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Siege At Elsinore

by Larry Norman

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1.
One two three, oh ​ ​Nothing really changes Everything remains the same We are what we are till the day that we die [x2] If we could live in Shakespeare's days I wonder who we'd be If people then could live today I wonder who we'd see They'd prob'ly stop a corner cop And ask what the whole world's coming to If people then could live today I wonder what they'd do Yes I wonder what they'd do Would Romeo and Juliet watch Nelson Eddy kiss Jeanette Would Bacchus read Police Gazette And window peep at silhouettes Would Caesar pay to see the Mets Would Icarus join the jet set Would Satan smoke menthol cigarettes Would Samson razor with Gilette Bi di dip'n bow Nothing really changes Everything remains the same We are what we are till the day that we die Unless we love the Lord (Nothing really changes) Nothing really changes Everything remains the same We are what we are till the day that we die Would Henry the eighth use etiquette In a busy New York luncheonette Would Cleopatra die when bit Or save herself with a tourniquet Would Beethoven join a jazz quartet Would Ben Hur drive a blue Corvette Would Aristotle be an acid head Would Cain kill Abel with a bayonet, ah Nothing really changes Everything remains the same We are what we are till the day that we die Yeah Nothing really changes Everything remains the same We are what we are till the day that we die Unless we love the Lord (Nothing really changes) Nothing really changes Everything remains the same We are what we are (till the day that we die) Till the day we die Unless JC sets you free (Nothing really changes) Everything remains the same We are what we are till the day that we die I'm gonna sing it to you one more time now (Nothing really changes) Everything remains the same We are what we are till the day that we (die) Die
2.
Pardon Me 03:40
​Pardon me Kissing you like I'm afraid But I know I'm being played with And you'll leave me when you get the chance Off you'll go In the darkness of the night Like a bird in freedom's flight You're thinking only of deliverance Close your eyes And pretend that you are me See how empty it can be Making love if love's not really there Watch me go Watch me walk away alone As your clothing comes undone And you pull the ribbons from your hair Pardon me
3.
​Waiting around since last night, sitting in your garden chair When you decide to come home I suppose I'll still be there (Ooh ooh ooh) Everything comes to the man who waits for everything to come But what (Ah ah ah) can he do when the thing he wants the most he's farthest from Yes I guess I see your point Patience growing thin How can you respect a man Who needs you more than you need him Baroquen spirits do you love me Baroquen spirits I can't say Baroquen spirits do you love me Baroquen spirits I can't say Give me your love or let go, but don't play with my affairs (Ah ah ah) Kiss me goodbye or hello, but don't take lightly what we share Yes I guess I see your point (Yes I guess I see) Patience growing thin How can you respect a man Who needs you more than you need him Baroquen spirits do you love me Baroquen spirits I can't say Baroquen spirits do you love me Baroquen spirits I can't say (Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah) What will I do if you tell me that you love me not at all (Ooh ooh ooh) I'll charter a ship to the edge of the world and sail off Yes I guess I see your point (Yes I guess I see) Patience growing thin How can you respect a man Who needs you more than you need him Baroquen spirits do you love me Baroquen spirits I can't say Baroquen spirits do you love me Baroquen spirits I can't say All right Baroquen spirits (ah ah ha) do you love me (do you love me) Baroquen spirits (ah ha ha) I can't say (I can't say) Baroquen spirits (ah ah ha) do you love me (do you love me) Baroquen spirits I can't say (Alright baby say) Baroquen spirits (ooh hoo) do you love me (d'd'd'd'd'd' do you love me) Baroquen spirits (baby baby I can't say) I can't say (alright) Baroquen spirits (ah ha) do you love me (do you love me) Baroquen spirits (ah ha ah ah ha) I can't say (ah ah ha) Baroquen spirits (ah ha ha do you love me) do you love me Baroquen spirits I can't say (oh baby I can't say) I wanna (Baroquen spirits) get down to it I really love you (do you love me) Baroquen spirits I can't say
4.
​She's a dancer in the garden And she dances with the flowers In the early morning hours When the wind shifts and the fog drifts She's a dancer She's a dancer and she knows it Everywhere she goes she shows it Condescending not pretending No regretting Nor forgetting She's a dancer And on my early morning walks I often find her I sit pretending that I'm looking at the paper And when people stop to watch her She pretends she doesn't see them Doesn't need them, and where she goes There the wind blows Though it's only with the flowers that she dances And on my early morning walks I often find her I sit pretending (I sit pretending) that I'm looking at the paper
5.
Diamonds 01:37
​You can take your diamonds and lock them in your room And you will lose everything you save (La la la la la-ah) You can take your flowers and lay them on his tomb But I know he rose up from the grave Wo ho ho oh Oh ho oh Oh ho oh oh oh-oh
6.
One Way 02:23
​​One way, one way to heaven Hold up high your hands One way, free and forgiven Children of the lamb Two roads diverged in the middle of my life I heard a wise man say And I took the one less traveled by And that's made the difference every night and every day So I say one way, one way to heaven Hold your heads up high Follow, free and forgiven Children of the sky Children of the sky Yeah-oh-oh-oh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh Children of the sky
7.
