The Noise - Peter Hammill

I loved the Noise

Electric breath;

Noise filled the emptiness

Roared in the emptiness

A noise to strip the paper clean off the wall

A noise to crack the masonry like a breaking-ball

The cutting edge of sonic, the wave that never breaks

And the heart and soul are pumping

Me awake, me awake, me awake

I loved the Noise

Shake to the core;

That’s what the Noise is for

Nothing came of nothing except what was left behind

In the barrage of the bombard, under organ grind

I’m caught there in the moment, bug-eyed overnight drive

And the heart and soul are pumping

Me alive, me alive, me alive, me alive

And in the rush of the silence with my arms wrapped round me warm

I’m holding breath, impatient for the dark before the dawn…

Just at the crack of daylight that’ll be the curtain torn

That’ll be the ground in a forewarning murmur

Of the Noise, of the storm

I loved the Noise

Electric breath

Noise filled the emptiness

I loved the Noise

I loved the heat —

Pump-pulse that priming beat

A statement of intention, an elemental plan —

The Noise is in the temple, the Noise is out of hand;

The needle on the end stop, crescendo in the choir…

Yes, and the heart and soul are pumping

Me on fire, me on fire, me on fire, me on fire

Me on fire, me on fire, me on fire, me on fire

I loved the Noise

I’ve drunk my fill;

The Noise is with me still

I loved the Noise

Though now it’s gone

Some glorious echoes of the Noise still linger on

Power on