Dead Can Dance

The Trial

All my senses rebel
Under the scrutiny of their persistent gaze
Until you left her to the...???
A journey I'll never make again

For those who have accepted the burden of shame
For the innocent only words will remain
And our lives will be forced to ??? days
The perpetrators of our own bastard ways

All my senses rebel
Under the scrutiny of their persistent gaze
Until you left her to the...???
A journey I'll never make again

I stand accused of a thousand and one crimes
A witness to events that went to this point in time
With traditions enshrined our hands would be close tied
We'll never survive the great test of time

Deliver me from these feverish eyes
They threaten to advance our state of mind
I'm just an imposter, is that a small surprise?
A sense of guilt
A sense of guilt
A sense of guilt
A sense of guilt

Fortune

From ancient times to the present day
There have been those who have...???
So driven by the will to possess
Have pursued it to the very ends of the earth

We enter into it, it enters into us
We enter into it, it enters into us
As the wheel spins and turns from the words I seem to have learned
We enter into it, it enters into us

Fortune smiles upon our heads
???...cling to the wall and wait
How we believe we seem to forgive and forget
Immersed in the security of our view of our world

There are those of you among us
Barren waiting places and empty skies
They're...???...of our ways...???...the silent account
They will leave behind the...???...of a faceless child

We enter into it, it enters into us
We enter into it, it enters into us
As the wheel spins and turns from the words I seem to have learned
We enter into it, it enters into us

Fortune smiles upon our heads
???...cling to the wall and wait
How we believe we seem to forgive and forget
Immersed in the security of our view of our world

Fortune smiles upon our heads
Fortune smiles upon our heads

East of Eden

I was told this in a distant land where tortured
souls have to fight together in anguish
And the scenes of the show are of a cruel and violent nature
Scenes of pain and cruelty are there to be seen
The arena, the town, the place was set for all to watch and see

I was told this in a distant land where the oppressor ruled with an iron hand
And a mission of saddened complacency left cold and emotionless by history
Scenes of pain and cruelty are there to be seen
All the while I should have known it was you killing me

Somewhere is the leader, the designs will never change
Vented through other's fear the world stops at the end of the hall
We watch the lifeforce fade away
And that's the price we shall have to pay

A Passage In Time

These silent chances pass one by
Whomever you are...???...at all
Resigned to the hands of fate
We'll await the unending beckon call

Til' we return Paradise in turn
Spread your golden wings, let the sails unfurl
Til' we return Paradise in turn
Spread your golden wings, let the fires burn

These silent chances pass one by
Whomever you are...???...at all
Resigned to the hands of fate
We'll await the unending beckon call

Til' we return Paradise in turn
Spread your golden wings, let the sails unfurl
Til' we return Paradise in turn
Spread your golden wings, let the sails unfurl

No, opportunity's doors did not open wide
The answers remain locked away inside
Locked away inside, locked away inside
Locked away inside, locked away inside

So forced into labour we till the earth
To sow the seeds of our own rebirth
As the days turned into years
Our faith overcame any doubts or fears
Any doubts or fears, are there any doubts or fears?
Any doubts or fears, are there any doubts or fears?

In truth we had found the...???
For a...???...and alover's mystery
This mystery, this mystery
This mystery, this mystery

Wild In The Woods

Wild in the woods of love
We harm those whom we adore
Contrary to other intentions
We suffocate them in an alarming embrace

Listen child, try to understand
All is not what it appears to be in the world at hand
Your dreams are bought and sold for a price
The truth a burden to plead for the rest of your life

These paths that we've chosen
They lead to fear and despair
So we look from and experience without
the...???
All is hidden...???
We're all brothers and sisters in spirit

Wild in the woods of love
We harm those whom we adore
And contrary to other intentions
We suffocate them in an alarming embrace

In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated

Sail on silver wings
through this storm
What fortune love may bring
Back to my arms again
The love of a former golden age.
I am disabled by fears concerning which course to take.
For, now that wheels are turning,
I find my faith deserting me...

