Tangled
And all we knew was gone…
… Fell like ashes from my hands
And all we knew was gone…
Yes I lied, on the day we said goodbye
Your love denied, harsh words to sever all ties
If you spare the time, to let me speak my mind
I could tell you why,
I couldn’t let myself drown with you
I knew I’d never be your bride,
that you were forever tangled in the thorns in your mind
In leaving you I left, half of me behind
In flames, our hopes were scattered to the wind
Your fractured mind, turned inside out over time
The truth maligned, as your fear and ignorance entwined
On each anniversary, your ghost grew inside of me
Into something you never were,
and someone you could never ever be
I knew I’d never be your bride,
that you were forever tangled in the thorns in your mind
In leaving you I left, half of me behind
In flames, our hopes were scattered to the wind
I knew we’d never see another Allhallowtide,
and all that we knew was gone
I knew I’d never be your bride,
that you were forever tangled in the thorns in your mind
In leaving you I left, half of me behind
In flames, our hopes were scattered to the wind
Oh yes I knew, I knew
I knew I’d never be your bride,
that you were forever tangled in the thorns in your mind
In leaving you I left, half of me behind
In flames, our hopes were scattered to the wind
And all we knew was gone…
… Fell like ashes from my hand
Lyrics by Rachel Iden (Speight)
Song: Speight/Berry 2012
Sacred World
From a sacred and a shattered land,
to the people who’s lives lay in your hands
From the poems of your life,
to a land of burning fire
To the sound of the funeral bell
as another human dies
To the man who has no answer
from the book of explaination
Sacred world, sacred world
To the man who burys babies,
in one foot of barren soil
They have no silk or velvet,
only rags of their desire
They’ll never hear the laughter,
or see their children’s smile
They’ll never know,
never know the meaning of life
Sacred world, sacred world
Lyrics by Die Laughing incarnation 1 (1986 – 1991)
Demo version taken from the album Caged
She’s Calling
She’s watching from the skies above,
peaceful eyes so full of love
Waiting for the sun to fall,
you can hear the heavens call
She’ll dance across the stars by night,
a scarlet vision burning bright
Her arms outstretched she calls to me,
to walk into eternity
She’s calling, she’s calling
She’s calling, she’s calling
Embraced in heaven’s gentleness,
she wanders through the mist
Hair of silk, her ruby lips,
tenderly they kiss
Angels sing in harmony,
my heart turns to dust
Her everlasting gift of love,
she gave to me with trust
She’s calling, she’s calling
She’s calling, she’s calling
In the burning midnight sky,
they’ll dance upon the clouds
Angels weep with joyfulness,
a love that’s only ours
With eyes so wide her ghostly smile,
will come to me I pray
Her soft white skin, my soul within
as night becomes the day
She’s calling, she’s calling
She’s calling, she’s calling
Lyrics: John Berry
Song: Berry
Early demo version also appears on the album Caged
All I Fear
In my veins, in my heart,
through my eyes I rip you apart
Touch the words, that you wrote
absorb your essense, pain your note
With a hollow heart, and blood like ice
Lust so bitter, passion sacrificed
I feel your mind, but can’t draw near
aching in anguish, cold rejection I fear
All I fear is the emotion of the dead
When all my hopes lie bleeding, spilling red
I need your pain and all the lies i’ve said
Will this endless need ever leave my head
Now you’ve gone i’ve turned so cold
The aura left, now black and cold
An invisible cage, my heart enclosed
This strange confusion you imposed
I want to dream, but cannot sleep,
relive the memories I cannot keep
This torment of Tantalus, I have chased
will burn eternal, never be erased
All I fear is the emotion of the dead
When all my hopes lie bleeding, spilling red
I need your pain and all the lies i’ve said
Will this endless need ever leave my head
Will this endless need ever leave my,
Will this endless need ever leave my,
Will this endless need ever leave my,
Will this endless need ever leave my,
Will this endless need ever leave my head
You’re far away but I still see your eyes
And in my thoughts your sorrow still cries
I wont give in and will never forget,
because passion and hatred I never regret
I’m just living a lie that will never come true,
never be complete without you
So I close my eyes and wipe the tears away,
know you’ll never guess this game we play
All I fear is the emotion of the dead
When all my hopes lie bleeding, spilling red
I need your pain and all the lies i’ve said
Will this endless need ever leave my head
Lyrics by Rachel Iden (Speight)
Song: Speight/Berry
Early demo version appears on the album Caged
Children (93)
I remember our first dance
When you held me oh, oh so close
But now it’s just a memory
of painted years gone by
We were only children
We were only children
I remember our goodbyes,
when the time came for us to part
But now it’s just a written word,
a tragedy of sorrow
We were only children
We were only children
* When i’m alone and I see my reflection
* Dance ghosts of pain, fear and rejection
* These cards before me, tell what I already know
* I killed my emotions, so long ago
* The innocence of love, children
* Now in the mist of time, children
Children, children
Lyrics by Die Laughing incarnation 1 (1986 – 1991) * further lyrics added by Rachel in 1993
Demo version taken from the album Caged
The Amaranth Chain
Here I stand at the boundary
Searching for the deep within the shallow
Flowing still and silent, on a turbulance of waves
I will not drown by any hand but my own
This is the sum and substance,
a sudden sense of fey and gramarye
In an amaranth chain,
memories submerged but life regained
Only eyes betray our arcane ancestry
Silhouetted in the heath fire,
I am strangely drawn to the outline
Something so familiar in dreams and time before
We are interwoven, now and forever more
This is the sum and substance,
a sudden sense of fey and gramarye
In an amaranth chain,
memories submerged but life regained
Only eyes betray our arcane ancestry
Time is no barrier, no chaos separates
Merry meet again,
In the amaranth chain
Merry meet again… in the amaranth chain
This is the sum and substance,
a sudden sense of fey and gramarye
In an amaranth chain,
memories submerged but life regained
Only eyes betray our arcane ancestry
Merry meet again,
in the amaranth chain
Merry meet again,
over and over and over again
In the amaranth chain
Merry meet again
Lyrics by Rachel Iden (Speight)
Song: Speight/Berry/Holman
Taken from the album Incarnations
Stranger to Reason
Dreams melt away, watercolours in the rain
Words tumble over time and round again
Under this dark sky, no phoenix hope can ever rise
I can’t move away, turn around, see myself..