​If God is my father And you are my brother Then why can't we bother To really reach out and love one another Why do we keep on acting the way we do The way we treat each other It must break his heart in two Once we were happy Oh yes, once in the garden But then a lie broke the stillness And our hearts began to harden And hoping to be wiser man has reached too far Sometimes I think that we've advanced But then I look at where we are And oh I cry I feel like crying Oh I cry I feel like crying Why do we argue Why are there so many churches With half of them empty And some represent a million dollar purchase What's happened to the message given by our lord To take his gospel to the streets And share our money with the poor And learn to love He said love is the greatest thing We've got to learn to love Love is the greatest thing If God is my father Then you are my brother And why can't we bother To really reach out and love one another Why do we keep on acting the way we do The way we treat each other It just breaks my heart in two We've got to learn to love Love is the greatest thing [x2] Oh ooh ooh ooh wooh You've got to learn to love (Learn to love) [x4] Yes you've got to learn to love You've got to learn to love [x8] (Learn to love is the greatest thing) Learn to love, you've got to learn to love [x2] You've got to learn to love (Learn to love, you've got to learn to love [x2]) You've got to learn to love (Oh) (Learn to love, you've got to learn to love) [x3] You've got to learn to love [x3] (Oh) (You've got to learn to love) You've got to learn to love Love is the greatest
8.
​I am a servant, I am listening for my name I sit here waiting, I've been looking at the game That I've been playing, an' I've been staying much the same When you are lonely, you're the only one to blame I am a servant, I am waiting for your call (Aah aah) I've been unfaithful, so I sit here in the hall How can you use me when I've never given all How can you choose me when you know I quickly fall So you feed my soul and you make me grow And you let me know you love me And I'm worthless now, but I've made a vow I will humbly bow before thee Oh please use me, I am lonely I am a servant, getting ready for my part There's been a change, a rearrangement in my heart At last I'm learning there's no returning once I start To live's a privilege, to love is such an art But I need your help to start Oh please purify my heart I am your servant
9.
Messiah 05:03
Messiah took this world by force Messiah took the world by force I could hear children crying I could see people dying I could see the cities falling I could hear the saviour calling (Messiah) Messiah (Messiah) Messiah (Messiah took this world by force) He took this world by force x2 Red clouds blotted out the sun Darkness fell on everyone Rivers of blood were running I could see the armies coming I could see their weapons falling I could hear the angels calling (Messiah) Messiah (Messiah) Messiah (Messiah took this world by force) He took this world by force (Messiah) Messiah (Messiah) Messiah (Messiah) He took this world by force The bear from the north And the dragon from the east Descended upon the armies of Israel And slaughtered them And in that moment The chosen of Israel cried out for Messiah And Messiah came Messiah Messiah (Messiah Messiah Messiah took this world by force) (Messiah) Messiah (Messiah) Messiah (Messiah took this world by force) He took this world by force x2 (Messiah) Messiah (Messiah) Messiah (Messiah took this world by force) Took this world by force
10.
​I wanna weep in the moonlight I wanna sleep in the rain I wanna walk on the line between pleasure and pain I'm gonna follow the vision And lie among Yorick's sweet bones I'm gonna rattle the ground where they sit on the thrones My battle's begun I've got no army at all I'm not gonna run So why waste time learning to crawl I want it all Yeah I want it all With my head in my hands I heard my father call And I want it all Sanity tries to escape me I'm dreaming of handsaws and hawks I think I'll go crazy if I don't get out of this box I'm breathing the pestilent vapors I'm holding the world in a shell I wanna see heaven, I've already lived here in hell I'm walking on wind I'm not gonna fall From here where I stand The world looks decidedly small I want it all Yeah I want it all I can see everything when my back's to the wall And I want it all My head's in the sun I'm a thousand feet tall From here where I stand The world looks decidedly small I want it all Oh yes I want it all With my blood on the sword I heard destiny call I want it all I want it all Oh yeah I want it all With my hands in the sky I heard destiny call I want it all
11.
​​I was walking down the road when I bumped into you I was walking down the road when I bumped into you Mmm you stopped me, you touched me, you looked me in the eye I had a feeling that you knew me, I decided you must die I pulled out my Thornton special, I shot you in the head I threw you in the alley way and I left you for dead ​Uh Then a man with a hat came up from behind The sky went black and I thought I was blind He put his hand inside my jacket and left a million dollar bills He slipped his hand into my pocket and gave me women and thrills And when I turned around to thank him, there was no one there but me And both my hands were filled with sand, I was standing by the sea We had dinner at eight and women at nine The party was great till we ran out of wine There was a knock upon the bedroom door, my knees began to shake And this man came in and melted all the candles on my cake He said I, I've come here to escort you, it's time for you to go He opened up my body and he took away my soul I was running down the road I was running down the road, I was trying to leave An' I saw you all alone in between the thieves And when the lightning flashed I saw somebody hanging from a tree As I turned to walk away I realized it was me I pulled out my Thornton special, I shot me in the head I threw me in the alleyway and I left me for dead Ah down the road Down the road [x3]