This night is filled with cries of
Dispossesed children in search of Paradise.
A sign of unresolve that,
Envisioned, drives the pinwheel on-and-on.
I am disabled by fears concerning which course to take.
When memory bears witness to
The innocence, consumed in dying rage!

The way lies through our love;
There can be no other means to the end,
Or keys to my heart...
You will never find.
You will never find!

The Arcane

Here in the garden of the arcane delights
Dark shadows overwhelm us and and we become blind
Blind to the needs of those who would be free
From the breath of fear and the prisons of the mind

Amidst the throes of perplexity
???...moves amongst us in her hand is held the seed
Extermination angels stood beside the road
In violent retribution for the seeds that we have sown

Spleen and Ideal

The Cardinal Sin

Sail to the stars on your shining desires

Reasons there are none
Try the whisky made of grain
When all is said and done
It all amounts to just the same

There in your starry eyes lie hopes that have
been betrayed

The cause of your desire
Can also lead to your demise
When all is said and done
It will be you who pays the price
As countless fools are often loathe to testify
Its an illusion of life
The whole cause of our demise

Sail to the stars on your shining desires
Lucretia waits in vain
For the child of her dreams
Within her aching womb
There burns a funeral pyre

There in your starry eyes lie hopes that have
been betrayed
The prize that you claim
Can never be yours to take
Like castles in Spain
Hope is all that will remain

Abstain from the fools paradise
It's an illusion of life
The whole cause of our desires
Fools are often loathe to testify
It's an illusion of life
The whole cause of our demise

Contemplate the world
And its traitors to the soul
The forces of derision
And its legions manifold
Usurpers of the crown
All pretenders to the throne
Your world has lived in chains
All in one, one in all (x9)

Fools are often loathe to testify
It's an illusion of life
The whole cause of our demise
It's an illusion of life (x4)

Mesmerism

Brave your heart
Renounce your fears
Locked away inside
All these years

Remain in light
Renounce your fears
For you have been
Mesmerized

Break this spell of silence

Enigma of the Absolute

Saloman hung down her head, laid bare her heart
For the world to see, she craved for intimacy
Through darkened doors her aspect veiled with indecision
Gazed out to sea, she craved lucidity

Cast adrift from past relationships in her life
Hoisted up the ideal, this was her saving grace
Sea's of rage that once assailed her concern for the truth
Had passed her by and left her high and dry
In her saviour's arms...(x4)

Across the sea lies the fountain of renewal
Where you will see the whole cause of your lonliness
Can be measured in dreams that transcend all these lies
And I wish and I pray that there may come a day
For a saviour's arms...(x4)

Advent

In the hour of darkness
Our worlds collide
Assailed by madness
That has plagued our lives
At the point of departure
On the eve of despair
Your recourse to reason
Seems to make no sense at all

Refrain
The light of hope
Shines in your eyes
Dementia has gone
Purged from inside

Throughout our wand'rings
In a land of lies
We fell from God's grace
Into a sea of storms
In the self-relevation
Celebration of love
These both are virtues
We seem to have left behind

Refrain
Refrain

Lay bare your heart
Induce the will of love
To restore what little faith
That you may have lost
As morning brings re-birth
A new day will dawn
To ease our troubled minds
Turn away on your side
And dream of days to come...

Indoctrination
A Design for Living

In times of great vexation
When one must choose between what's right and wrong
Freedom, so they say,
Amounts to the choices you have made
Through all the arbitrary rationale concerning liberty
Freedom, I must say,
Exists within unconditioned minds

Reason has come of age

How can you be satisfied with things the way they are
When all that surrounds us now and so much more
Remains inside the keeper's dark embrace?
The insatiable thirst for power has made
Idols out of mortals, gods into clay
Soldiers into heros, children into slaves
All damned
Desires
Their hopes betrayed

Who will suffer the laws
That State can decide your child's education
Unless you pay the price?

