Some of them were dreamers
And some of them were fools
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
With the energy of the innocent
They were gathering the tools
They would need to make their journey back to nature
While the sand slipped through the opening
And their hands reached for the golden ring
With their hearts they turned to each other's hearts for refuge
In the troubled years that came before the deluge

Some of them knew pleasure
And some of them knew pain
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
They went flying around in the rain
And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered
And in the end they traded their tired wings
For the resignation that living brings
And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow
For the glitter and the rouge
And in a moment they were swept before the deluge

Let the music keep our spirits high
Let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal its secrets by and by, by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky

Some of them were angry
At the way the earth was abused
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
And they struggled to protect her from them
Only to be confused
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
In the naked dawn only a few survived
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge

Let the music keep our spirits high
Let the buildings keep our children dry
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by, by and by
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky


Lyrics submitted by Howard55, edited by teekaye

Before the Deluge Lyrics as written by Jackson Browne

Lyrics © Jackson Browne/Swallow Turn Music/Night Kitchen Music/Open Window Music

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Before The Deluge song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment

    The song is vague enough to have multiple meanings, but the one thread tying it all together is that of the 'Apocalypse', or in reference to the New Testament, a disclosure of knowledge.

    The deluge that occurs could very well be the four Horseman of the Apocalypse arriving as foretold in Biblical times, or the second coming of Christ. When Judgement Day finally comes around, only a few will survive, and the rest will be delivered from sin by the fury and wrath of the Universe. Good will triumph over evil, and the present age will end.

    "Let creation reveal its secrets by and by, by and by" - the world will by then reveal its secrets to us, and.... "When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky" - Our inner spirits finally ascend to the heavens to reconnect with God.

    degree7on May 19, 2014   Link

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