“Modern” is the opening track of Peter Hammill’s third solo studio album, The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage, recorded during a Van der Graaf Generator hiatus, although it features its members playing on the songs.
Its lyrics jumps between images of three lost cities (Jericho, Babylon and Atlant...
[Verse 1]
Jericho's strange, throbbing with life at its heart -
People are drawn together, simultaneously torn apart...
Foundations are shattered in the city
Inside the barricaded doors;
Hiding behind their walls, lonely as night falls
Maybe the people are waiting for trumpets
[Verse 2]
Babylon's strange, seventh wonder of the earth -
Gardens ablaze in colour, slowly rotting in the dirt
Oh, yes, and, with your head on fire, you know that you can't really see
The hanging gardens sing
But with a hollow ring:
The life is false, it's killing me...
[Bridge]
Don't look back or you'll turn to stone;
Look around before your life is overgrown
With concrete slabs
On your back the searching eyes that stab
Between chintz curtains, glinting
But never owning to a name...
Like the inmates of asylums
All the citizens are contagiously insane...
[Interlude]
[Verse 3]
Atlantis is strange, the explosion of an age -
No-one really knows what to do
And the city is a cage
It traps in ashen hours and concrete towers
Imprisons in the social order
The city's lost its way
Madness takes hold today...
[Outro]
I can't live under water
I can't live under water
I can't live under water
Modern was written by Peter Hammill.
Modern was produced by John Anthony & Peter Hammill.
Peter Hammill released Modern on Fri Feb 08 1974.