A Farewell to Kings
- -------- -- -----
When they turn the pages of history
When these days have passed long ago
Will they read of us with sadness
For the seeds that we let grow
We turned our gaze
From the castles in the distance
Eyes cast down
On the path of least resistance

   Cities full of hatred
   Fear and lies
   Withered hearts
   And cruel, tormented eyes
   Scheming demons
   Dressed in kingly guise
   Beating down the multitude
   And scoffing at the wise

The hypocrites are slandering
The sacred halls of Truth
Ancient nobles showering
Their bitterness on youth
Can't we find
The minds that made us strong
Can't we learn
To feel what's right and wrong

   Cities full of hatred
   Fear and lies
   Withered hearts
   And cruel, tormented eyes
   Scheming demons
   Dressed in kingly guise
   Beating down the multitude
   And scoffing at the wise
   Can't we raise our eyes
   And make a start
   Can't we find the minds
   To lead us closer to the Heart


Xanadu
------
   "To seek the sacred river Alph
    To walk the caves of ice
    To break my fast on honey dew
    And drink the milk of Paradise..."

I had heard the whispered tales
Of immortality
The deepest mystery
From an ancient book.  I took a clue
I scaled the frozen mountain tops
Of eastern lands unknown
Time and Man alone
Searching for the lost --- Xanadu

Xanadu --- To stand within The Pleasure Dome
   Decreed by Kubla Khan
   To taste anew the fruits of life
   The last immortal man
   To find the sacred river Alph
   To walk the caves of ice
   Oh, I will dine on honey dew
   And drink the milk of Paradise

A thousand years have come and gone
But time has passed me by
Stars stopped in the sky
Frozen in an everlasting view
Waiting for the world to end
Weary of the night
Praying for the light
Prison of the lost --- Xanadu

Xanadu --- Held within The Pleasure Dome
   Decreed by Kubla Khan
   To taste my bitter triumph
   As a mad immortal man
   Nevermore shall I return
   Escape these caves of ice
   For I have dined on honey dew
   And drunk the milk of Paradise


Closer To The Heart
------ -- --- -----
And the men who hold high places
Must be the ones to start
To mould a new reality
Closer to the Heart

The Blacksmith and the Artist
Reflect it in their art
Forge their creativity
Closer to the Heart

Philosophers and Ploughmen
Each must know his part
To sow a new mentality
Closer to the Heart

You can be the Captain
I will draw the Chart
Sailing into destiny
Closer to the Heart


Cinderella Man
---------- ---
   A modest man from Mandrake
   Travelled rich to the city
   He had a need to discover
   A use for his newly-found wealth

Because he was human
Because he had goodness
Because he was moral
They called him insane

Delusions of grandeur
Visions of splendour
A manic depressive
He walks in the rain

   Eyes wide open
   Heart undefended
   Innocence untarnished

Cinderella Man
Doing what you can
They can't understand
What it means

   Cinderella Man
   Hang on to your plans
   Try as they might
   They cannot steal your dreams

   In the betrayal of his love he awakened
   To face a world of cold reality
   And a look in the eyes of the hungry
   Awakened him to what he could do

He held up his riches
To challenge the hungry
Purposeful motion
For one so insane

They tried to fight him
Just couldn't beat him
This manic depressive
Who walks in the rain


"Madrigal" 

Madrigal
--------
When the dragons grow too mighty
To slay with pen or sword
I grow weary of the battle
And the storm I walk toward
When all around is madness
And there's no safe port in view
I long to turn my path homeward
To stop awhile with you

When life becomes so barren
And as cold as winter skies
There's a beacon in the darkness
In a distant pair of eyes
In vain to search for order
In vain to search for truth
But these things can still be given
Your love has shown me proof


Cygnus X-1
------ ---
Book One --- The Voyage
Prologue

In the constellation of Cygnus
There lurks a mysterious, invisible force
The Black Hole
Of Cygnus X-1

Six Stars of the Northern Cross
In mourning for their sister's loss
In a final flash of glory
Nevermore to grace the night...

