've seen the smiles on dead hands
The stars shine, but they're not for me
[Verse 2]
I prophesy disaster
And then I count the cost
I shine but, shining, dying
I know that I am almost lost
On the table lies blank paper
But my tower is built on stone
I only have blunt scissors
I only have the bluntest hone
I've been the witness, and the seal of death
Lingers in the molten wax that is my head
[Verse 3]
When you see the skeletons of sailing-ship spars sinking low
You'll begin to wonder if the points of all the ancient myths
Are solemnly directed straight at you
[II. Pictures/Lighthouse]
[Interlude]
[III. Eyewitness]
[Verse 4]
No time now for contrition
The time for that's long past
The walls are thin as tissue
And if I talk I'll crack the glass
So I only think on how it might have been
Locked in silent monologue, in silent scream
[Verse 5]
I'm much too tired to speak
And, as the waves crash on the bleak
Stones of the tower, I start to freak
And find that I am overcome
[IV. S.H.M]
[Instrumental]
[Verse 6]
"Unreal, unreal!", ghost helmsmen scream
And fall in through the sky
Not breaking through my seagull shrieks
No breaks until I die
The spectres scratch on window slits
Hollowed faces and the mindless grins
Only intent on destroying
What they've lost
[Verse 7]
I claw the wall till steepness ends in the vertical fall
My pail has sailed into the sea: no joking hopes at dawn
White bone shine in the iron-jaw mask
Lost mastheads pierce the freezing dark
And parallel my isolated tower
No paraffin for the flame
No harbour left to gain
[V. The Presence of the Night]
[Instrumental]
[Verse 8]
"Alone, alone", the ghosts all call
Pinpoint me in the light
The only life I feel at all
Is the presence of the night
[Instrumental]
[Bridge]
Would you cry if I died?
Would you cry if I died?
Would you catch the final words of mine?
Would you catch my words?
I know that there's no time
I know that there's no rhyme (False signs find me)
[Verse 9]
I don't want to hate, I just want to grow
Why can't I let me live and be free?
But I die very slowly alone
I know no more ways, I am so afraid
Myself won't let me just be myself
And so I am completely alone
[Instrumental]
[Segue]
[VI. Kosmos Tours]
[Instrumental]
[Verse 10]
The maelstrom of my memory
Is a vampire and it feeds on me
Now, staggering madly, over the brink I fall
[VII. (Custard's) Last Stand]
[Verse 11]
Lighthouses might house the key
But can I reach the door?
I want to walk on the sea
So that I may better find a shore
But how can I ever keep my feet dry?
I scan the horizon
I must keep my eyes on
All parts of me
[Verse 12]
Looking back on the years
It seems that I have lost my way
Like a dog in the night, I have run to a manger
Now I am the stranger I stay in
Oh...
[Verse 13]
All of the grief I have seen
Leaves me chasing solitary peace
But I hold experience in my head
I'm too close to the light
I don't think I see right
For I blind me
[VIII. The Clot Thickens]
[Instrumental Bridge]
[Verse 14]
Where is the God that guides my hand?
How can the hands of others reach me?
When will I find what I grope for?
Who is going to teach me?
I am me, me are we, we can't see
Any way out of here
Crashing sea, atrophied history
Chance has lost my Guinevere
[Instrumental]
[Verse 15]
I don't want to be one wave in the water
But sea will drag me deep
One more haggard drowned man!
I can see the lemmings coming
But I know I'm just a man
Do I join or do I founder?
Which can is the best I may?
[Instrumental]
[IX. Land's End (Sineline)]
[Verse 16]
Oceans drifting sideways
I am pulled into the spell
I feel you around me
I know you well
Stars slice horizons
Where the lines stand much too stark
I feel I am drowning
Hands stretch in the dark
[Verse 17]
Camps of panoply and majesty
What is Freedom of Choice?
Where do I stand in the pageantry
Whose is my voice?
It doesn't feel so very bad now
I think the end is the start
Begin to feel very glad now...
[Chorus]
All things are a part
All things are apart
All things are a part
[X. We Go Now]
[Instrumental]
[Outro]
Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh, ohhh
Ohhh, ohhh
Ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh, ohhh
Ohhh, ohhh
Ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh, ohhh
Ohhh, ohhh
Ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ohhh, ohhh, ohhh, ohhh
Ohhh, ohhh
Ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ohhh...
BoRaXiN72 - TraVeLoGGeR
Regular humans cant create such masterpiece. They are either above-human or aliens...
tripittidy
I can guarantee you that Van Der Graaf Generator have transcended humankind
BoRaXiN72 - TraVeLoGGeR
Approved
BoRaXiN72 - TraVeLoGGeR
@Quollosuru Approved
Vasilis Lakerdas
@tripittidy❤
Leonardo Capponi
Am I the only one that can't make it to the end without crying? This is one of my favorite tracks of all time, the lyrics and the music are just so powerful and emotional, and they also hit closely to me. Peter Hammill is one of the greatest musicians of all time and him having almost not recognition at all feels so wrong
Пигля Свантесон
Same emotions here❤
WatcherOfTheSkies
This song is about a very lonely lighthouse keeper who is of high class. He has gone completely mad from his solitude and mental anguish that he has suffered from. His wife died and he blames himself for it and can't forgive himself. He sees hallucinations and ghosts that want to kill him. He supposedly also accidentally killed a couple of sailors by not showing them the way via the lighthouse's shining light. He feels regret towards everything he has done during his miserable life and wants to end it all. At the very end he finds potential friends (the lemmings that represent humanity), but doesn't feel like he belongs anymore. Since he is so batshit crazy and depressed, he kills himself in the end and believes that he is now with his long dead wife. What a masterpiece this song is. A very dark, depressing masterpiece...
ywnbaw
Maximilian Bernard de wey is too hard for him to show de saylors
Scott Baldwin
Also a song that realistically shows just how devastating depression can be, as someone who suffers from it.