The Beginning

S. Kilbey/S. Polinski/D. Abiuso/C. Berwick/J. Kilbey

Appears On:

Lyrics (unofficial)

[rev. Mar. 5, 2010]

A long and deserved holiday
A blessed holiday
A long bright rest
The back of a caravan
In a meadow
Behind some trees
Near the sea

That meadow is full of mushrooms, flowers, bees
Other things you wouldn't understand
With no other people
Nothing, nothing to do but sit back in the motes every morning in the caravan
Food appears magically
I'm never thirsty
I go down to the little stream that runs through the field
I look at the fish
I see the birds
I see the sun in the sky
I see the horizon stretch out
It's alright here
Night comes
I'm not lonely
I light the candles
Take out my journal
I remember things
I remember things most people have forgotten
I dream, and in my dreams I leave my body
I go out, out there somewhere
I talk to my ancestors
In the morning the same thing
The warm caravan
Cup of tea
Down to the brook

One day, one day I realize I'm no longer alone
Someone else is there

I see a stranger in my meadow
I see him eating my mushrooms
I see him washing his hands in my stream
I see him at the door to my caravan
Checking if I'm at home
One day I wait inside for him to come
I see his anxious eyes staring in through the glass
Suddenly I burst out of the door
"Who are you? What are you doing here in my holiday?"
He's a young man
He's 25 or something
He looks kinda scared
"Ahh, can I come in?"
"Yeah, I guess you can."
"Thanks."
"Uhh... can I get you something to eat?"
"Eat? Eat?" he said.
"Who are you anyway?" I said, "What are you doing here?"
"Um, I'm not sure you're going to believe me."
"Try me. I've heard everything in my day, sonny."
"Uh, I was on holiday, myself."
This I could well appreciate. "Go on," I said.
"I was on holiday with my wife and my children.
We attended a concert.
Someone near me somehow affected me with something, I don't know what."
"Yeah, go on."
"Um, I started getting a terrible pain in my shoulder.
Uh, I was... I was sweating, and the outside was coming in."
"I don't understand"
"The outside was coming in. There was nothing holding it out there anymore.
The next bit's... I was up on the ceiling and I was looking down.
I was looking down at my wife and a.. a lot of other people who gathered 'round me
I didn't care. I didn't want to go back.
I couldn't understand why they were trying to do that."

He stopped for a while
The dust dense inside the caravan
The trees bent in the wind
The ripples on the stream distorted the fish
The stones groaned and babbled

"After a while on the ceiling I started to drift.
I drifted for a long time.
I saw a lot of things.
I went... I went to many, many places.
Eventually I ended up in a future."
"You mean 'a future' or 'the future'?"
"It was 'a future.' It wasn't the only future.
It was just the one I'd ended up in.
There wasn't much there. Everything was kind of used up.
I don't know how they did it really.
I was so lonely.
I found a machine and started to compose music.
I played it to some of the people in that future."
"Is that the end?
No. It's the beginning."