1

Invisible
To telescopic eye
Infinity
The star that would not die

All who dare
To cross her course
Are swallowed by
A fearsome force

Through the void
To be destroyed
Or is there something more?
Atomized --- at the core
Or through the Astral Door ---
To soar...

2

I set a course just east of Lyra
And northwest of Pegasus
Flew into the light of Deneb
Sailed across the Milky Way

On my ship, the 'Rocinante'
Wheeling through the galaxies,
Headed for the heart of Cygnus
Headlong into mystery

The x-ray is her siren song
My ship cannot resist her long
Nearer to my deadly goal
Until the Black Hole ---
Gains control...

3

Spinning, whirling,
Still descending
Like a spiral sea,
Unending

Sound and fury
Drowns my heart
Every nerve
Is torn apart....

To be continued

"Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres"

     I. Prelude (4:27) 
     II. Apollo: Bringer of Wisdom (4:36) 
     III. Dionysus: Bringer of Love 
     IV. Armageddon: The Battle of Heart and Mind (2:55) 
     V. Cygnus: Bringer of Balance (5:01) 
     VI. The Sphere: A Kind of Dream (1:02) 


Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres  I. Prelude
------ --- ---- --  -----------  -  -------
When our weary world was young
The struggle of the ancients first began.
The gods of Love and Reason
Sought alone to rule the fate of Man.

They battled through the ages,
But still neither force would yield.
The people were divided,
Every soul a battlefield.

II. Apollo: Bringer of Wisdom
--  ------  ------- -- ------
"I bring truth and understanding,
I bring wit and wisdom fair,
Precious gifts beyond compare.
We can build a world of wonder,
I can make you all aware.
I will find you food and shelter,
Show you fire to keep you warm
Through the endless winter storm.
You can live in grace and comfort
In the world that you transform."

The people were delighted
Coming forth to claim their prize
They ran to build their cities
And converse among the wise.
But one day the streets fell silent,
Yet they knew not what was wrong.
The urge to build these fine things
Seemed not to be so strong.
The wise men were consulted,
And the Bridge of Death was crossed
In quest of Dionysus,
To find out what they had lost.

III. Dionysus: Bringer of Love
---  --------  ------- -- ----
"I bring love to give you solace
In the darkness of the night,
In the Heart's eternal light.
You need only trust your feelings;
Only love can steer you right.
I bring laughter, I bring music,
I bring joy and I bring tears.
I will soothe your primal fears.
Throw off those chains of reason
And your prison disappears."

The cities were abandoned,
And the forests echoed song.
They danced and lived as brothers;
They knew love could not be wrong.
Food and wine they had aplenty
And they slept beneath the stars.
The people were contented
And the Gods watched from afar.
But the winter fell upon them
And it caught them unprepared,
Bringing wolves and cold starvation,
And the hearts of men despaired.

IV. Armageddon: The Battle of Heart and Mind
--  ----------  --- ------ -- ----- --- ----
The Universe divided
As the Heart and Mind collided,
With the people left unguided
For so many troubled years.
In a cloud of doubts and fears,
Their world was torn asunder into hollow Hemispheres.

Some fought themselves, some fought each other.
Most just followed one another,
Lost and aimless like their brothers,
For their hearts were so unclear,
And the truth could not appear.
Their spirits were divided into blinded Hemispheres.

Some who did not fight
Brought tales of old to light.
My Rocinante' sailed by night
On her final flight.
To the heart of Cygnus' fearsome force
We set our course.
Spiralled through that timeless space
To this immortal place.


V. Cygnus: Bringer of Balance
-  ------  ------- -- -------
I have memory and awareness,
But I have no shape or form.
As a disembodied spirit,
I am dead and yet unborn.
I have passed into Olympus
As was told in tales of old,
To the city of Immortals,
Marble white and purest gold.

I see the gods in battle rage on high,
Thunderbolts across the sky.
I cannot move, I cannot hide,
I feel a silent scream begin inside.

Then all at once the chaos ceased.
A stillness fell, a sudden peace.
The warriors felt my silent cry
And stayed their struggle, mystified.

Apollo was atonished;
Dionysus thought me mad.
But they heard my story further,
And they wondered, and were sad.