Refrain (x2)
Who will suffer their laws?
Who will suffer their minds?
Who will suffer their words?
Who will suffer their designs?

Within the realm of a dying sun

Anywhere out of the World

We scaled the face of reason
To find at least one sign
That could reveal the true dimensions
Of life lest we forget

And maybe it's easier to withdraw from life
With all of it's misery and wretched lies
Away from harm

We lay by cool still waters
And gazed into the sun
And like the moth's great imperfection
Succumbed to her fatal charm

Any maybe it's me who dreams unrequited love
The victim of fools who watch and stand in line
Away from harm

In our vain pursuit of life for one's own end
Will this crooked path ever cease to end

In the Wake of Adversity

Hey Patrice don't cry they've no reason to harm you at all
They don't realise that the angels surround you with light
They don't understand their narrow ways defeat them where they stand
They don't realise you hide your sadness beneath a painted smile

Ignorance, that light of fools steers a wayward path
And sets the course upon which we sail into the night of uncertainty
Following the stars that make their way across the sky
Valuing the love that lends grace to our hearts
We sail

Xavier

Fair Roseanna your vagrancy's a familiar tale
Fraught with danger the lives you led were judged profane

Hatred enfolds us
Inculcates the minds with it's heresy
Laymen enfold us
Clemency arrives to set you free

Faith
Although Xavier has prayed
That life-giving waters may rain
Down on the souls of man
To cure them of their ways

These were the sins of Xavier's past
Hung like jewels in the forest of veils
Deep in the heart where the mysteries emerge
Eve bears the stigma of original sin

Freedom so hard when we are all bound by laws
Etched in the seam of nature's own hand
Unseen by all those who fail in their pursuit of faith

Although Xavier has prayed
That life-giving waters may rain
Down on the souls of man
To cure them of their ways

And as the night turns into day
Will the sun illuminate your way
Or will the nightmares come home to stay
Xavier's love lies in chains

These were the sins of Xavier's past
Hung like jewels in the forest of veils

The Serpent's egg

Severance

Severance,
The birds of leaving call to us,
yet here we stand
endowed with the fear of flight.
Overland
the winds of change consume the land,
while we remain
in the shadow of summers now past.
When all the leaves
have fallen and turned to dust,
will we remain
entrenched within our ways.
Indifference,
the plague that moves throughout this land
Omen signs
in the shapes of things to come.

Tomorrow's child is the only child.

In the Kingdom of the Blind the One-Eyed are Kings

If it were within our power,
beyond the reach of slavish pride.
To no longer harbour grievances,
behind the mask's opportunists facade.
We could welcome the responsibilty
like a long lost friend,
and re-establish the kingdom of laughter
in the dolls house once again.
For time has imprisoned us
in the order of our years,
in the discipline of our ways
and in the passing of momentary stillness
we can view our chaos in motion
and the subsequent collisions of fools
well versed in the subtle art of slavery.

Song of Sophia

With one wish we wake the will
within wisdom.
With one will we wish the wisdom
within waking.
Woken, wishing, willing.

Ullyses

John Francis Dooley
wipe the sleep from your eyes
and embrace the light.
You have slept now
for a thousand years
beneath starless nights.
And now its time for you
to renounce the old ways
and see a new dawn rise.
In former days
the masks were raised
when the god came down
from off the mountain,
and a sacrifice was made
for they knew the day of wrath
was fast apporaching.
Just like yesterday, before the war
John Francis Dooley
the scapegoat has run
all our sins are disowned,
and now it's time for you
to take off thy mask
and cross the Rubicon.
If you and I were one
within the eyes of our designs
it would still not change
the fact of our leaving.
For tonight we must leave
with the first gentle breeze
for the Isles of Ken we are assailing
Just like Ullyses, on an open sea.
On an oddysey of self discovery.

