I'm closer to the Golden Dawn
Immersed in Crowley's uniform
Of imagery
I'm living in a silent film
Portraying Himmler's sacred realm
Of dream reality
I'm frightened by the total goal
Drawing to the ragged hole
And I ain't got the power anymore
No, I ain't got the power anymore

I'm the twisted name on Garbo's eyes
Living proof of Churchill's lies, I'm destiny
I'm torn between the light and dark
Where others see their targets, divine symmetry
Should I kiss the viper's fang?
Or herald loud the death of Man
I'm sinking in the quicksand of my thought
And I ain't got the power anymore

Don't believe in yourself, don't deceive with belief
Knowledge comes with death's release
Aah-aah, aah-aah, aah-aah, aah-aah

I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man
Just a mortal with the potential of a superman
I'm living on
I'm tethered to the logic of Homo Sapien
Can't take my eyes from the great salvation
Of bullshit faith
If I don't explain what you ought to know
You can tell me all about it on the next Bardo
I'm sinking in the quicksand of my thought
And I ain't got the power anymore

Don't believe in yourself, don't deceive with belief
Knowledge comes with death's release
Aah-aah, aah-aah, aah-aah, aah-aah

Don't believe in yourself, don't deceive with belief
Knowledge comes with death's release
Aah-aah, aah-aah, aah-aah, aah-aah


Lyrics submitted by ruben, edited by stefanhinz

Quicksand Lyrics as written by David Bowie

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Quicksand song meanings
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  • +5
    General Comment

    This song is both existetialist and Thelemic. I also agree with Stairwaytoheaven's idea of the songwriter's cyclical thought process. This song describes Bowie's wrestling with new Thelemic ideas and reconciling them with his past beliefs.

    The entire first stanza referrs blantantly to Crowley and the horror of the final goal of Thelemic teaching: to remove all shred of one's ego and reduce the psyche to first hyperawareness, then unawareness, then re-awareness, through a process referred to only as "crossing the Abyss". This is a process not unlike descent into schitzophrenia (and indeed, some Thelemites have been reported as having attempted the final goal and gone insane instead) and it's completely understandable why he would be frightened by it.

    The idea of "a mortal with potential of a superman" is totally Thelemic. Thelemites believe every man and woman can become a god, if they are able to properly discipline their minds and cross the Abyss.

    The chorus (or refrain, I suppose) seems to be a sort of counterpoint to this thinking. He is telling himself not to worry about it so much, that things will work out after death. But he continues to contemplate, and worry about the state and potential of his soul, and the cycle continues. Thus he's sinking in the quicksand of his thought, piling the concepts onto his mind, churning them until he can barely hold his head above the surface.

    Aliceloveon February 27, 2006   Link

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