Aloft - Van Der Graaf Generator

Whispers of a wind to lift you off the ground

The breath of air that’ll take you where it will

This flight of fancy carries you until you know for sure

There’s no going back

To where you were before

Now you’ve lost the knack

With best-laid plans you once flattered to deceive

Of fatted calf were intent to eat your fill

Perpetual motion carries you but still you know for sure

That you can’t keep track

And you can’t keep score

There’s no going back any more

You were tethered

Eyes and ears peeled tightly on the ground

Wondering whether

What goes up is certain to come down…

Steady measures

Learn to take the whole thing in the round

Keep on talking

For that’s all that’s keeping you aloft;

It was awkward

Holding in your breath before the off

Now you travel, though you’re not so eager to arrive

On the journey what respect you earn is token

Faith in progress

Goes unspoken

And that’s all that’s keeping you alive

And you know it’s not the going, it’s the getting there

That’ll slow you, so you really can’t remember where

You were heading when you started

All was eloquence

But now it’s all hot air

Draw breath in apprehension

No safety features left in place

Your sentence in suspension

You’re clinging on, a basket case

You didn’t want to tell me

About your secret passion

What dummy would you sell me

With such unfashionable haste?

Hold it steady

Can’t afford to let direction drift

Are you ready?

The denouement when it comes is swift

Are you joking?

Were you hoping for some jolly japes?

Eat those words or spit them out before they choke you

Flailing progress

From this moment

I don’t see you making your escape

And you know it’s not the going, it’s the getting there

That’ll get you, that’ll get you, no-one lets you

Know you’re slowly in the process of forgetting where

You were heading when you started

All was eloquence

Or was it all hot air?

So the pay-off's due

Now you’ve told your tale

All the words you used

Are exhaled