Aion

Fortune Presents Gifts not According to the Book

Fortune presents gifts not according to the book
Fortune presents gifts not according to the book

When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles

What various paths are followed in distributing honours and possesions
She gives awards to some and penitent's cloaks to others

When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles

Sometimes she robs the chief goatherd of his cottage and and goatpen
And to whomever she fancies the lamest goat has born two kids

When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles

Because in a village a poor lad has stolen one egg
He swings in the sun and another gets away with a thousand crimes

When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles

Black Sun

Murder
Man on fire
Murder
I've seen the eyes of living dead

It's the ??? survival
The great mask, their waiting game
Embalmed, crippled
Dying in fear of pain
All sense of freedom gone

Black sun in a white world
Like having a black sun in a white world

I have a son
His name is Eden
It's his birthright
Beyond the strange...???

Give me sixty-nine years
Another season in this hell
There's all sex and death
As far as eyes can tell
Like Prometheus we are bound
Chained to this rock
Of a brave new world
Our god-forsaken lot
And I feel it's all we ever needed to know
Till world's end and the seas run cold

Give me sixty-nine years
Another season in this hell
There is sex and death
In Mother Nature's plans
Like Prometheus we are bound
Chained to this rock
Of a brave new world
Our god-forsaken lot

Into the labyrinth

The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove

I thought that you knew it all
Well you've seen it ten times before.
I thought that you had it down
With both your feet on the ground.
I love slow...slow but deep.
Feigned affections wash over me.
Dream on my dear
And renounce temporal obligations.
Dream on my dear
It's a sleep from which you may not awaken.

You build me up then you knock me down.
You play the fool while I play the clown.
We keep time to the beat of an old slave drum.
You raise my hopes then you raise the odds
You tell me that I dream too much
Now I'm serving time in disillusionment.

I don't believe you anymore...I don't believe you.

I thought that I knew it all
I'd seen all the signs before.
I thought that you were the one
In darkness my heart was won.

You build me up then you knock me down.
You play the fool while I play the clown.
We keep time to the beat of an old slave drum.
You raise my hopes then you raise the odds
You tell me that I dream too much
Now I'm serving time in a domestic graveyard.

I don't believe you anymore...I don't believe you.

Never let it be said I was untrue
I never found a home inside of you.
Never let it be said I was untrue
I gave you all my time.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley

I sat within the valley green
I sat me with my true love.
My sad heart strove the two between
The old love and the new love.
The old for her the new
That made me think on Ireland dearly.
While the soft wind blew down the glade
and shook the golden barley.

T'was hard the woeful words to frame
To break the ties that bound us.
But harder still to bear the shame
of foreign chains around us.
And so I said the mountain glen
I'll meet at morning early.
And I'll join the bold united men
While soft winds shook the barley.

T'was sad I kissed away her tears
My fond arm round her flinging.
When a foe, man's shot burst on our ears
From out the wild woods ringing.
A bullet pierced my true love's side
In life's young spring so early.
And on my breast in blood she died
While soft winds shook the barley.

But blood for blood without remorse
I've ta'en at oulart hollow.
I've lain my true love's clay like corpse
Where I full soon must follow.
Around her grave I've wandered drear
Noon, night, and morning early.
With breaking heart when e'er I hear
The wind that shakes the barley.

The Carnival is Over

Outside
The storm clouds gathering,
Moved silently along the dusty boulevard.
Where flowers turning crane their fragile necks
So they can in turn
Reach up and kiss the sky.

They are driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye
Someone is calling.

I remember when you held my hand
In the park we would play when the circus came to town.
Look! Over here.

Outside
The circus gathering
Moved silently along the rainswept boulevard.
The procession moved on the shouting is over
The fabulous freaks are leaving town.

They are driven by a strange desire
Unseen by the human eye.
The carinval is over.

We sat and watched
As the moon rose again
For the very first time.

Tell me about the Forest
You once called home

Farewell now my sister
Up ahead there lies your road
And your conscience walks beside you
It's the best friend you will ever know
And the past is now your future
It bears witness to your soul
Make sure that the love you offer up
Does not fall on barren soil.

