If the population grows
And the world is clearly finite
Where did all these apes come from?
I know isn’t right
You say I’m no better than you
You say we’re all born the same
But good is good and bad is bad
And I know who to blame!
They clog up the streets
They block out the sky
They cut down the trees
They tunnel in the mines
Somehow they think they own what they find
I wish that I could tell you
The gods of tech will save you
Instead you’ll choke and drown
On chemical fumes and metals
You say that I’m no better than anyone else
But I hate no one more than I hate myself
They’ve gone into space
They’ve put up a flag
They’re just monkeys dressed in divine drag
How many of their own kind
Have died trying to earn those rags?
JUDGMENT DAY
by The Spheres
I knew a man
Who suddenly went insane
He ran away
Out into lonely meadows
In the lands beyond
Where the subway ends
He lay alone
Watching the grass grow
In a field
Near a winding river
Above his head
Not a cloud in the sky
He reflected
But his mind was full of TV
He screamed aloud
Life’s become too easy
I don’t want to die
I’m not even living
Then the sky opened up
And rained stars down upon him
The flowers cried
In the presence of their maker
He returned to town
And all the people ran away
A beam of light
Was searing from his eyes
They couldn’t look
The brightness burned their souls
Then the sky opened up
And rained fire down upon them
There was nowhere to hide
From the passing of the judgment
BARREN PLANET
by The Spheres
The sands have run down the glass
The long day fades into sunset
The wind blew all they had built away
When they decided not to pay their debts
They never found their way home
The barren planet mourns alone
They were like animals trapped in a cage
And they grinned at death like mannequins
While those who foresaw the future wept
They knew too much, they’d worn too thin
They never found their way home
The barren planet mourns alone
They’ll never return
They threw it away
They watched it burn
And danced in the flames
And laughed in their pain
Who will watch now in the withered land
As deserts engulf the city streets
Who will mourn now for a finite world
And laugh in the face of the fate
That he must meet
They never found their way home
The barren planet mourns alone
THE SHINING SEA
by The Spheres
The light takes so long to reach us
From the distant galaxies
And all our lives are but seconds long
I know I’ll never see that far
But there’s a reason beyond the awe
This smallness that I feel
And in the light we create together
A beauty is revealed
I make this vow to you
I will live this life for you
The only thing that we really own
Is the love that we share
We’re just drops in the shining sea
It knows no joy or despair.
I make this vow to you
I will face this fate with you
FURTHER UP, FURTHER IN
by Astronomy
You stumble through the streets, drenched in rain
To find a way to ease this mortal pain
Somewhere far away, the sun is setting fast
Sometime years away, you think about the past
Somewhere far away, she looks down on you alone
Living out your life on this tiny stone
Melancholy minds pass you by in darkness
They’re empty souls with no sins to confess
Somewhere inside them a spark is still glowing
Somewhere inside them a love may be growing
Light years away, a star implodes in silence
If we could see it, the mysteries might make some sense
Somewhere ahead, you foretell your end
Stars, as they fall, lead you further up and further in
Now comes a message from another world
From the mind of a lonely girl
Somewhere outside she felt you calling
Somehow she knew that you were falling
Sometime far ahead, you witness a birth
and you’re finally glad that you graced this Earth
Somewhere ahead, you foretell your end
Stars, as they fall, lead you further up and further in
BARREN LAND
by Simon Hastings
Barren land, desolation
Pale sun pushes at the clouds
Dry river cuts the land like a scar
Broken buildings, jagged teeth
The skeleton of our society
Barren land, nothing left
Rust and bones and silence
Sobbing souls trapped in concrete
All sorrows, all regrets
They’re gone, there’s nothing left
Barren land, desolation
The final sum of all we were
All arrogance, all hubris
Now scattered, dust on a dry breeze
The failure of an entire species
Barren land
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank my family, a few friends, musical or otherwise (who should know who they are), Laura Boyle for the fine cover, Samantha for the proofread, and Michael Moorcock, Hawkwind/Robert Calvert, and Daevid Allen for their profound influence on my way of thinking.
Allister Thompson has been a professional book editor since the late 1990s and a musician since his mother ordered him to take up an instrument, a long time before that. He was a member of several rock bands during his youth, including glam rockers Crash Kelly, and is now prolific in releasing a shocking amount of music from his home in North Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Visit thegatelessgate.bandcamp.com for more info, and listen to the Music of the Spheres Spotify playlist, featuring the very songs described in this book:
https://tinyurl.com/jmsjmr8k
YouTube:
https://tinyurl.com/pz5wjhw8
You can also visit Allister at @gatelessgate1 on Twitter. And if you enjoyed this book — please tell someone!
The Music of the Spheres Page 26