Van Der Graaf Generator - The Emperor In His War Room

There's a house with no door, I'm living there
At nights it gets cold and the days are hard to bear inside
There's a house with no roof, so the rain creeps in
Falling through my head as I try to think out time
I don't know you, you say you know me
That may be so, there's so much that I am unsure of
You call my name, but it sounds unreal, I forget how I feel
My body's rejecting the cure

There's a house with no bell but then nobody calls
I sometimes find it hard to tell if any are alive at all outside
There's a house with no sound; yes, it's quiet there
There's not much point in words if there's no-one to share in time

I've learned my lines, I know them so well
I am ready to tell whoever will finally come in
Of the line in my mind that's cold in the night
It doesn't seem right when there's that little dark figure running
Won't somebody help me?

There's a house with no door and there's no living there
One day it became a wall, well I didn't really care at the time
There's a house with no light, all the windows are sealed
Overtaxed and strained – now nothing is revealed but time
I don't know you, you say you know me
That may be so, there's so much that I am unsure of
You call my name, but it sounds unreal
I forget how I feel, my body's rejecting the cure
Won't somebody help me?

So you live in the bottom of the sea
And you kill all that come near you
But you are very lonely, because all the other fish fear you
And you crave companionship and someone to call your own
Because for the whole of your life you've been living alone

On a black day in a black month at the black bottom of the sea
Your mother gave birth to you and died immediately
'Cos you can't have two killers living in the same pad
And when your mother knew that her time had come
She was really rather glad

Death in the sea, death in the sea
Somebody please come and help me, come and help me
Death in the sea, death in the sea
Somebody please come and help me, come and help me
Fishes can't fly, fishes can't fly
Fishes can't and neither can I, neither can I
Fishes can't fly, fishes can't fly
Fishes can't and neither can I, neither can I

Now I'm really rather like you for I've killed all the love I ever had
By not doing all I ought to and by leaving my mind coming bad
And I too am a killer, for emotion runs as deep as flesh
Yes, and I too am so lonely, and I wish that I could forget

We need love, we need love, we need love
We need love, we need love, we need love

So here we are, or rather, here am I, quite alone
I'm seeing things that were shared before, long ago
My memory stretches and I am dazed, you know I know
How good the time was and how I laughed

Times have changed, now you're far away, I can't complain
I had all my chances but they slipped right through my hands
Like so much sand
I know I'll never dance like I used to

I'll just wait till day breaks upon the land and the sea
Hoping that I can catch all of the memories
Then I must crawl off upon my way, all of me
Listening hard for the final words

But there are none, the sunrise calls, I've lingered on
Too close for comfort and I don't know quite why
I feel like crying
I know we'll never dance like we used to

I look up, I'm almost blinded
By the warmth of what's inside me
And the taste that's in my soul
But I'm dead inside as I stand alone

I wore my moods like different sets of clothes
But the right one was never around
And as you left I heard my body ring
And my mind began to howl
It was far too late to contemplate the meaning of it all
You know that I need you, but somehow
I don't think you see my love at all

At some point I lost you, I don't know quite how it was
The wonderland lay in a coat of white, chilling frost
I looked around and I found I was truly lost
Without your hand in mine I am dead

Reality is unreal and games I've tried just aren't the same
Without your smile there's just nowhere to hide
Yes, and deep inside
I know I've never cried as I'm about to

If I could just frame the words
That would make your fire burn
All this water that's now around me could be the love
That should surround me

Looking out through the tears that blind me
My heart bleeds that you may find me
Or at least that I can
Forget and be numb
But I, I just can't stop because the words still come
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you

Left the earth in 1983
Fingers groping for the galaxies
Reddened eyes stared up into the void
A thousand stars to be exploited
Somebody help me, I'm falling
Somebody help me, I'm falling down

Into sky, into earth
Into sky, into earth

It is so dark around, no life, no hope, no sound
No chance of seeing home again

The universe is on fire, exploding without flame

We are the lost ones; we are the pioneers; we are the lost ones
We are the ones they are going to build a statue for
Ten centuries ago or were going to fifteen forward

One last brief whisper in our loved ones' ears
To reassure them and to pierce the fear
Standing at controls then still unknown
We told the world we were about to go
Somebody help me I'm missing
Somebody help me I'm missing now

Touch with my mind, I have no frame
Touch with my mind, I have no frame

Well now where is the time? And who the hell am I?
Here floating in an aimless way

No one knows where we are, though they can't feel us precisely

There is no fear here
How could such a thing exist
In this place where living and knowing
And being have never been heard of?
Have never been heard of

Doomed to vanish in the flickering light
Disappearing to a darker night
Doomed to wander in a living death
Living anti-matter, anti-breath
Somebody help me, I'm losing
Somebody help me, I'm losing now

People around, no one to touch
People around, no one to touch

I am now quite alone
Part of a vacant time-zone
Here floating in the void

Only dimly aware of existence
A dimly existing awareness

I am the lost one, I am the one you fear, I am the lost one
I am the one who crossed through space
Or stayed where I was
Or didn't exist in the first place

Standing in the space
That holds the silent lace of night away from you
You think that you can hold
The searing, molten gold between your fingers
But it slips through, tearing tendons as it goes
Exposing the white of a knuckle
Flesh and metal forming letters in the mould

Cradling your gun
After choosing the ones you think should die
Lying on the hill
Crawling over the windowsill into your living-room
They stare out, glass-eyed aimless heads
Bodies torn by vultures
You are the man whose hands are rank with the smell of death

Saviour of the Fallen, Protector of the Weak
Friend of the Tall Ones, Keeper of the Peace
Ah, but it is the only way you know

Looking out to sea
A flattened plane of weeds which bear no living
You crush life in your fist
As your heart is kissed by the lips of death
Ghosts betray you, ghosts betray you
In the night they steal your eye from its socket
And the ball hangs fallen on your cheek

Complaining tongues are stilled
A thousand mouths are filled with rusting metal
Your face a shade of green
Somehow you try to speak through all the garbage in your mouth
But it won't come out
And you cannot frame the words as your stepson
Throws your fame into the flames and you are burned

Saviour of the Fallen, Protector of the Weak
Friend of the Tall Ones, Keeper of the Peace
Ah, but it is the only way you know

Live by sword and you shall die so
All your power shall come to nought
Every life you take is part of your own
Death, not power, is what you've bought

Cringing in your room
Now the outriders of doom step on your threshold
Begging for your life
As the impartial knife sinks in your screaming flesh
Without malice, merely taking murder's toll
You must pay the price of hate
And that price is your soul

Live in peace or die forever in your war-room