Looking down from Olympus
On a world of doubt and fear,
Its surface splintered
Into sorry Hemispheres.

They sat a while in silence,
Then they turned at last to me.
"We will call you Cygnus,
The god of Balance you shall be."

The Sphere: A Kind of Dream
--- ------  - ---- -- -----
We can walk our road together
If our goals are all the same.
We can run alone and free
If we pursue a different aim.
Let the truth of love be lighted,
Let the love of truth shine clear.
Sensibility, armed with sense and liberty,
With the Heart and Mind united in a single perfect Sphere.



Circumstances
-------------
A boy alone, so far from home,
Endless rooftops from my window.
I felt the gloom of empty rooms
On rainy afternoons.
Sometimes, in confusion,
I felt so lost and disillusioned,
Innocence gave me confidence
To go up against reality.

All the same, we take our chances,
Laughed at by Time,
Tricked by Circumstances.
Plus ca change,
Plus c'est la meme chose,
The more that things change,
The more they stay the same.

Now I've gained some understanding
Of the only world that we see.
Things that I once dreamed of
Have become reality.
These walls that still surround me
Still contain the same old me,
Just one more who's searching for a world that ought to be.



The Trees
--- -----
There is unrest in the forest,
There is trouble with the trees,
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas.

The trouble with the maples,
(And they're quite convinced the're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light.
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made.
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade.

There is trouble in the forest,
And the creatures all have fled,
As the maples scream `Oppression`
And the oaks, just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights.
"The oaks are just too greedy;
We will make them give us light."
Now there's no more oak oppression,
For they passed a noble law,
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.


"La Villa Strangiato" 

Instrumental 

                                              Studio    Live (ESL CD)
     I.    "Buenos Nochas, Mein Froinds!"       0.00      0.16
     II.   "To sleep, perchance to dream ..."   0.27      0.49
     III.  "Strangiato theme"                   2.00      2.18
     IV.   "A Lerxst in Wonderland"             3.16      3.36
     V.    "Monsters!"                          5.43      6.09
     VI.   "The Ghost of the Aragon"            6.09      6.30
     VII.  "Danforth and Pape"                  6.45      7.07
     VIII. "The Waltz of the Shreves"           7.26      7.48
     IX.   "Never turn your back on a Monster!" 7.52      8.14
     X.    "Monsters! (Reprise)"                8.03      8.24
     XI.   "Strangiato theme (Reprise)"         8.17      8.40
     XII.  "A Farewell to Things"               9.21      9.14

The Spirit of Radio
--- ------ -- -----
Begin the day with a friendly voice,
A companion unobtrusive
Plays the song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood.

Off on your way, hit the open road,
There is magic at your fingers
For the Spirit ever lingers,
Undemanding contact in your happy solitude.

Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free

All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open-hearted.
Not so coldly charted, it's really just a question
Of your honesty, yeah, your honesty.

One likes to believe in the freedom of music,
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity.

For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall,
Concert hall
And echoes with the sounds of salesmen.



Freewill
--------
There are those who think that life has nothing left to chance,
A host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance.

A planet of playthings,
We dance on the strings
Of powers we cannot perceive
"The stars aren't aligned -
Or the gods are malign"
Blame is better to give than receive.

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear-
I will choose Free Will.

There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,
The cards were stacked against them- they weren't born in Lotus-Land.

All preordained-
A prisoner in chains-
A victim of venomous fate.
Kicked in the face,
You can't pray for a place
In heaven's unearthly estate.

Each of us-
A cell of awareness-
Imperfect and incomplete.
Genetic blends
With uncertain ends
On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet.



Jacob's Ladder
------- ------
The clouds prepare for battle
In the dark and brooding silence.
Bruised and sullen stormclouds
Have the light of day obscured.
Looming low and ominous
In twilight premature
Thunderheads are rumbling
In a distant overture...

All at once, the clouds are parted.
Light streams down in bright unbroken beams...

Follow men's eyes as they look to the skies.
The shifting shafts of shining weave the fabric of their dreams...



Entre Nous
----- ----
We are secrets to each other
Each one's life a novel
No-one else has read.
Even joined in bonds of love,
We're linked to one another
By such slender threads.

