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The Sage Lyrics
I carry the dust of a journey
that cannot be shaken away
It lives deep within me
for I breathed it every day
You and I are yesterday's answers
the earth of the past come to flesh
Eroded by time's rivers
to the shapes we now possess
Come share of my breath and my substance
and mingle our streams and our times
In bright infinite moments
our reasons are lost in our rhymes
that cannot be shaken away
It lives deep within me
for I breathed it every day
the earth of the past come to flesh
Eroded by time's rivers
to the shapes we now possess
and mingle our streams and our times
In bright infinite moments
our reasons are lost in our rhymes
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I'm pretty sure that the last line is "our reasons are lost in our rhymes." Listen to the version on "In the Hot Seat" and it's much more clear than the one on Pictures at an Exhibition. Greg Lake's voice seems to have gotten much deeper in the 22 years between them, too.
The song seems to be analogizing life to a journey that alters the traveller. At the end of the journey (old age), the singer is asking someone to be his partner.
I really like the imagery in "Eroded by time's rivers...to the shapes we now posess" for what aging does to a body.
@bolosky I agree that Greg Lake is singing “rhymes”. I think he’s making a play on the old adage “no rhyme nor reason”. In any case, it’s a beautiful song with beautiful and vivid imagery.
@bolosky I agree that Greg Lake is singing “rhymes”. I think he’s making a play on the old adage “no rhyme nor reason”. In any case, it’s a beautiful song with beautiful and vivid imagery.
I carry the dust of a journey that cannot be shaken away It lives deep within me for I breathed it every day
You cannot shake away what has been incarnated in yourself through what you lived along your life, what has been breathed every day.
You and I are yesterday's answers the earth of the past come to flesh Eroded by time's rivers to the shapes we now possess
If in the past we had uncertanties about our futures, they were questions without answers at that moment, that were answered with what happened to us along the time of our life. Again it says that what we lived in our past is now incarnated in our flesh: the river of time moved that material and converted it in what we are now. Our body has the mark of what happened to our spirit.
Come share of my breath and my substance and mingle our streams and our times In bright infinite moments our reasons are lost in our eyes
If we come together, we will mix the rivers of spirits of each one and that meeting will be bright and forever will stay in our future, as all our past is in our present flesh, There is no reasoning to move, there is a river of spirit that carries also our reasoning. The only way to know if these rivers of spirit will joing is to watch in the eyes of the other: eyes to eyes, naked, forever. There is no oblivion, no memory.
@Click57 Only issue is that "eyes" was a mistake in the lyrics. The true closing line is, "our reasons are lost in our rhymes". A little word play. Obvious if you listen careful, even more so if you watch a video of Lake singing it. ;-)
@Click57 Only issue is that "eyes" was a mistake in the lyrics. The true closing line is, "our reasons are lost in our rhymes". A little word play. Obvious if you listen careful, even more so if you watch a video of Lake singing it. ;-)
@codehead: You are right. I found the lyrics with "eyes" in internet and it led me to a wrong interpretation. With rhymes it is more difficult to find a meaning. Thanks.
@codehead: You are right. I found the lyrics with "eyes" in internet and it led me to a wrong interpretation. With rhymes it is more difficult to find a meaning. Thanks.
@Click57 "With rhymes it is more difficult to find a meaning."—I love this song, hauntingly beautiful, but I suspect it was simply the wordplay of "rhyme or reason", and the rhyme with "time". Remember, Greg Lake bought us the immortal verse, "Every day a little sadder, a little madder, someone get me a ladder." ;-) Good job on the interpretation.
@Click57 "With rhymes it is more difficult to find a meaning."—I love this song, hauntingly beautiful, but I suspect it was simply the wordplay of "rhyme or reason", and the rhyme with "time". Remember, Greg Lake bought us the immortal verse, "Every day a little sadder, a little madder, someone get me a ladder." ;-) Good job on the interpretation.
Reasons that are lost in rhymes: Page could have been playing with rhymes with no reasons here. But one can elaborate on it and say that beyond the reasons there is a match in the form, and that is what matters. A concrete form and not a abstract reason.
Reasons that are lost in rhymes: Page could have been playing with rhymes with no reasons here. But one can elaborate on it and say that beyond the reasons there is a match in the form, and that is what matters. A concrete form and not a abstract reason.
Het einde wordt vertaald als rijmpjes. Maar rhyme berekent ook rijm. Woorden die dus met elkaar overeenkomen. Hier kan het betekenen : mensen die met elkaar overeenkomen, met elkaar vergroeid zijn geraakt na vele jaren van vriendschap, waarbij een enkel woord voldoende is om de ander te begrijpen. Ook wat eerder in de tekst staat over : deel mijn adem. Het suggereert dat men met elkaar vergroeid is geraakt en niet meer goed weet waarom men het zo goed met elkaar kan vinden.
@reijco1179 Het hele lied gaat over een langdurige vriendschap. Wat je nu samen bent is een vervolg op het verleden. Ge"erodeerd betekent hier dat de vriendschap verdiept is in de tijd.
@reijco1179 Het hele lied gaat over een langdurige vriendschap. Wat je nu samen bent is een vervolg op het verleden. Ge"erodeerd betekent hier dat de vriendschap verdiept is in de tijd.
Ik denk dat het een liefdesverklaring is. Hij schreef het toen hij begin 20 was. Ik geef mijn vertaling meer naar de geest dan naar de letter.
De eerste 4 regels onveranderd.
Jij en ik zijn geworden tot wat we vroeger nog niet wisten. Het verleden op aarde heeft ons gevormd Verdiept door de loop der tijden Tot wat we nu geworden zijn.
Kom, deel lichaam en geest met me En verenig onze wegen in komende tijden In het ultieme moment Zijn onze redenen verloren gegaan in onze overeenkomsten
Ik schrijf ......intenties...maar dat deed de autocorrectie. Ik bedoelde .....in komende tijden.....
Ik schrijf ......intenties...maar dat deed de autocorrectie. Ik bedoelde .....in komende tijden.....
Thank you bolosky, codehead and Click57. I have nothing to add except gratitude. On a song I have known and loved for 32 years .
As far, as I can her the last line, I would say it is „ in our brightest unfinite moments, our reasons are lost in our lies“.\nNeither „rhymes“ nor „eyes“ would make any sense to me.
Greg Lake was a true Sage. Miss him greatly. All of ELP are genius.
It think we may consider the meaning of this song whit the last sentence.
''Our reasons are lost in our rhymes''
I don't feel he say ''eyes'' It's a bit tooo easy going that way and Greg Lake was a refine guy and a poet, so ...
I think this song is a romance, about having partners to share music, rhymes, life, etc.
This last line solve everything.
This is an ode to his friend that he spent so much time doing music with them.
If you consider what is to create an album and record it, theses 4 lines appears really clear to me:
Come share of my breath and my substance and mingle our streams and our times In bright infinite moments our reasons are lost in our rhymes
Breath is the singing , the substance is the soul the streams are the soundwaves, the melodies, the times are the tempos, the infinite moments refer to the act of recording on a disk music for almost forever, and at least if we ask : '' why do you do music ?''
well all the reasons are losts in our Rhymes.
What do you think about this potential explanation?