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Shapes Of Things Lyrics
Shapes of things before my eyes,
Just teach me to despise.
Will time make men more wise?
Here within my lonely frame,
My eyes just hurt my brain.
But will it seem the same?
Come tomorrow, will I be older?
Come tomorrow, may be a soldier.
Come tomorrow, may I be bolder than today?
Now the trees are almost green.
But will they still be seen?
When time and tide have been.
Fall into your passing hands.
Please don't destroy these lands.
Don't make them desert sands.
Come tomorrow, will I be older?
Come tomorrow, may be a soldier.
Come tomorrow, may I be bolder than today?
Soon I hope that I will find,
Thoughts deep within my mind.
That won't disgrace my kind.
Just teach me to despise.
Will time make men more wise?
Here within my lonely frame,
My eyes just hurt my brain.
But will it seem the same?
Come tomorrow, may be a soldier.
Come tomorrow, may I be bolder than today?
But will they still be seen?
When time and tide have been.
Fall into your passing hands.
Please don't destroy these lands.
Don't make them desert sands.
Come tomorrow, may be a soldier.
Come tomorrow, may I be bolder than today?
Thoughts deep within my mind.
That won't disgrace my kind.
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Love this song, from the crescendoed beginning to the frenzied guitar solo in the middle to the repeating chord at the end. I assume it has something to do with an aversion to war and the way the turmoil that the world was going through in the mid-60s. Sort of a "Blowin' in the Wind" sentiment -- "Will time make men more wise?" is similar to "How many times must a man..."?
A real ripper. This is one of those rare gems that STILL sounds GREAT over 40 years later! Jeff Beck is superb on guitar here, pushing the heavy rock envelope and taking the Yardbirds to places they'd never been before...
I had always thought the line went:
Now the trees are almost green, But will they still be seen Where diamonds might have been?
Instead of "When time and tide have been"... oh well, I suppose I've been singing it wrong all these years!!! In any case the meaning is clear: Will I grow up to change the world for the better, or am I just going to toe the line and let things continue to get worse?
It's interesting how the subject of the lyrics connects his own (warped) conscience with the future of mankind. I'll take a wild guess that "Shapes of things before my eyes" is a reference to LSD induced perceptions. In that light, the general feeling of the song is: "this world is going to hell, I might as well get stoned out of my mind".
Love the feeling of this song. Im liking your insight, caralhovoador.
It's completely true.
The "come tomorrow" part is my favorite for some odd reason.
I have seen the lyrics all over the internet display two different wordings in song. One is "my eyes just heard my brain" and other version is "my eyes just hurt my brain". I always thought it was hurt my brain and to me that makes more sense.
Well, this is from my time in the '60s, so I can say that war and its worries (worse if you got drafted) is a big part of this.
But the 'birds also address - well before anyone else in rock tried their hand -- ecology:
Now the trees are almost green But will they still be seen When time and tide have been?
Fallin' into your passing hands Please don't destroy these lands Don't make them desert sands
That is nothing but "don't destroy this world", ecological consciousness was just starting in the '60s, and the 'birds nailed it.
Plus, it's a hell of a lot of fun to dance to!