When first released on the compliation album, Hopelessly Devoted To You, Vol. 4, the track was listed on the album art as simply “Hideous Strength.” When released on If We Could Only See Us Now, it was listed as “That Hideous Strength”.
The song gets its title from the title of a novel by C.S. Lewi...
Oh, that I could scream
And the world would stop and listen
And these scars
These scars could speak in volume
"But who has ears to hear
Or eyes to see?" again I scream
But my voice is buried in an unearthly silence
Like in nightmares when ghosts steal your breath
I pray that power be not in my words
But in truth that supersedes the mind of man
In our dead hope and our blind faith in means
That look to justify the ends, that look to justify the ends
I feel a presence in the room
I feel cold fingers close around my neck
Without you I am lost
Let my eyes not fail with looking upward
Let my eyes not fail with looking upward
Thrice released That Hideous Strength on Tue Apr 16 2002.