12.
Nightmare 05:38
Aaaaah [Yawn like] Last night I had that same old dream it rocked me in my sleep And left me the impression that the sandman plays for keeps I dreamed I was in concert on the middle of a cloud John Wayne and Billy Graham were giving breath mints to the crowd I fell through a hole in heaven I left the stage for good And when I landed on the earth I was back in Hollywood The California earthquake it tore the land in half While San Andreas cleared her throat I heard Psunami laugh The ground began to tremble, the land began to sway And people in the other states they were glad they'd moved away But suddenly California just floated in the breeze While everything that wasn't sank down into the seas And soon I saw Atlantis rumble and rise high And the great egg of Euphrates came down out of the sky Out stepped Shirley Temple with Guy Kibbee who was dead And that communist Bill Robinson whom Shirley called black red They had a marionette of Harpo Marx, they said it was a inside joke But when I honked his horn he came alive and these were the words he spoke With the continents adrift and the sun about to shift Will the ice caps drown us all or will we burn We've polluted what we own, will we reap what we have sown Are we headed for the end or can we turn We've paved the forest, killed the streams Burned the bridges to our dreams The earth is bursting at the seams And in pain of childbirth screams As it gives life to what seems To either be an age that gleams Or simply lays there dying If this goes on will life survive, how can it Out of the grave oh who will save our planet I said I'm pleased to meet you, I always thought you were a scream He said have you ever thought of having Helen Keller in your dream I said Errol Flynn dropped by but he tried to steal my girl Then she ran off with Ronald Colman, said something about a new world Now I'm stuck with my own cooking, hell I'm lonely can't you see Well he grabbed my leg, he said exactly eighty nine words to me Count 'em Let the proud but dying nation kiss the last generation It's the year of the pill, age of the gland We have landed on the moon but we'll clutter that up soon Our sense of freedom's gotten out of hand We kill our children, swap our wives We've learned to greet a man with knives We swallow pills in fours and fives Our cities look like crumbling hives Man does not live, he just survives Love is a corpse, we sit and watch it harden We left it oh so long ago the garden The strings snapped briskly then went slack, the marionette lay dead While Hoover played with the motorcade the body slumped and bled The man who held the camera disappeared into the crowd I said the hope of youth, fictitious truth lays covered in a shroud Then up walked Elmo Lincoln and he said I beg your pardon But we left it oh so long ago the garden We left it oh so long ago the garden
13.
​I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy Don't leave me here alone don't let me be The soul survivor of this tragedy My life was good when she was hanging round My love was flying so high and free But when she left my dreams came tumbling down Now I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy Don't leave me here alone don't let me be The soul survivor of this tragedy I'm trying so hard to forget my pain And leave my past behind But when your life is suddenly filled with rain You keep remembering how the sun used to shine And I can't stand the loneliness the constant emptiness Why has unhappiness come into my life I spend my mornings waking and thinking And cry my evenings late into the night I never knew that things could go so wrong Until this happened to me (and I'm telling you) If you're in love you better hold on strong Or be the soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy Don't leave me here alone don't let me be The soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy (Soul survivor soul survivor) Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy (Ooh ooh ooh ooh) Don't leave me here alone don't let me be (Soul survivor soul survivor) The soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy (Soul survivor soul survivor) Yes I am, oh yes, I need somebody's sympathy (Ooh ooh ooh ooh) (sympathy) Don't leave me here alone don't (let me) let me be (Soul survivor soul survivor) The soul survivor of this tragedy I'm the soul survivor of this tragedy (Ah yeah yeah yeah) (Soul survivor soul survivor) Oh yes I need somebody's sympathy (Ooh ooh ooh ooh) ​Don't leave
14.
Butterfly 02:33
​​Saw you underneath a leaf And that's when I decided to be a thief I said honey you're a pretty cocoon I just know you're gonna come out soon You're a butterfly And yes I know and I love you You gotta let it show pretty butterfly Won't you come out just for me ye-eh You're a butterfly You're beautiful but you did not know it You're a butterfly You need love but you never show it You need a-warmth You need a-love You need a-nature to give you a shove If you want to start living you gotta start flying Spread your wings and fill the sky You're a butterfly And yes I know you're a butterfly You gotta let it show pretty butterfly Won't you come out just for me yeah Oh won't you come out just for me Now look at you You're a butterfly And yes I know and I love you But it's time to go pretty butterfly Well it's time for me to set you free ye-eh Well it's time for me to set you free One more thing before you go Something I never let anyone know I am lonely, so confused But I never will forget the day I drifted there As I passed along your way ​I saw you underneath a leaf And that's when I decided to be a thief I said honey you're a pretty cocoon I just know you're gonna come out soon You're a butterfly Yes I know and I love you But it's time to go pretty butterfly Well it's time for me to set you free yeah It's time for me to set you Bye bye baby
15.
