Van der Graaf Generator — A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers

[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...