Van der Graaf Generator - Childlike Faith in Childhood's End
from the album Still Life (1976).
Transcribed by Cory (coryp23@gmail.com), 2010
[g c d c b d c b] F#dim G#dim
Existence is a stage on which we pass,
[g# a b c b a b] d
a sleepwalk trick for mind and heart;
d g F
it's hopeless, I know, but onward I must go
a[F]nd try to make a [E]start
n.c.
at seeing something more
than day to [E]day survival, chased by final [d]death.
g F
if I believed this the sum of the life to which we've come,
I wouldn't waste my [Em]breath.
[Am]Somehow, there must be more.
Bm g
c Csus c E
There was a time when more was felt than known
but now, entrenched inside [d]my sett,
g F
in light more mundane, thought rattles round my brain:
we live, we die...and [Em]yet?
Riff 1:
d c d c d c E c d c a
--------------------------------|
--------------------------------|
--7-5---7-5---7-5-9--5--7-5-2---|
--7-5---7-5---7-5-9--5--7-5-2---|
--5-3---5-3---5-3-7--3--5-3-0---|
--------------------------------|
Riff 1
In the beginning there was order and destiny
but now that path has reached the border and on our knees
is no way to face the future, whatever it be.
Am g F
Though the forces which hold us in place
Am g F
last through eons in unruffled grace
[F]we, too, wear the f[E]ace of creation.
Riff 1
As anti-matter sucks and pulses periodically
the bud unfolds, the bloom is dead, all space is living history.
It seems as though time must betray us yet we're alive
and though I see no God to save us, yet we survive
[Dm]through the centuries of prog[A7]ress
[Dm]which don't get us very[Bb] far.
[A7]All i[Dm]llusion! All is bogus...[A7]
[Dm]we don't yet know what [Bb]we are.[Gm][a]
Riff 1
Laughing, hoping, praying, joking, Son of Man,
with lowered eyes but lifting hearts, we're grains of sand
and though, in time, the sea may claim us for its own
we are the rocks which root the future - on us it grows!
[Dm]We might not be there to share [A7]it
[Dm]if eternity's a [Bb]jest [A7]but I [Dm]think that I can bear [A7]it
[Dm]if the next life is the [Bb]best.[Gm][a]
(riff 1 with solo's)
4:17
| C# | F# | C# | F# |
| F | Bb | c | F
g Am g F
Even if there is a heaven when we die,
Am g F
endless bliss would be as meaningless as the lie
Am g
that always comes as answer to the question
[F]"Why do we see through the [E7]eyes of creation?"
Bm d F#sus F#m [d] [E] Bsus [d c] Asus
[Bm]Adrift without a [F#m]course,
[d] [E] Bsus Bm
it's very lonely here,
our only c[Asus]onjecture
what [a]lies behind the [Bm]dark.[F#m]
[F#m]Still, I find I can[Em] cling to a lifeline,
[Bm]think of a lifetime which means [Esus]more than my own [Em]one,
[Esus]dreams of a [Em]grander th[Bm7]ing than we [Bm]are.
[C#] [d] F#m Em
Time and Space hang heavy on my shoulders...
Bm [g a] E7sus
when all life is over who can say
no muta[Em]ted force shall re[Bsus]main?[b][E]
[E]Though the towers of the [B7]cit[F#m]y[B7]
[E]are denied to we [B7]men [F#m]of [B7]clay
[E]still we know we shall [B7]scale [F#m]the [B7]heights [F#m]some [G#7]day.
[G#7]Frightened in the [(E)]silence, frightened, but
[a]thinking [E/G#]ve - [E]ry [b]hard,
[E]let us make compu[B7]tat[F#m]ions [B7]of the [E]stars.
[E] [b] [E]
[Instrumental section]
Riff 1
Older, wiser, sadder, blinder, watch us run:
faster, longer, harder, stronger, now it comes...
colour blisters, image splinters gravitate
towards the centre, in final splendour disintegrate.
[Dm]The universe now bec[A7]kons
[Dm]and Man, too, must take H[Bb]is place;
[A7]just a [Dm]few last fleeting se[A7]conds
[Dm]to wander in the [Bb]waste,[Gm][a]
Am g F
and the children who were ourselves move on,
Am g F
reincarnation stills its now perfected song,
Am g F Bsus b
and at last we are free of the bonds of creation.
[E]All the jokers and [b]gaolers, [E]all the junkies and [b]slavers too,
[E]all the throng who have d[b]anced a merry [G#7]tune...
[G#7]human we can [E]all be, but Humanity [a]we must [E/G#]rise [E]above[b],
[E]in the name of all [b]faith and hope and [E]love.
[E]There's a time for all [b]pilgrims, [E]and a time for the [b]fakers too,
[E]there's a time when w[b]e all will stand alone and [G#7]nude,
[G#7]naked to the [E]galaxies...naked, but [a]clot[E/G#]hed i[E]n the [b]overview:
[E]as we reach Childhood's [b]End we start [E]anew.
And thoug[E]h dark is the [b]highway,
[E]and the peak's distance [b]breaks my heart,
[E]for I never shall [b]see it, still I play my [G#7]part,
believing that what wai[E]ts for us
is the cosmos [a]compared to[E/G#] the dust [E]of the [b]past.