​My woman left me, felt like she left me for another man You know it came as some surprise, it wasn't in the plan She never told me nothing was wrong, she didn't give me a clue But one morning there was a knock on the door and I found out we were through I saw my future fading and with the papers in my hand I found myself transported into this desert land My feet are burning, the hour is getting late My journey is much too long and time will not wait So heavenly father Thou who all doth see You let the rain fall on the good and the bad So let the rain fall down on me As through this life you ramble and through this world you roam You might live in a lot of places and never find your home As down the road you wander, through the open fields you cross You must never stop believing, for all is not lost And don't worry 'bout the unfaithful lover and false friend For the love that you have given is what matters in the end Heavenly father Thou who all doth see You let the rain fall on the good and the bad So let the rain fall down on me Oh let the rain fall, let it fall on me Oh let the rain fall down on me Life is complicated, very hard to live I try to turn my cheek to everything my enemies give I got a lot of compassion for the sinners and the slaves I've got a message for those not in their graves He will cover you with water and baptize your pain If you let his power wash you clean and soothe your fevered brain Oh heavenly father Help me thine to be You let the rain fall on the quick and the dead So let the rain fall down on me Let it fall I didn't know you were my father I thought you were the hanging judge And when I came into your courtroom I thought you'd hold a grudge I thought I was a lowly servant I didn't know I was your son And I didn't know you had forgiveness For anything I might have done This world is crumbling, your kingdom is at hand Give me the strength to live and help me to stand There's gonna be a collision, the world is going fast A mortgaged future meets a bankrupt past A change is coming and people slumber in their bed Storm clouds are bringing rain, the moon is turning red Heavenly father Thou who all doth see You let the rain fall on the good and the bad So let the rain fall on me Dearest father Help me thine to be You know the rain falls on the quick and the dead So let the rain fall down on me Let the rain fall down on me Let it fall on me Let it fall on me Let this good life be the life we lead Let our faith grow like a mustard seed Let his love be all the love we need To carry us all the way home
16.
​I don't believe in miracles I know what's real, I don't pretend I don't believe in miracles Or stories with a happy end Life is no one's friend But when we met I felt so free And suddenly I felt a change come over me Do you suppose a miracle is happening to me I don't believe in miracles I've been around, I've seen enough The only way to get along you must be strong You must be tough Life is one big bluff But then you opened up the door An' I walked right in and all my fears fell on the floor Do you suppose a miracle is happening to me Pa [x35] But then you opened up the door An' I walked right in and all my fears fell on the floor Do you suppose I don't believe in miracles I know what's real, I don't pretend I don't believe in miracles Or stories with a happy end Life is no one's friend But then we met and suddenly I felt so strange I felt a change come over me Do you suppose a miracle is happening to me Do you suppose a miracle is happening to me Do you suppose a miracle is happening to me
17.
​Instrumental [With laughter and clapping at the end]
18.
Will Survive 05:45
I've had a life of pain and sorrow but I will still be here tomorrow I will survive, I will survive And nothing's gonna stop me knowing that love is real, it keeps me going I will survive, I will survive When the children are hungry I weep for them I wanna hold them tight When the shadows grow longer and the cold moves in I turn up my collar and walk into the night Come to me my little boy, you have given me life's greatest joy I will survive, I will survive This road before us winds beyond the glade, some fall dancing in the slow parade I will survive, I will survive As the seasons go by in my father's world My eyes grow dim I will trust not in the things I see But bow my heart and lift my hands to him Temptation beckons or befalls me, fear and indecision stalls me But I will survive, I will survive Illusion shines like diamonds glistening, my father's watching, he is listening I will survive, I will survive If you see me walking slowly Like a man who's blind If you speak and I do not look up Then you must forgive me but I've got heaven on my mind Though my days ahead are numbered, my life is rich, I have not slumbered I will survive, I will survive Some hearts are pierced by love long lost, let my heart be pierc-ed by the cross I will survive, I will survive I will survive I'm gonna survive I wanna be free Mmm, I wanna be free Friends may come and friends may go But enemies stay for the late show I will survive I will survive Friendships fail and love's elusive Life goes quickly, time's abusive I will survive I will survive
19.
​One way, one way to heaven Hold up high your hands One way, free and forgiven Children of the lamb Two roads diverged in the middle of my life I heard a wise man say I took the road less traveled by An' that's made the difference every night and every day I say one way, one way to heaven Hold up high your hands Follow, free and forgiven Children of the lamb In your youth, you mighta known the truth But then spent many years just going down the wrong track But now that you're older you should be bolder It's time that you were turning back, praise God and turn back ​One way yeah, (one way to heaven) You gotta hold your hands up high Hold your hands up high One way, you know it's free and forgiven You will become children of the sky You can be children of the sky This world is not your home Children of the sky