We are planets to each other,
Drifting in our orbits
To a brief eclipse.
Each of us a world apart,
Alone and yet together,
Like two passing ships.

Just between us,
I think it's time for us to recognize
The differences we sometimes fear to show.
Just between us,
I think it's time for us to realize,
The spaces in between
Leave room for you and I to grow.

We are strangers to each other,
Full of sliding panels,
An illusion show.
Acting well-rehearsed routines
Or playing from the heart?
It's hard for one to know.

We are islands to each other,
Building hopeful bridges
On a troubled sea.
Some are burned or swept away,
Some we would not choose,
But we're not always free.

 

Different Strings
--------- -------
Who's come to slay the dragon,
Come to watch him fall?
Making arrows out of pointed words,
Giant killers at the call?
Too much fuss and bother,
Too much contradiction and confusion.
Peel away the mystery,
Here's a clue to some real motivation.

All there really is,
The two of us,
And we both know why we've come along.
Nothing to explain,
It's a part of us
To be found within a song.

What happened to our innocence,
Did it go out of style?
Along with our naivete',
No longer a child.
Different eyes see different things,
Different hearts beat on different strings.
But there are times
For you and me, when all such things agree.



Natural Science
------- -------
 1. Tide Pools
When the ebbing tide retreats
Along the rocky shoreline,
It leaves a trail of tidal pools
In a short-lived galaxy.
Each microcosmic planet
A complete society.

A simple kind mirror
To reflect upon our own.
All the busy little creatures
Chasing out their destinies.
Living in their pools,
They soon forget about the sea...

Wheels within wheels in a spiral array,
A pattern so grand and complex,
Time after time we lose sight of the way,
Our causes can't see their effects.

 2. Hyerspace
A quantum leap forward
In time and in space,
The universe learned to expand.

The mess and the magic,
Triumphant and tragic,
A mechanized world out of hand.

Computerized clinic
For superior cynics
Who dance to a synthetic band.

In their own image,
Their world is fashioned.
No wonder they don't understand.

 3. Permanent Waves
Science, like nature
Must also be tamed
With a view towards its preservation.
Given the same
State of integrity,
It will surely serve us well.

Art as expression,
Not as market campaigns
Will still capture our imaginations.
Given the same
State of integrity,
It will surely help us along.

The most endangered species,
The honest man,
Will still survive annihilation.
Forming a world
State of integrity,
Sensitive, open and strong.

Wave after wave will flow with the tide, 
and bury the world as it does.
Tide after tide will flow and recede, 
leaving life to go on as it was...

Tom Sawyer
--- ------
   A modern-day warrior
   Mean mean stride,
   Today's Tom Sawyer
   Mean mean pride.

Though his mind is not for rent,
Don't put him down as arrogant.
His reserve, a quiet defense,
Riding out the day's events.
The river

What you say about his company
Is what you say about society.
Catch the mist, catch the myth
Catch the mystery, catch the drift.

The world is, the world is,
Love and life are deep,
Maybe as his skies are wide.

   Today's Tom Sawyer,
   He gets high on you,
   And the space he invades
   He gets by on you.

No, his mind is not for rent
To any god or government.
Always hopeful, yet discontent,
He knows changes aren't permanent,
But change is.

What you say about his company
Is what you say about society.
Catch the witness, catch the wit,
Catch the spirit, catch the spit.

The world is, the world is,
Love and life are deep,
Maybe as his eyes are wide.

   Exit the warrior,
   Today's Tom Sawyer,
   He gets high on you,
   And the energy you trade,
   He gets right on to the friction of the day.



Red Barchetta
--- ---------
My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about.
He says it used to be a farm,
Before the Motor Law.
And on Sundays I elude the Eyes,
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire,
Where my white-haired uncle waits.

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the Borderline.
Run like the wind,
As excitement shivers up and down my spine.
Down in his barn,
My uncle preserved for me an old machine,
For fifty-odd years.
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream.

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car.
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better, vanished time.
I fire up the willing engine,
Responding with a roar.
Tires spitting gravel,
I commit my weekly crime...