[E]In the death of mere [b]Humans Life shall [E]start!
from the album Still Life (1976).
Transcribed by Cory (coryp23@gmail.com), 2010
[g c d c b d c b] F#dim G#dim
Existence is a stage on which we pass,
[g# a b c b a b] d
a sleepwalk trick for mind and heart;
d g F
it's hopeless, I know, but onward I must go
a[F]nd try to make a [E]start
n.c.
at seeing something more
than day to [E]day survival, chased by final [d]death.
g F
if I believed this the sum of the life to which we've come,
I wouldn't waste my [Em]breath.
[Am]Somehow, there must be more.
Bm g
c Csus c E
There was a time when more was felt than known
but now, entrenched inside [d]my sett,
g F
in light more mundane, thought rattles round my brain:
we live, we die...and [Em]yet?
Riff 1:
d c d c d c E c d c a
--------------------------------|
--------------------------------|
--7-5---7-5---7-5-9--5--7-5-2---|
--7-5---7-5---7-5-9--5--7-5-2---|
--5-3---5-3---5-3-7--3--5-3-0---|
--------------------------------|
Riff 1
In the beginning there was order and destiny
but now that path has reached the border and on our knees
is no way to face the future, whatever it be.
Am g F
Though the forces which hold us in place
Am g F
last through eons in unruffled grace
[F]we, too, wear the f[E]ace of creation.
Riff 1
As anti-matter sucks and pulses periodically
the bud unfolds, the bloom is dead, all space is living history.
It seems as though time must betray us yet we're alive
and though I see no God to save us, yet we survive
[Dm]through the centuries of prog[A7]ress
[Dm]which don't get us very[Bb] far.
[A7]All i[Dm]llusion! All is bogus...[A7]
[Dm]we don't yet know what [Bb]we are.[Gm][a]
Riff 1
Laughing, hoping, praying, joking, Son of Man,
with lowered eyes but lifting hearts, we're grains of sand
and though, in time, the sea may claim us for its own
we are the rocks which root the future - on us it grows!
[Dm]We might not be there to share [A7]it
[Dm]if eternity's a [Bb]jest [A7]but I [Dm]think that I can bear [A7]it
[Dm]if the next life is the [Bb]best.[Gm][a]
(riff 1 with solo's)
4:17
| C# | F# | C# | F# |
| F | Bb | c | F
g Am g F
Even if there is a heaven when we die,
Am g F
endless bliss would be as meaningless as the lie
Am g
that always comes as answer to the question
[F]"Why do we see through the [E7]eyes of creation?"
Bm d F#sus F#m [d] [E] Bsus [d c] Asus
[Bm]Adrift without a [F#m]course,
[d] [E] Bsus Bm
it's very lonely here,
our only c[Asus]onjecture
what [a]lies behind the [Bm]dark.[F#m]
[F#m]Still, I find I can[Em] cling to a lifeline,
[Bm]think of a lifetime which means [Esus]more than my own [Em]one,
[Esus]dreams of a [Em]grander th[Bm7]ing than we [Bm]are.
[C#] [d] F#m Em
Time and Space hang heavy on my shoulders...
Bm [g a] E7sus
when all life is over who can say
no muta[Em]ted force shall re[Bsus]main?[b][E]
[E]Though the towers of the [B7]cit[F#m]y[B7]
[E]are denied to we [B7]men [F#m]of [B7]clay
[E]still we know we shall [B7]scale [F#m]the [B7]heights [F#m]some [G#7]day.
[G#7]Frightened in the [(E)]silence, frightened, but
[a]thinking [E/G#]ve - [E]ry [b]hard,
[E]let us make compu[B7]tat[F#m]ions [B7]of the [E]stars.
[E] [b] [E]
[Instrumental section]
Riff 1
Older, wiser, sadder, blinder, watch us run:
faster, longer, harder, stronger, now it comes...
colour blisters, image splinters gravitate
towards the centre, in final splendour disintegrate.
[Dm]The universe now bec[A7]kons
[Dm]and Man, too, must take H[Bb]is place;
[A7]just a [Dm]few last fleeting se[A7]conds
[Dm]to wander in the [Bb]waste,[Gm][a]
Am g F
and the children who were ourselves move on,
Am g F
reincarnation stills its now perfected song,
Am g F Bsus b
and at last we are free of the bonds of creation.
[E]All the jokers and [b]gaolers, [E]all the junkies and [b]slavers too,
[E]all the throng who have d[b]anced a merry [G#7]tune...
[G#7]human we can [E]all be, but Humanity [a]we must [E/G#]rise [E]above[b],
[E]in the name of all [b]faith and hope and [E]love.
[E]There's a time for all [b]pilgrims, [E]and a time for the [b]fakers too,
[E]there's a time when w[b]e all will stand alone and [G#7]nude,
[G#7]naked to the [E]galaxies...naked, but [a]clot[E/G#]hed i[E]n the [b]overview:
[E]as we reach Childhood's [b]End we start [E]anew.
And thoug[E]h dark is the [b]highway,
[E]and the peak's distance [b]breaks my heart,
[E]for I never shall [b]see it, still I play my [G#7]part,
believing that what wai[E]ts for us
is the cosmos [a]compared to[E/G#] the dust [E]of the [b]past.
[E]In the death of mere [b]Humans Life shall [E]start!