For the wind cries of late
In the whispering grass.
Our way of life is held
In the spinning wheels of chance.

I believe in the ways of an older law
When we used to dance to a different drum
And we are changing are ways
Yes we are taking on different roads
Tell me more about the forest
That you once called home.

For the wind cries of late
In the whispering leaves
And the sun will turn to waste
The heavens we build above.

Father teach your children
To treat our mother well
If we give her back her diamonds
She will offer up her pearl.

But I'm not bitter no I'm surviving
To face the world, to raise the future.
So why don't you tell me, come on and tell me
About the world you left behind.
Come on and tell me.

How Fortunate the Man with None

You saw sagacious Solomon
You know what came of him,
To him complexities seemed plain.
He cursed the hour that gave birth to him
And saw that everything was vain.
How great and wise was Solomon.
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's wisdom that had brought him to this state.
How fortunate the man with none.

You saw courageous Caesar next
You know what he became.
They deified him in his life
Then had him murdered just the same.
And as they raised the fatal knife
How loud he cried: you too my son!
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's courage that had brought him to that state.
How fortunate the man with none.

You heard of honest Socrates
The man who never lied:
They weren't so grateful as you'd think
Instead the rulers fixed to have him tried
And handed him the poisoned drink.
How honest was the people's noble son.
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's honesty that brought him to that state.
How fortunate the man with none.

Here you can see respectable folk
Keeping to God's own laws.
So far he hasn't taken heed.
You who sit safe and warm indoors
Help to relieve out bitter need.
How virtuously we had begun.
The world however did not wait
But soon observed what followed on.
It's fear of god that brought us to that state.
How fortunate the man with none.

Toward the within

Rakim

Favored son
Turn in the garden
Shades of one
Sins forgotten

Favored signs to find hope
In the rounds of life
Favored rhymes to find hope
In the sands of life

Favored son
Fence in your heart
Saviored son
Sins forgotten

I Am Stretched On Your Grave

I am stretched on your grave
And will lie there forever
With your hands held in mine
I'd be sure we'd not sever
My apple tree my brightness
'Tis time we were together
For I smell of the earth
And am stained by the weather

When my family thinks
That I'm safe in my bed
From night until morning
I am stretched at your head
Calling out to the air
With tears both hot and wild
Oh I grieve for the girl
That I loved as a child

The priests and the friars
Behold me in dread
Because I still love you
My love and you're dead
I would still be your shelter
From rain and from storm
And with you in your cold grave
I cannot sleep warm

I Can See Now

Ever loved a woman who made you feel tall?
Ever loved a man who made you feel small?

If you were a sailor
I'd raise the anchor
To sail the sea
In search of you and me
And god

Conjures currents to break our fragile boats
And both the innocent and the damned
Are swallowed up in his wake

If you were a huntress
I'd be your bow
For your silver arrows
To seek out his heart

Ever loved a woman who made you feel tall?
Ever loved a man who made you feel small?

Who are you to complain
For lack of understanding?
We are all created equal
In just one thing alone

Alone in your thoughts that ??? you through your life
They'll take you outwards to the dark edge of time
And there's nothing more dangerous
Than a man with nothing to lose
Nothing to live for
And nothing to prove

American Dreaming

I need my conscience to keep watch over me
To protect me from myself
So I can wear honesty like a crown on my head
When I walk into the promised land

We've been too long American dreaming
And I think we've all lost the way
Forlorn somnambulistic maniacal in the dark

I'm in love with an American girl
Though she's my best friend
I love her surreptitious smile
That hides the pain within her

And we'll go dancing in the rings of laughter
And live along by the shores
???

Yeah-ee, on the lea the rising wind blows
Fay-hee, on the lea the rising wind blows
How long how long?

