Van Der Graaf Generator - The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other (1970)

Continuing the story, humanity stumbles
Gone is the glory, there's far distant rumble
The clouds have gathered and exploded now
Axes shattered, there is no north or south
Far off, the ice is foundering slowly
The ice is turning to water
The ice is turning to water

The water rushes over all
Cities crash in the mighty wave
The final man is very small
Plunging in for his final bathe
The water rushes over all
Cities crash in the mighty wave
The final man is very small
Plunging in for his final bathe

This is the ending of the beginning
This is the beginning of the end
Middle of the middle, mid-point, end and start
The first peak rises, forces the waves apart
Far off, the ice is now re-forming
Poles are fixed once more
Water is receding like death-blood leaving

And when the water falls again
All is dead and nobody lives
And when the water falls again
All is dead and nobody lives
And when the water falls again
All is dead and nobody lives
And when the water falls again
All is dead and nobody lives

And then he said
"Every step appears to be
The unavoidable consequence of the preceding one
And in the end there beckons more and more clearly
Total annihilation"

This is the ending of the beginning
This is the beginning of the end
And when the water falls again
All is dead and nobody lives
And when the water falls again
All is dead and nobody lives
And when the water falls again
All is dead and nobody lives
And when the water falls again
All is dead and nobody lives
Not one single one

Day dawns dark, it now numbers infinity
Life crawls from the past, watching in wonder
I trace its patterns in me
Tomorrow's tomorrow is birth again
Boats burn the bridge in the fens;
The time of the past returns to my life
And uses it

Don't blame me for the letters that may form in the sand;
Don't look in my eyes, you may see all the numbers
That stretch in my sky and colour my hand
Don't say that I'm wrong in imagining
That the voice of my life cannot sing
Fate enters and talks in old words:
They amuse it

Hands shine darkly and white;
Only in dark do they appear
Bless the baby born today
Flying in pitch, flying on fear
(Wicked little Scorpio, doomed to die a thousand times before he lives.)

They shine in my eyes and touch my face
Where I have seen them placed before;
Don't blame me, please, for the fate that falls:
I did not choose it
I did not, no, no, I did not
I truly did not choose it

We sat by ourselves still looking for company
There could have been peace but that eluded me
All I could think of was what was on your mind
You tried to be kind but I blocked your feelings
Now, senses still reeling
You sit in your quiet room and cry
You tried to make me one
But I always hide when there's a glimpse of sun

Running along in sunlight meadows
Your eyes were never more than half-closed
Through fluttering lashes, you watched me watching you
I tried to be true
To the way that you thought I ought to be
But in spite of all my efforts I failed
I tried to make you see
But your eyes are blind to all but the bad in me

What do you think I mean
When I say that I need you?
How am I supposed to seem
When we hit another problem
And the answers are all torn from my book?

Our lives are on paths we just can't control
We can grow closer as we grow old
Can you imagine us as we adjust?
Can you imagine us getting near eighty?
We live more sedately
Still hoping the dreams will come true
We'll try to be secure
But I'm of uncertain mind and how can I be sure?
How can I be sure?
How can I be sure?

North was somewhere years ago and cold
Ice locked the people's hearts and made them old
South was birth to pleasant lands, but dry
I walked the waters' depths and played my mind

East was dawn, coming alive in the golden sun
The winds came gently, several heads became one
In the summertime, though august people sneered
We were at peace, and we cheered

We walked along, sometimes hand in hand
Between the thin lines marking sea and sand
Smiling very peacefully
We began to notice that we could be free
And we moved together to the West

West is where all days will some day end
Where the colours turn from grey to gold
And you can be with the friends
And light flakes the golden clouds up above
West is Mike and Susie
West is where I love

There we shall spend the final days of our lives
Tell the same old stories
Yeah, well, at least we tried
And into the West, smiles on our faces, we'll go
Yes, and our apologies to those
Who'll never really know the way

We're refugees
Walking away from the life that we've known and loved
Nothing to do nor say, nowhere to stay
Now we are alone

We're refugees
Carrying all we own in brown bags, tied up with string
Nothing to think, it doesn't mean a thing
But we'll be happy on our own

West is Mike and Susie
West is Mike and Susie
West is where I love
West is refugees' home

I am the suck of air you take
That you've had many times before
I am the blow you try to fake
But which still throws you out the door
I am the air that fills your lungs
But leaves you emptier below
I am the void you can't explain
But which is where you want to go

Flame sucks between the balls of steel
Nothing moves, the air itself congeals
Look at the flame if you want to
Hear the sharp crack of the fission
Smell the brief vapour of ozone
Feel static motion

I am the love you try to hide
But which all can understand
I am the hate you still deny
Though the blood is on your hands
I am the peace you're searching for
But you know you'll never find
I am the pain you can't endure
But which tingles in your mind

Flame sucks between the balls of steel
Nothing moves, the air itself congeals
Look at the flame if you want to
Hear the sharp crack of the fission
Smell the brief vapour of ozone
Feel static motion

I am the joy you really pay for
But which comes completely free
I am your God on the final day
For the truth is you are me

In the year 1486 the Malleus first appeared
Designed to kill all witchcraft and end the papal fears
Prescribing tortures to kill the Black Arts
And the Hammer struck hard

Malleus Maleficarum slaughtered and tortured
All those under suspicion as the Inquisition ordered
Burning black hearts and innocent alike, killing the mad
Such was the power here that the Hammer had

Though Hexenhammer was intended to slay only evil
Fear and anger against magic overspilled
They also killed those of the White

So for two centuries and more they've tried to slay
Both the Black and the White Arts but spirits override pain
For every one that the torture took, two were hid secure
And so the craft, yes it endured

Love and hate lived on in the face of fear
Hexenhammer's force died
And the real power became clear

White Hammer no more is beaten, now it begins to beat
And the Grey, once oppressor now at good hands faces defeat
And the Black too shall bow down to the power above
Black hate beats Grey but supreme is
The White Hammer of Love
The White Hammer of Love