…within a common ground
Frozen waiting for the moment to arrive
A stranger to myself, and a stranger to reason
A stranger to reason
Far stranger than this
Years pass away in imitated shades of grey
Scenes captured over time and round again
Reject the temperance, a haze of half remembered friends
To love in vain, trust in vain, dream in vain…
…within a common ground
Frozen waiting for the moment to arrive
A stranger to myself, and a stranger to reason
A stranger to reason
Far stranger than this
Sweet temperance, feed this fire
In your presence I have no control
As a consequence of my desire,
I have no time to love in vain…
…within a common ground
Frozen waiting for the moment to arrive
A stranger to myself, and a stranger to reason
A stranger to reason
Far stranger than this
Lyrics by Rachel Iden (Speight)
Song: Speight/Berry/Holman
Taken from the album Incarnations
Aphelion
I heard the clock strike 13 times,
he demands I face his brocade and rhyme,
heed the shadow line
From scattered bones she demands I choose,
self sacrifice each way when heads they win,
and tails I lose
You wish to see me fall the Icarus fall,
Aphelion, Aphelion
So I travel fast from the dominion done,
to the furthest point from the sun
Aphelion, to the Aphelion
Our carousel turns ever more,
the gilt has worn but it still enchants, like it did before
Disgraced in Eden so like Eve I fled,
the choice was mine to make,
and I followed where my passion led
You wish to see me fall the Icarus fall,
Aphelion, Aphelion
So I travel fast from the dominion done,
to the furthest point from the sun
Aphelion, to the Aphelion
Still beats the heart, go wish another dead
Save your shallow words for someone who cares
I don’t believe in you anymore
Still beats the heart, go wish another dead
Save your shallow words for someone who cares
I don’t believe in you anymore
I heard the clock strike 13 times,
the time had come to leave the craven kind,
cross the shadow line
The ash has scattered from the funeral pyre,
you sacrificed my faith, in the bitter flames of our final fire
You wish to see me fall the Icarus fall,
Aphelion, Aphelion
So I travel fast from the dominion done,
to the furthest point from the sun
Aphelion, to the Aphelion
Lyrics by Rachel Iden (Speight)
Song: Speight/Berry/Holman
Taken from the album Incarnations
Dark Half
You hold the key but you cannot find its mystery
Hiding cloaked in mist, She weaves desire and avarice
Smouldering behind, a peacock eye, an arcane passion to satisfy
A spiral turns and burns its brand, eternally
You dance upon nothing, without Lunar charm,
You dance upon nothing, without Solar…
You chase the light fearing shade and shadow
You see my radiance, after-cast, you follow
Your faith is blind to never see
The serpent within the dark half, the darker half of me
The time is lost, to dance attendance at any cost
Drawn by siren song to drown herself at Acheron
Searching desperately to join her kindred’s destiny
Poison flows within to fill the aching void
You dance upon nothing without Lunar charm,
You dance upon nothing without Solar…
You chase the light fearing shade and shadow
You see my radiance, after-cast, you follow
Your faith is blind to never see
The serpent within the dark half, the darker half of me
Under a violet sky she dreams of the infernal fire
That consumed all light, when the dark seed took it’s hold
Reaching for the fabled purity within, she paints and tears at her skin
To find that even her white marble soul, has veins of ebony and crimson
You chase the light fearing shade and shadow
You see my radiance, after-cast, you follow
Your faith is blind to never see
The serpent within the dark half, the darker half of me
You chase the light fearing shade and shadow
You see my radiance, after-cast, you follow
Your faith is blind to never see
The serpent within the dark half, the darker half of me
tsim ni dekaolc gnidih, dekaolc gnidih, dekaolc gnidih
Lyrics by Rachel Iden (Speight)
Song: Speight/Berry/Holman
Taken from the album Incarnations
Queen of Swords
The mirror smashed, and pieces buried
No heart lies lost, yet so much still unforgiven
In a past now pale, faith lost to scarlet’s blade
A forced hand, a goddess damned, by the games played
Know me well Lord of Lies, Prince of words
From you darkest dream rose this Queen of Swords
I wish, you well, in your created hell
As no tide can wash your stain from me
The eternal star, shows the jewelled fool you are
No tear falls, the fault is yours, in the choice you made
Know me well Lord of Lies, Prince of words
From you darkest dream rose this Queen of Swords
The looking glass, your temptress
As I become, as I become
The looking glass, your temptress
As I become, the first Elizabeth
Know me well, know me well
Know me well Lord of Lies, Prince of words
From you darkest dream rose this Queen of Swords
Dear friend, do you fear to know me well?
Lyrics by Rachel Iden (Speight)
Song: Speight/Berry/Holman
Taken from the album Incarnations
Also appears on 7″ vinyl limited edition and on CD ‘The Temptress EP”