??? in the grounds of ??? we've left behind
Turned back by the foot of the doorway
Never lost and found

We've been too long American dreaming
I think we've all lost the heart
??? somnambulistic maniacal in the dark

Yeah-ee, on the lea the rising wind blows
Fay-hee, on the lea the rising wind blows
How long how long?

Oman

From the body to the soul
Where our hearts lead we must go
Wherever love may flow

Don't Fade Away

Don't fade away
My brown-eyed girl
Come walk with me
I'll fill your heart with joy
And we'll dance through our isolation
Seeking solace in the wisdom we bestow
Turning thoughts to the here and everafter
Consuming fears in our fiery halos

Say what you mean
Mean what you say
I've heard that innocence
Has led us all astray

But don't let them make you and break you
The world is filled with their broken empty
dreams
Silence is their only virtue
Locked away inside their silent screams

But for now
Let us dance away
This starry night
Filled with the glow of fiery stars
And with the dawn
Our sun will rise
Bringing a symphony of bird cries

Don't bring me down now
Let me stay here for awhile
You know life's too short
Let me bathe here in your smile
I'm transcending
The fall from the garden

Goodnight

Spiritchaser

Song of the Stars

we are the stars which sing
we sing with our light;
we are the birds of fire,
we fly over the sky.
our light is a voice;
we make a road for the spirit to pass over

{algonquian indian}

outò, ba mwen son ou,e,
outò, ba mwen son ou,e,
tanbouyè, o ba mwen son ou,
solèy lève.
outò, give me your sound,
outò, give me your sound,
drummer, give me your sound,
the sun rises.

{vodun invocation-haiti}

Song of the Dispossessed

the river is deep and the road is long,
daylight comes and I want to go home.

awoke this morning
to find my people's tongues were tied
and in my dreams
they were given books to poison their minds.

the river is deep and the mountain high,
how long before the other side.

we are their mortar,
their building bricks and their clay.
their gold teeth mirror
both our joys and our pain.

the river is deep and the ocean wide,
who will teach us how to read the signs.

the earth is our mother
she taught us to embrace the light,
now the lord is master
she suffers an eternal night.

you blocked up my ears,
you plucked out my eyes,
you cut out my tongue,
you fed me with lies,

oh lord.

{brendan perry}

Non albums tracks

Spirit

I thought I'd found a reason to live
Just like before when I was a child
Only to find dreams made of sand
Would just fall apart and slip through my hands
But the spirit of life keeps us strong
And the spirit of life is the will to carry on
Adversity what have I done to you
To cause this reclusive silence
That has come between me and you
And the spirit of life remains in light
And the spirit of life remains inside
I never thought it would be quite like this
Living outside of mutual bliss
But as long as the veins in our arm still stand up
The spirit of life will keep living on

Youth

All calculations set to one side;
The inevitable Descent from Heaven,
A visitation of memories and a seance of rhythms
Invades my house, my head,
And the world to mind.

A horse leaps forward on suburban turf,
Past planted fields and streches of woods
Misty with carbonic plague.
A wretched theatrical woman, somewhere in the world,
Sighs after an improbable indulgence.
Desperadoes lie dreaming of storm, and of wounds and debauch.
Along small streams the little children sit,
Stifling their curses.

Let us turn once more to our studies,
To the noise of insatiable movement
That forms and ferments in the masses.

Black Stream

Where the stars sleep in the calm black stream,
Like some great lily, pale Ophelia floats,
Slowly floats, wound in her veils like a dream.
Half heard in the woods, halloos from distant throats.

A thousand years has sad Ophelia gone
Glimmering on the water, a phantom fair:
A thousand years her soft distracted song
Has waked the answering evening air.

Largo (Handel)

Ombra mai fu, divergetabile
Carad amabile, soavre piu

RETOUR A LA PAGE PRINCIPALE DES LYRICS / RETURN TO THE MAIN LYRICS PAGE

RETOUR A MA HOMEPAGE / RETURN TO MY HOMEPAGE
Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics Dead Can Dance Lyrics