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Genesis
Genesis


Background information
Origin Godalming, Surrey, England
Genre(s) Rock
Progressive Rock
Pop Rock
Years active 1967—1999
Label(s) Decca Music Group
Virgin Records
Atlantic Records
Atco Records
Rhino Records
Charisma Records
Associated acts Phil Collins
Brand X
Tony Banks
Mike Rutherford
Peter Gabriel
Steve Hackett
Anthony Phillips
GTR
Mike + The Mechanics
Stiltskin
Gordian Knot
Chester Thompson
Website Website
Members
Phil Collins
Tony Banks
Mike Rutherford
Former members
Peter Gabriel
Steve Hackett
Anthony Phillips
John Mayhew
John Silver
Chris Stewart
Ray Wilson



Music World  →  Lyrics  →  G  →  Genesis  →  Albums  →  Nursery Cryme

Genesis Album


Nursery Cryme (1971)
1971
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Harold The Barrel
6.
Harlequin
7.
. . .


Play me "Old King Cole"
that I may join with you,
all your hearts now seem so far from me
it hardly seems to matter now.

And the nurse will tell you lies
of a Kingdom beyond the skies.
But I'm lost within this half-world,
it hardly seems to matter now.

Play me my song,
here it comes again.
Play me my song,
here it comes again.

Just a little bit,
just a little bit more time,
time left to live out my life.

Play me my song,
here it comes again.
Play me my song,
here it comes again.

Old King Cole was a merry ould soul,
and a merry old soul was he.
So he called for his pipe,
and he called for his bowl,
and he called the his fiddlers three.

And the clock, tick tock,
on the mantlepiece,
and I want,
and I fell,
and I know,
and I touch the wall.

She's a lady, she's got time.
Brush back you hair, and let me get to know your face.
She's a lady, she's mine.
Brush back you hair, and let me get to know your flesh.

I've been waiting here for so long
and all this time that passed me by.
It doesn't seem to matter now.
You stand there with your fixed expression
casting doubt on all I have to say.
Why don't you touch me, touch me?
Why don't you touch me, touch me?
Touch me now, now now, now, now ...

The musical box:
While Henry Hamilton-Smythe minor (8) was playing croquet with Cynthia Jane De Blaise-William (9), sweet smiling Cynthia
raised her mallet high and gracefully removed Henry's head. Two weeks later, in Henry's nursery, she discovered his treasured
musical box. Eagerly she opened it and as "Old King Cole" began to play, a small spirit-figure appeared. Henry had returned -
but not for long, for as he stood into the room his body began ageing rapidly, leaving a child's mind inside. A lifetime's desires
surged through him. Unfortunately the attempt to persuade Cynthia Jane to fulfill his romantic desire led his nurse to the
nursery to investigate the noise. Instinctively she hurled the musical box at the bearded child, destroying both.


. . .


Sunday at six when they close both the gates
A widowed pair, still sitting there
Wonder if they're late for church
And it's cold so they fasten their coats
And cross the grass, they're always last

Passing by the padlocked swings
The roundabout still turning
Ahead they see a small girl
On her way home with a pram

Inside the archway
The priest greets them with a courteous nod
He's close to God
Looking back at days of four instead of two
Years seem so few
Heads bent in prayer
For friends not there

Leaving twopence on the plate
They hurry down the path and through the gate
And wait to board the bus
That ambles down the street

. . .


Turn and run
Nothing can stop them
Around every river and canal their
Power is growing
Stamp them out
We must destroy them
They infiltrate each city with their thick dark warning odour
They are invincible
They seem immune to all our herbicidal battering

Long ago in the Russian hills
A Victorian explorer found the regal Hogweed by a marsh
He captured it and brought it home

Botanical creature stirs, seeking revenge
Royal beast did not forget
He came home to London
And made a present of the Hogweed to the Royal Gardens at Kew

Waste no time
They are approaching
Hurry now, we must protect ourselves and find some shelter
Strike by night
They are defenceless
They all need the sun to photosensitize their venom
Still they're invincible
Still they're immune to all our herbicidal battering

Fashionable country gentlemen had some cultivated wild gardens
In which they innocently planted the Giant Hogweed throughout the land

Botanical creature stirs, seeking revenge
Royal beast did not forget
Soon they escaped, spreading their seed
Preparing for an onslaught
Threatening the human race

Mighty Hogweed is avenged
Human bodies soon will know anger
Kill them with your Hogweed hairs

. . .


I heard the old man tell his tale:

Tinker, alone within a storm
And losing hope he clears the leaves beneath a tree
Seven stones
Lay on the ground
Within the seventh house a friend was found
And the changes of no consequence
Will pick up the reins from nowhere

Sailors, in peril on the sea
Amongst the waves a rock looms nearer not yet seen
They see a gull
Flying by
The captain turns the boat and he asks not why
And the changes of no consequence
Will pick up the reins from nowhere
Nowhere...

Despair that tires the world
Brings the old man laughter
The laughter of the world only grieves him, believes him
The old man's guide is chance

I heard the old man tell his tale:

Farmer, who knows not when to sow
Consults the old man clutching money in his hand
With a shrug
The old man smiled
Took the money, left the farmer wild
And the changes of no consequence
Will pick up the reins from nowhere
Nowhere...

Despair that tires the world
Brings the old man laughter
The laughter of the world only grieves him, believes him
The old man's guide is chance...

. . .

Harold The Barrel

[No lyrics]

. . .

Harlequin

[No lyrics]

. . .


From a dense forest of tall dark pinewood
Mount Ida rises like an island.
Within a hidden cave, nymphs had kept a child:
Hermaphroditus, son of gods, so afraid of their love.
As the dawn creeps up the sky,
The hunter caught sight of a doe.
In desire for conquest,
He found himself within a glade he'd not beheld before.

Where are you, my father?
Give wisdom to your son.

And as his strength began to fail,
He saw a shimmering lake.
a shadow in the dark green depths
Disturbed the strange tranquility.

The waters are disturbed.
Some creature has been stirred.

As he rushed to quench his thirst,
A fountain spring appeared before him.
And as his heated breath brushed through the cool mist
A liquid voice called, "Son of gods, drink from my spring."
The water tasted strangely sweet.
Behind him the voice called again.
He turned and saw her, in a cloak of mist alone,
And as he gazed, her eyes were filled with the darkness of the lake.

We shall be one.
We shall be joined as one.

Away from me, cold-blooded woman.
Your thirst is not mine.

Nothing will cause us to part.
Hear me, O Gods!

Unearthly calm ascended from the sky
And then their flesh and bones were strangely merged.
Forever to be joined as one.

The creature crawled into the lake.
A fading voice was heard:
"And I beg, yes I beg, that all who touch this spring
May share my fate."
We are the one.
We are the one.

Both had given everything they had.
A lover's dream had been fulfilled at last.
Forever still beneath the lake.

. . .


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