“As the sunrise stream flickers on me, My friends talk of glory, untold dream, where all is God and God is just a word”

song ~ “Cygnet Committee”  
artist ~ David Bowie  

I bless you madly,
Sadly as I tie my shoes
I love you badly,
Just in time, at times, I guess
Because of you I need to rest
Because it's you that sets the test

So much has gone and little is new
And as the sparrow sings
Dawn chorus for
Someone else to hear
The Thinker sits alone
Growing older and so bitter

I gave Them life
I gave Them all
They drained my very soul dry
I crushed my heart to ease Their pains
No thought for me remains there
Nothing can They spare
What of me?

Who praised Their efforts to be free?
Words of strength and care and sympathy
I opened doors that would have blocked Their way
I braved Their cause to guide for little pay

I ravaged at my finance just for Those
Those whose claims were steeped in peace, tranquility
Those who said a new world, new ways ever free
Those whose promises stretched in hope and grace for me

I bless you madly,
Sadly as I tie my shoes
I love you badly, just in time, at times, I guess
Because of you I need to rest, oh yes
Because it's you that sets the test

So much has gone and little is new
And as the sunrise stream flickers on me,
My friends talk of glory, untold dream
Where all is God and God is just a word

We had a friend, a talking man
Who spoke of many powers that he had
Not of the best of men, but Ours
We used him
We let him use his powers
We let him fill Our needs
Now We are strong

And the road is coming to its end
Now the damned have no time to make amends
No purse of token fortune stands in Our way
The silent guns of love will blast the sky
We broke the ruptured structure built of age
Our weapons were the tongues of crying rage

Where money stood
We planted seeds of rebirth
And stabbed the backs of fathers, sons of dirt
Infiltrated business cesspools
Hating through Our sleeves
Yea, and We slit the Catholic throat
Stoned the poor on slogans such as

"Wish You Could Hear"
"Love Is All We Need"
"Kick Out The Jams"
"Kick Out Your Mother"
"Cut Up Your Friend"
'Screw Up Your Brother or He'll Get You In the End'

"And We Know the Flag of Love is from Above
And We Can Force You to Be Free
And We Can Force You to Believe"

And I close my eyes and tighten up my brain
For I once read a book in which the lovers were slain
For they knew not the words of the Free States' refrain
It said:
"I believe in the Power of Good
I Believe in the State of Love
I Will Fight For the Right to be Right
I Will Kill for the Good of the Fight for the Right to be Right"

And I open my eyes to look around
And I see a child laid slain on the ground
As a love machine lumbers through desolation rows
Ploughing down man, woman, listening to its command
But not hearing anymore
Not hearing anymore
Just the shrieks from the old rich

And I Want to Believe
In the madness that calls 'Now'
And I want to Believe
That a light's shining through somehow

And I Want to Believe
And You Want to Believe
And We Want to Believe
And We Want to Live
Oh, We Want to Live

We Want to Live    (repeat 5x)
I Want to Live    (repeat 6x)
Live!    (repeat 3x)     _{(Image source)}

Comments 

In this long, thought-provoking, and image-evoking song from Bowie’s early years, he decries the misdirected hippy movement of the late 1960s – a movement that had promised a new world of “peace, tranquility … hope and grace.”   

Love All ... Fear All

The protagonist had initially supported the hippies, and “gave them life, gave them all,”  hoping to realize the hippy promise of peace and love and freedom. But the promises remained unfulfilled.   

Instead of the blissful, harmonious world that had been promised by the 1967 Summer of Love, the late 60s had turned into a broken, chaotic world of unrest, strife, violence, and assassinations. In fact, the hippies’ mantra had descended from the idealistic “All you need is love”  to the ignoble and paranoid imperative “Screw up your brother, or he’ll get you in the end.”   

The protagonist realized that he could no longer align himself with those rebels. He was utterly drained, and, consequently, he had turned his back on their movement.    

Love to Live!

Although the movement had abandoned its lofty ideals, and although the protagonist had therefore abandoned the movement, he did not give up his hope of an improved world and a better life – his hope that there might be “a light shining through somehow.”   

At the beginning of the song, he had managed to bless even the irresponsible revolutionaries. At the end of the song, he proclaims, loud and clearly, that “I want to believe. … We want to believe. … We want to live. … I want to live! Live!”     _{(Image source)}
David Bowie – "Cygnet Committee"  _{(Right-click to hear on YouTube)}
Lyrics by David Bowie, courtesy of – AZLyrics.com
References – Wikipedia
References – SongMeanings.com

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