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Islands Lyrics

Earth, stream and tree encircled by sea
Waves sweep the sand from my island.
My sunsets fade.
Field and glade wait only for rain
Grain after grain love erodes my
High weathered walls which fend off the tide
Cradle the wind
to my island.

Gaunt granite climbs where gulls wheel and glide
Mournfully glide o'er my island.
My dawn bride's veil, damp and pale,
Dissolves in the sun.
Love's web is spun - cats prowl, mice run
Wreathe snatch-hand briars where owls know my eyes
Violet skies
Touch my island,
Touch me.

Beneath the wind turned wave
Infinite peace
Islands join hands
'Neathe heaven's sea.

Dark harbour quays like fingers of stone
Hungrily reach from my island.
Clutch sailor's words - pearls and gourds
Are strewn on my shore.
Equal in love, bound in circles.
Earth, stream and tree return to the sea
Waves sweep sand from my island,
from me.
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Cover art for Islands lyrics by King Crimson

The four songs of the album "Islands" are four different depictions or perspectives on love. The first depicts romantic love, the second jealous love, the third playful sexual love, and the last, this one, depicts universal love.

The first and second verses show a person alone represented by an island surrounded by water. The third verse depicts communications and interactions between that person and others. The chorus indicates that beneath the apparency of separateness, the islands are joined by universal love.

First of all, you very much for this comment.. I've never actually listened to this album as a whole.. Anyways; the album consists of 6 songs?!

Side one

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  • "Formentera Lady" (Robert Fripp, Peter Sinfield) — 10:14
  • "Sailor's Tale" (Fripp) — 7:21
  • "The Letters" (Fripp, Sinfield) — 4:26
  • Side two

  • "Formentera Lady" (Robert Fripp, Peter Sinfield) — 10:14
  • "Sailor's Tale" (Fripp) — 7:21
  • "The Letters" (Fripp, Sinfield) — 4:26
  • Side two

    start="4">

  • "Ladies of the Road" (Fripp, Sinfield) — 5:28
  • "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" (Fripp) — 4:14
  • "Islands" (Fripp, Sinfield) — 11:51
  • "Ladies of the Road" (Fripp, Sinfield) — 5:28
  • "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" (Fripp) — 4:14
  • "Islands" (Fripp, Sinfield) — 11:51
  • Sailor's Tale and Prelude: have no lyrics

    You just gave me an amazing insight on what I thought was (except for Formentera Lady amd this song) a fairly hollow album for KC standards. I just listened to it again and I liked it a whole lot more that I used to. Thank you.

    Cover art for Islands lyrics by King Crimson

    Possibly Peter Sinfield's finest lyrical turn. The individual and the universal are shown to be connected through ritual, symbolism, myth, nature, language, the arts, but most of all....love.

    Islands is possibly the most divisive and polarizing album in the KC catalog, because the emphasis is more on feel rather than pure technique.
    Never before and never since, would the band visit a place this tranquil and open. Somehow, melancholy sits alongside sun flecked innocence, and a darkened sky illuminates a sandy shore.

    Cover art for Islands lyrics by King Crimson

    we're all islands...

    Cover art for Islands lyrics by King Crimson

    Great song.

    Cover art for Islands lyrics by King Crimson

    I can see why Peter Sinfield's lyrics often got bashed; he tries too hard to make high poetry instead of verbal accompaniment to the music, which can be distancing & very high faultin' in a song. On the other hand, unlike most lyrics these kind of words can stand on their own without the music. Its when combined with those densley woven jazz fusion tunes KC is know for that they can stick out like a sore thumb

    It's strange to me that when someone writes poetry like this in modern(ish) times it's considered pretentious, but if it's old, it's respectable.

     
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