Barnyard Story

This song always moves me....and yet I haven't a clue what it's all about! The lyricist, Keith Reid, is inscrutable, and will go to his grave without giving us an insight not only into Barnyard Story, but all his other lyrics as well. Is there anyone out there who can shed some light onto this morbid, uplifting, arcane ditty?

This song, like many of Procol Harum's best, is about the existential feelings of an individual who has had a spiritual "peak experience" of the kind often described by seekers, where it was as if he came face to face with Truth and the Divine.

Once I stood upon Olympus, then the heavens opened wide I beheld that flaming chariot and I saw the sacred bride

Now, the experience is past him and he has lost his way and can't get back to it. He feels like he is growing old with sorrow and growing fat with sin. Life seems hollow and empty to him now, because he once saw the face of perfection and now he has lost it. Everything seems empty, and he blames himself most of all.

Now and then, he gets a glimpse through the veil of that world he once saw, and his life seems truer and his thoughts seem pure. But mostly there is isn't much left for him, and he is left to wonder if death is really the answer for him, and he will be able to know and see the truth again once he is on the Other Side.

One can assume that Keith Reid experienced what has been referred to b some as "Cosmic Consciousness", or, the experience of being one with god/universe. There are hints of this in other lyrics, notably "In Held T'was In I". In a comprehensive study ("Cosmic Consciousness") the researcher noted that the person who has experienced it often falls into depression. It is almost always a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a life-changing experience.

Even though the rooster has grown old and his eyesight fails, he can still find a nugget. Such a life with smooth walking on the ground, chickens in the barnyard and a stick in the wood stove does not mean that you have control over your inner life. Things pile up, like pain, things pile up, which leads to veiling. Depressions with hiking through the least accessible places on earth become your route with unpredictable intervals and unpredictable strength. When I first met Odin, he asked me if I wanted to go up the tree. I answered no, but he said it was probably the best thing for me. We crawled in the tree, devoted to ourselves and only to ourselves, for nine days we hung in the tree. With glowing brains, curled up around our terms. We were exhausted Odin and I. He said he had become wise, I said I thought I had become wiser. We didn't say anything more before we parted. I've been in the tree some times since. It becomes trivial over time. Three times I have stood upon Olympus. For a brief moment, I merged with everything and could feel the coherence of everything, the meaning of all things, and the fullness of all things. Heureka! The last impression that will be left when I walk away. I don't think I'll go there again, in the tree or upon Olympus. Venlafxinen has put an end to it. A relief and a painful loss.

this will be a bit morbid....see i used to listen to this song a lonnnnng time ago...before there were music videos...i used to listen to Procul Harum when it was raining. They seemed like a sailors' band. When i was at Lincoln Junior high School in Santa Monica we all came in and sat to a morning announcement: two of our classmates, a brother and sister, had been killed by a robber in their home. When i heard this song, i imagined myself and other schoolmates lip syncing the song as the band members of Procul Harum is the hallways of the school, while a stunned and weeping student body leaned against walls in corridors as sorrowful as that day could have made us, watch us, as students who also happen to be Procul Harum, sing this song interspersed with shots of student body and faculty huddled together in tears....i think the song fit