Van der Graaf Generator - Childlike Faith in Childhood's End from the album Still Life (1976). Transcribed by Cory (coryp23@gmail.com), 2010 [G C D C B D C B] F#dim G#dim Existence is a stage on which we pass, [G# A B C B A B] D a sleepwalk trick for mind and heart;

it's ^Dhopeless, I ^Gknow, but onward I must^F go a^Fnd try to make a ^Estart

n.C. at seeing something more

than day to ^Eday survival, chased by final ^Ddeath. if I believed this the ^Gsum of the life to which we've ^Fcome, I wouldn't waste my ^Embreath. ^AmSomehow, there must be more.

Bm G

^CThere ^Csuswas a time ^Cwhen more was felt than ^Eknown but now, entrenched inside ^Dmy sett, in light more ^Gmundane, thought rattles round my ^Fbrain: we live, we die...and ^Emyet?

Riff 1:

--^D--^C----^D--^C----^D--^C--^E---^C---^D--^C--^A----| --------------------------------| --7-5---7-5---7-5-9--5--7-5-2---| --7-5---7-5---7-5-9--5--7-5-2---| --5-3---5-3---5-3-7--3--5-3-0---| --------------------------------|

Riff 1 In the beginning there was order and destiny but now that path has reached the border and on our knees is no way to face the future, whatever it be.

^AmThough the forces ^Gwhich hold us in ^Fplace last through ^Ameons in un^Gruffled ^Fgrace ^Fwe, too, wear the f^Eace of creation.

Riff 1 As anti-matter sucks and pulses periodically the bud unfolds, the bloom is dead, all space is living history. It seems as though time must betray us yet we're alive and though I see no God to save us, yet we survive

^Dmthrough the centuries of prog^A7ress ^Dmwhich don't get us very^Bb far. ^A7All i^Dmllusion! All is bogus...^A7 ^Dmwe don't yet know what ^Bbwe are.^Gm ^A

Riff 1 Laughing, hoping, praying, joking, Son of Man, with lowered eyes but lifting hearts, we're grains of sand and though, in time, the sea may claim us for its own we are the rocks which root the future - on us it grows!

^DmWe might not be there to share ^A7it ^Dmif eternity's a ^Bbjest ^A7but I ^Dmthink that I can bear ^A7it ^Dmif the next life is the ^Bbbest. ^Gm ^A

(riff 1 with solo's) 4:17 | C# | F# | C# | F# | | F | Bb | C | F

^GEven ^Amif there is a ^Gheaven when we d^Fie, endless ^Ambliss would be as ^Gmeaningless as the ^Flie that always ^Amcomes as answer^G to the question ^F"Why do we see through^E7 the eyes of creation?"

Bm D F#sus F#m [D E] Bsus [D C] Asus

^BmAdrift without a ^F#mcourse, [D E] Bsus Bm it's very lonely here, our only c^Asusonjecture what ^Alies behind the ^Bmdark. ^F#m ^F#mStill, I find I can^Em cling to a lifeline, ^Bmthink of a lifetime which means ^Esusmore than my own ^Emone, ^Esusdreams of a ^Emgrander th^Bm7ing than we ^Bmare.

[C# D] F#m Em Time and Space hang heavy on my shoulders... Bm [G A] E7sus when all life is over who can say

no muta^Emted force shall re^Bsusmain? ^B ^E

^EThough the towers of the ^B7cit^F#my ^B7 ^Eare denied to we ^B7men ^F#mof ^B7clay ^Estill we know we shall ^B7scale ^F#mthe ^B7heights ^F#msome ^G#7day. G#7 (E) Frightened in the silence, frightened, but ^Athinking ^E/G#ve - ^Ery ^Bhard, ^Elet us make compu^B7tat^F#mions ^B7of the ^Estars.

E B E [Instrumental section] Riff 1 Older, wiser, sadder, blinder, watch us run: faster, longer, harder, stronger, now it comes... colour blisters, image splinters gravitate towards the centre, in final splendour disintegrate.

^DmThe universe now bec^A7kons ^Dmand Man, too, must take H^Bbis place; ^A7just a ^Dmfew last fleeting se^A7conds ^Dmto wander in the ^Bbwaste,^Gm ^A

and the ^Amchildren who were ^Gourselves move o^Fn, reincar^Amnation stills its n^Gow perfected s^Fong, and a^Amt last we are ^Gfree of the b^Fonds of c^Bsusreation^B.

^EAll the jokers and ^Bgaolers, ^Eall the junkies and ^Bslavers too, ^Eall the throng who have d^Banced a merry ^G#7tune... ^G#7human we can ^Eall be, but Humanity ^Awe must ^E/G#rise ^Eabove^B, ^Ein the name of all ^Bfaith and hope and ^Elove.

^EThere's a time for all ^Bpilgrims, ^Eand a time for the ^Bfakers too, ^Ethere's a time when w^Be all will stand alone and ^G#7nude, ^G#7naked to the ^Egalaxies...naked, but ^Aclot^E/G#hed i^En the ^Boverview: ^Eas we reach Childhood's ^BEnd we start ^Eanew.

And thoug^Eh dark is the ^Bhighway, ^Eand the peak's distance ^Bbreaks my heart, ^Efor I never shall ^Bsee it, still I play my ^G#7part, believing that what wai^Ets for us is the cosmos ^Acompared to^E/G# the dust ^Eof the ^Bpast. ^EIn the death of mere ^BHumans Life shall ^Estart!

Van der Graaf Generator - Childlike faith in childhoods end