When you're asleep they may show you
Aerial views of the ground,
Freudian slumber empty of sound.
Over the rooftops and houses,
Lost as it tries to be seen,
Fields of incentive covered with green.
Mesmerised children are playing,
Meant to be seen but not heard,
"Stop me from dreaming!"
"Don't be absurd!"
"Well if we can help you we will,
You're looking tired and ill.
As I count backwards
Your eyes become heavier still.
Sleep, won't you allow yourself fall?
Nothing can hurt you at all.
With your consent
I can experiment further still."
Madrigal music is playing,
Voices can faintly be heard,
"Please leave this patient undisturbed."
Sentenced to drift far away now,
Nothing is quite what it seems,
Sometimes entangled in your own dreams.
"Well, if we can help you we will,
Soon as you're tired and ill.
With your consent
We can experiment further still.
Well, thanks to our kindness and skill
You'll have no trouble until
You catch your breath
And the nurse will present you the bill!"
Aerial views of the ground,
Freudian slumber empty of sound.
Lost as it tries to be seen,
Fields of incentive covered with green.
Meant to be seen but not heard,
"Stop me from dreaming!"
"Don't be absurd!"
You're looking tired and ill.
As I count backwards
Your eyes become heavier still.
Sleep, won't you allow yourself fall?
Nothing can hurt you at all.
With your consent
I can experiment further still."
Voices can faintly be heard,
"Please leave this patient undisturbed."
Nothing is quite what it seems,
Sometimes entangled in your own dreams.
Soon as you're tired and ill.
With your consent
We can experiment further still.
You'll have no trouble until
You catch your breath
And the nurse will present you the bill!"
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The most captivating song on the album. Makes me feel dizzy, but in a stimulated way, if you know what i'm trying to say. The mental healthcare is a very prominent theme in the lyrics and i think the "reaching out for help" element of it is inspiring, both in the way Genesis have communicated it through the "conversation" aspect and the singing. One of my favourite of one of my favourite albums ever. Gotta love it
This is a savage indictment of psychiatric mental heathcare, made more siniter by its soporific melody an arrangement. The first clue is in the reference to Freud in the 1st stanza but if you go through it the references are quite clear. I've long been surprised that their are no references to ECT as they seem to have covered the rest quite extensively!
I don't know about psychiatric. "Freudian" gives good reason to think that, but the part about "counting backwards" is what the (natural) anaesthetist does as a surgery patient is going under, and a lot of the other lyrics seem to be about someone who's gone under. I think all the experimentation is physiological, not mental.
I don't know about psychiatric. "Freudian" gives good reason to think that, but the part about "counting backwards" is what the (natural) anaesthetist does as a surgery patient is going under, and a lot of the other lyrics seem to be about someone who's gone under. I think all the experimentation is physiological, not mental.
A beautiful, haunting song. A great song for mellotron enthusiests
Personally, my favorite song from Genesis, the sound its beautiful, and the lyrics and rhymes are very well thought
This is such a haunting and beautiful tune and the lyrics are good. Despite calling myself a fan I stumbled across this only a couple of years ago when watching old concerts on YouTube. It's a favourite.
In the context of the 70s this could well have referred to the hallucinogenic referred to in Mike Rutherford’s autobiography. In the context of 2020 it takes on a whole new meaning with the mental health issues dominating society and the fuel of social media and peer pressure. It’s a prophetic track without the band realised it would be. Masterpiece of the Trick album
A trick of the tail and wind and wuthering are IMO theist two great genesis albums without hackett they just got too poppie for a band of their standards. Losing gabriel was bad but steve hackett????!! Anyway I think this song is about this person who is having persistent thoughts of being something more then they are... Being "entangled" with their dreams. The protagonist is telling them to just sleep and relax he/we'll help you.
I think this is about a person who is ill, in a hospital and is being put into a medical induced coma.
I've always been under the impression that at least part of this song was describing hypnosis, "As I count backwards your eyes become heavier still."
There was a time back in my college days when one of the guys in my dorm hypnotized a small group of us. He instructed us to listen to nothing but the sound of his voice and told us that when he counted down to 1 we would be unable to open our eyes. Lo and behold, when he reached 1 he asked us to try to open our eyes and I couldn't. I was both impressed and freaked out. I shook my head and told myself that it was all suggestion and that I could open my eyes. Thankfully they opened.
The piece was written by Steve Hackett, and is meant create a dreamlike melody. The lyrics are about being taken care of in a hospital or some sort, and how they will try to make you better, although it is not done for free.
I agree but the type of facility seems more like hospice where the brutal truth is that it is a type of acceptable and legal euthanasia where the terminally ill is given morphine to induce euphoria so that they "feel no pain." This is usually administered by a nurse and is a culprit for death as some of the doses are unreal and morphine depresses the respiratory system. It seems to me that instead of a prolonged suffering from said illness, the duration is shortened and bearable and is only possible with consent. So, when the nurse gives the bill,...
I agree but the type of facility seems more like hospice where the brutal truth is that it is a type of acceptable and legal euthanasia where the terminally ill is given morphine to induce euphoria so that they "feel no pain." This is usually administered by a nurse and is a culprit for death as some of the doses are unreal and morphine depresses the respiratory system. It seems to me that instead of a prolonged suffering from said illness, the duration is shortened and bearable and is only possible with consent. So, when the nurse gives the bill, that is kind of chilling when you think about it because not only the bill for payment, but the bill of death. Scary....
It also reminds me (again) of the part in Brave New World where Linda (the savages mother) is prescribed lethal amounts of soma while the doctors knew it would lead to her demise. She goes on a "soma holiday" an ethereal dream-like state and is in a "transition" room before he is to head (after death) to the incinerator. When the savage goes to her, there are children there to be "conditioned" on death and they intrigued that he is in distress that his mother is about to die because they were conditioned to believe that life is part of death and the body is a useful product for the rest of society since the incineration process harvests nitrogen or something. Anyhow, the soma was her death sentence (much like morphine) and the nurse was kind yet puzzled why he reacted to his dying mother with sadness and fear. Also, Freudian sleep reminds me of how society was conditioned via their sleep and was mentioned in the book. Both this part of the book and the parallels with respite care remind me so much of this song!