Wind-
In my hair-
Shifting and drifting-
Mechanical music-
Adrenalin surge...

Well-weathered leather,
Hot metal and oil,
The scented country air.
Sunlight on chrome,
The blur of the landscape,
Every nerve aware.

Suddenly ahead of me,
Across the mountainside,
A gleaming alloy air-car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide.
I spin around with shrieking tires,
To run the deadly race,
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase.

Drive like the wind,
Straining the limits of machine and man.
Laughing out loud
With fear and hope, I've got a desperate plan.
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside.
Race back to the farm, to dream with my uncle at the fireside.


YYZ 
---
Instrumental



Limelight
---------
Living on a lighted stage
Approaches the unreal
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage.

Cast in this unlikely role,
Ill-equipped to act,
With insufficient tact,
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact.

Living in the Limelight,
The universal dream
For those who wish to seem.
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation,
Get on with the fascination,
The real relation,
The underlying theme.

Living in a fisheye lens,
Caught in the camera eye.
I have no heart to lie,
I can't pretend a stranger
Is a long-awaited friend.

All the world's indeed a stage,
And we are merely players,
Performers and portrayers,
Each another's audience
Outside the gilded cage.



The Camera Eye
--- ------ ---
I
Grim-faced and forbidding,
Their faces closed tight,
An angular mass of New Yorkers
Pacing in rhythm,
Race the oncoming night,
They chase through the streets of Manhattan.
Head-first humanity,
Pause at a light,
Then flow through the streets of the city.

They seem oblivious
To a soft spring rain,
Like an English rain
So light, yet endless
From a leaden sky.

The buildings are lost 
In their limitless rise.
My feet catch the pulse 
And the purposeful stride.

I feel the sense of possibilities,
I feel the wrench of hard realities.
The focus is sharp in the city.

II
Wide-angle watcher
On life's ancient tales,
Steeped in the history of London.

Green and grey washes 
In a wispy white veil
Mist in the streets of Westminster.
Wistful and weathered,
The pride still prevails,
Alive in the streets of the city.

Are they oblivious
To this quality?
A quality
Of light unique to
Every city's streets.

Pavements may teem 
With intense energy,
But the city is calm 
In this violent sea.



Witch Hunt
----- ----
   The night is black, 
   Without a moon.
   The air is thick and still.

   The vigilantes gather on
   The lonely torchlit hill.
      
Features distorted in the flickering light,
The faces are twisted and grotesque.
Silent and stern in the sweltering night,
The mob moves like demons possesed.
Quiet in conscience, calm in their right,
Confident their ways are best.

   The righteous rise
   With burning eyes
   Of hatred and ill-will.

   Madmen fed on fear and lies
   To beat and burn and kill.

They say there are strangers who threaten us,
In our immigrants and infidels.
They say there is strangeness, too dangerous
In our theatres and bookstore shelves,
That those who know what's best for us
Must rise and save us from ourselves.

   Quick to judge,
   Quick to anger,
   Slow to understand

   Ignorance and prejudice
   And fear 
   Walk hand in hand.



Vital Signs
----- -----
Unstable condition,
A symptom of life,
In mental and environmental change.
Atmospheric disturbance,
The feverish flux
Of human interface and interchange.

The impulse is pure;
Sometimes our circuits get shorted
By external interference.
Signals get crossed
And the balance distorted
By internal incoherence.

A tired mind become a shape-shifter,
Everybody need a mood lifter,
Everybody need reverse polarity.
Everybody got mixed feelings
About the function and the form.
Everybody got to deviate from the norm.

An ounce of perception,
A pound of obscure.
Process information at half speed.
Pause, rewind, replay,
Warm memory chip,
Random sample, hold the one you need.

Leave out the fiction,
The fact is, this friction
Will only be worn by persistence.
Leave out conditions,
Courageous convictions
Will drag the dream into existence.

A tired mind become a shape-shifter,
Everybody need a soft filter,
Everybody need reverse polarity.
Everybody got mixed feelings
About the function and the form.
Everybody got to elevate from the norm...

"ALBUM EN VIVO" 1982-1989:S, GUP, PoW, HYF, ASOF