about

This album was created for the Elsinore Theatre concert in Salem, Oregon in summer 2005. It was described as follows on Larry's website in 2005:

The Siege At Elsinore CD is Larry's reflection upon his own music as it has been colored by Shakespeare. Many of Larry's songs take place centuries ago. The entire text of lyrics in "Baroquen Spirits" takes place in a time before automobiles and trains were invented. Though the song sounds modern and the lyrics can be applied to emotions and relationships of the 20th and 21st Century, this song takes place before America ever wrote a constitution, back when men believed the world to be flat.

Listen again to this album. In fact... Larry was able to find a copy of "Baroquen Spirits" with the missing verses; something collectors have been writing to him about for years. (We are still combing through the hundreds of boxes of tapes and finding new things to transfer to digital format.)

"I Want It All" - Hamlet's Soliloquy is filled with phrases and imagery taken right from Shakespeare's work and Larry sings it with the sorrow and bitterness felt by Hamlet in the graveyard.

Siege At Elsinore contains nineteen songs which embrace the poetic, the metaphor, the simile, the rhyme scheme and quatrain, the iamb and trochee of formal poetry with the grace and wit of humor, satire and tragedy; the curtness of ballroom traditions and righteous rebellion of rock and roll.

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released June 24, 2005

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Larry Norman Los Angeles, California

American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer. Norman had a major influence on artists as diverse as The Pixies, Guns n' Roses, and U2. After his death in 2008 his most well-known album, 1972's Only Visiting This Planet, was selected for inclusion in The United States Library of Congress for its cultural significance and impact on American culture. ... more

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