From the recording Breaking Out LP3 - alt mix
A different version of the song with an analog effect with a tape saturation simulation so that it sounds like it was recorded and mixed on a tape as in the 1960s.
This is not a religious song. But it contains many words such as “prophet” and “disciple” - but also references to “pariah” (outcast), “Testament of Youth” (novel by Vera Brittain, 1933) and “Pied Piper” (legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin).
I wrote this song after a car journey with a young musician/philosopher who believed his words would have lasting impact - a Karl Marx, Sun Yat Sen, Ho Chi Minh, Rousseau etc. - or a Jim Morrison or Kurt Cobain. He drove me crazy, but I listened - not wanting to be a negative, hardened sceptic.
In the song I cast doubt on this impact, although acknowledge that I was probably equally idealistic once - and maybe you will prove me wrong. As the composer Gustav Mahler whose music was only appreciated fully many decades after his death.
For me you are just like the rest of us. You’re not the Messiah (and as Monty Python in Life of Brian, “….you’re just a naughty boy!). But somehow I have to admire your conviction….when do we start to lose this?
CREDITS:
Steve Lewis - music, lyrics, vocals, basses, guitars, drum programming. Home studio.
Krebs - mixing. UNSAS®️ Studio Potsdam. https://www.christoph-nichelmann.de
Milan Holz - mastering, https://m-studio@gmx.net
Lyrics
You said your words would change the world.
The new Messiah for our troubled times
Pied Piper for a lost generation.
No direction
Confused about the meaning.
Why are we here?
Does anything matter?
Is this a meaningless existence?
It’s all been done before!
You’re not the Messiah
You’re not a liar
Not even a pariah
You won’t set the world on fire
You may think that you’re special
But I’ve seen it all before
Truth is I was where you are now back in seventy-four
Modern philosopher
Opens a portal to the truth
A “Testament of Youth” for your disciples
Like the dead heroes
Who died before their time
Prophets cut off in their prime
You’re not the Messiah
Your words don’t inspire
Your house is not on fire
It’s more normal than you want it to be
But does that really matter?
What you believe sets you free
Until you look into the mirror
And don’t like what you see
Is it martyrdom? No….
You do it for yourself
Cos there’s nothing else to believe in
You think you’re special
You cannot see the truth beyond your faded youth
Not immortal
You’re not the Messiah
You’re not a liar
Not even a pariah
You won’t set the world on fire
The way I see it you’re just one of us
Forgotten like the rest of us
Your legacy will turn to dust
Or will you prove me wrong