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A Well Beside The River Lyrics
A song i dedicate unto those who share my need
to give their all - and should they fall strive on til they succeed.
though my belly aches with hunger - weary limbs tremble and shiver
i'd rather go where waters flow - no well beside the river.
It's spur has driven some to Hell on an unbridled desire
no pain - no gain - the strongest chain's forged in the hottest fire
I pity you - who's eyes so blue have never known ambition
yet can spit your judgment at me like some crazed, despotic queen
This dull existence merely half-life - (a glazed comatose condition)
too scary to try - so born to die sat at your sewing machine
Discontentedly accepting all the world's prepared to give her
it's fate that she stagnates just like a well beside the river
Life's one almighty, ducking - school we've built with our own hands.
We can swim and burn or sink and drown
'cause either way we're damned.
I'm so proud to be the tupping fool - your foul, fantastic freak,
at least each moment I've spent on this earth was totally unique.
So little man with such big plans to stand upon the stage,
Why do you squabble in the dirt - you should be reaching for a star?
By far the greatest gift that I can give on making the front page,
it is: instead of punching faces why not practice your guitar.
More beauty has been composed than jealousy can tear and sliver.
Wilst troubled waters bubble -you're a well beside the river
Life's one almighty ,ducking - school we've built with our own hands.
We can swim and burn or sink and drown
'cause either way we're damned.
I'm so proud to be the tupping fool - your foul, fantastic freak,
at least each moment I've spent on this earth was totally unique.
There's a dirty job I've done for all my life without
time-off called being me.
Though the hours are long and my pay is poor - I can't resign it's
all I'm qualified to be!
CHORUS:
Life's one almighty ,ducking - school we've built with our own hands.
We can swim and burn or sink and drown
'cause either way we're damned.
I'm so proud to be the tupping fool - your foul, fantastic freak,
at least each moment I've spent on this earth was totally unique.
Though my belly aches with hunger - weary limbs tremble and shiver,
I'd rather go where waters flow - no well beside the river.
Seven (and a half) years later, thanks to valkyriemp for the tips on the meaning of "the tupping fool"... Still, the whole meaning eludes me (maybe I'm getting too old) and I can only relate it to sexual behaviour (please, pardon me). But I, honestly, think this is a very great song, and sincerely miss that times when songs were just a merely way to say something that the performer wants to make public in a poetrical manner, not just a way to make money.
"A well besides the river" contains one of the best lyrics for a song I had read in my life (I have 40 years). I don't know what means "the tupping fool" because english is not my natural language. I think this song is giving us advices of what to do with ourselves as human beings.
Maybe it's a 'topping' fool, which would be similar to the expression 'icing on the cake'. Irony intended in that case, I presume.
Maybe it's a 'topping' fool, which would be similar to the expression 'icing on the cake'. Irony intended in that case, I presume.
I've been listening to skyclad for years, but had to look this one up. Thanks wilkipedia
Definitions of tupping on the Web:
As a noun, a tup is a ram (male sheep). As a verb it describes copulation by a ram with a ewe (female sheep). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupping
I don't think you're wrong to interpret the word "tupping" as sexual. The whole Vintage Whine album seems to focus on a woman with whom Martin is... not particularly happy. A couple of the other songs (Bury Me, Little Miss Take) suggest that Martin loved this woman very much, but she didn't take the relationship seriously and left him abruptly. So I think that in this song, he refers to himself as her "tupping fool" because she only used him for sex.
I feel like every time I read Skyclad lyrics, I have to look up some of the words or phrases used, either because I'm not familiar with chiefly British terms, or because the references are just so obscure. It's part of why I love this band so much -- I always end up learning something new from their lyrics.
@sewnomercy Thank you!
@sewnomercy Thank you!