Lyrics Golden Promises - Peter Hammill

Golden Promises

Besieged in the battlements of Babylon
Still looking for a hat-peg you can hang your head upon —
Now you’ve found a place you think is Avalon:
You can talk to anyone here
You can throw your arms around your nearest neighbour
And the smiling ones’ll tell you that you’ve saved her
That she’s saved you…
They offer the golden promises
The instantly divine;
You swallow the golden promises
Hook, sinker and line
If you choose to throw your soul around the attitude
Reasoning and independent thought go down the tube
As you go slavering after every inane platitude —
How weak you find yourself here
Do you really need to lose yourself completely?
How come you seem to rate it all so cheaply?
It’s so weak-kneed
To go for the golden promises
Mail-order holy vows;
You go for the golden promises —
I think you really ought to know better by now
So I do my best and I do my nut
I try to explain all these angles
But you turn away
Oh, now you’re looking in the white of my eyes
And you know what I’m going to say:
Don’t go for the golden promises
Don’t go for the easy way…
It’s right here on the doorstep:
Fool’s gold — don’t throw your life away