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Sebastian Lyrics
Radiate simply, the candle is burning so low for me
Generate me limply, I can't seem to place your name, cherie
To rearrange all these thoughts in a moment is suicide
Come to a strange place, we'll talk over old times we never spied
Somebody called me Sebastian
Somebody called me Sebastian
Work out a rhyme
Toss me the time
Lay me, you're mine
And we all know, oh yeah
Your Persian eye sparkle, your lips ruby blue never speak a sound
And you, oh so gay, with Parisian demands, you can run-around
Your view of society screws up my mind like you'll never know
Lead me away, come inside, see my mind in kaleidoscope
Somebody called me Sebastian
Somebody called me Sebastian
Mangle my mind
Love me sublime
Do it in style
We all know, oh yeah
You're not gonna run, babe, we've only just begun, babe, to compromise
Slagged in a Bowery saloon, love's a story to serialise
Pale angel face, your eye-shadow and glitter is outasite
No courtesan could begin to decipher your beam of light
Somebody called me Sebastian
Somebody called me Sebastian
Dance on my heart
Laugh, swoop and dart
la-di-di-da
we know you all, yeah
Generate me limply, I can't seem to place your name, cherie
To rearrange all these thoughts in a moment is suicide
Come to a strange place, we'll talk over old times we never spied
Somebody called me Sebastian
Work out a rhyme
Toss me the time
Lay me, you're mine
And we all know, oh yeah
And you, oh so gay, with Parisian demands, you can run-around
Your view of society screws up my mind like you'll never know
Lead me away, come inside, see my mind in kaleidoscope
Somebody called me Sebastian
Mangle my mind
Love me sublime
Do it in style
We all know, oh yeah
Slagged in a Bowery saloon, love's a story to serialise
Pale angel face, your eye-shadow and glitter is outasite
No courtesan could begin to decipher your beam of light
Somebody called me Sebastian
Dance on my heart
Laugh, swoop and dart
la-di-di-da
we know you all, yeah
Song Info
Submitted by
kerstin On Sep 18, 2002
More Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
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Mr. Soft
Tumbling Down
Here Comes the Sun (The Beatles cover)
It Wasn't Me
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this is one of the best songs ever written.. i think the lyrics are quite hard to understand in some parts, but that's the way it should be. it's magic. i like the part "mangle my mind" best. it's so..complete
I always thought the hook line came from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, when Viola says "He named Sebastian. I my brother know yet living in my glass ..."
The premise of the play makes sense in comparison with what was happening insofar as gender identity and the sexual liberation of the glam rock movement. The rest of the lyrics seem to be predominantly word imagery, and I think so much is hinted at with the words "Lead me away, come inside, see my mind in kaleidoscope ..."
It's all very Bowiesque, for want of a lesser word.
I absolutely agree (the remembering) is gender crossing/-driven, which was a fashion in the early seventies with Bolan, Reed en Bowie going on, or of course, could be real.
I absolutely agree (the remembering) is gender crossing/-driven, which was a fashion in the early seventies with Bolan, Reed en Bowie going on, or of course, could be real.
I read in a literature book one time that Sebastian was once used as an alternate name for Lucifer or a lesser demon. I always thought it was a song about a solitary man who felt alone and condemned for what he was or what he stood for. Anyway you interpret it is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard.
It sounds like a love obsession leading to insanity
fuck you bingo, your a cunt, this song is genuis, great lyrics, great song. how come you came to this page if you hate the song so much? he says everything so truethfully, apart from i cant relate to the main lines, "somebody called sibastion" everything about it is genuis, you fucking ingnorant cunt
This song is so beautiful, poetic, disjointed, and HOT all at the same time. I agree, it's utterly genius and probably one of the best songs ever written.
Bingo! Please, do not write a word again. Your sensibility and degree of urban leverage equal those once belonging to the early stage cavemen.
"Harley seems to complain about his society-corrupted girlfriend in the lyrics, but what has that to do with being called Sebastian?"
I think the line "Somebody called me Sebastian" expresses his solitude from the world around him... or maybe he was just high when writing it.
Am I the only one who notices that Rubies are not Blue? and what does that mean?
@LaverneCornix
@LaverneCornix
@LaverneCornix Hi. To me the reference to (once) ruby lips being blue and not uttering a sound signifies that the subject is dead. There are several references to death in the song lyrics - suicide, Angel and beam of light. Rather than unrequited love I get the sense that storyteller has suffered a mental breakdown following the traumatic death of his lover amplified by the fact it was by her own hand. Beautiful song though. 🤘
@LaverneCornix Hi. To me the reference to (once) ruby lips being blue and not uttering a sound signifies that the subject is dead. There are several references to death in the song lyrics - suicide, Angel and beam of light. Rather than unrequited love I get the sense that storyteller has suffered a mental breakdown following the traumatic death of his lover amplified by the fact it was by her own hand. Beautiful song though. 🤘
I just read somewhere that the meaning of the name Sebastian is The Worshipped One, and apparently Steve enjoyed thinking of himself as such. So that could be a pretty good explenation, no?