Procol Harum

Beyond
the Pale 

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Procol Harum

1967


Keith Reid checked and amended the words of all his songs on this album for 'Beyond the Pale', February 1998

We are proud to be able to present the first authoritative text of these songs


 
 
Conquistador
She Wandered Through
The Garden Fence
Something Following Me
Mabel
Cerdes (Outside The
Gates Of)
A Christmas Camel
Kaleidoscope
Salad Days (Are Here Again)
Good Captain Clack
Repent Walpurgis
A Whiter Shade of Pale was not on
the original version of this album



Conquistador (Brooker / Reid)

Conquistador your stallion stands
in need of company
and like some angel's haloed brow
you reek of purity
I see your armour-plated breast
has long since lost its sheen
and in your death mask face
there are no signs which can be seen

  • And though I hoped for something to find

  • I could see no maze to unwind
    Conquistador a vulture sits
    upon your silver shield
    and in your rusty scabbard now
    the sand has taken seed
    and though your jewel-encrusted blade
    has not been plundered still
    the sea has washed across your face
    and taken of its fill
  • And though I hoped for something to find

  • I could see no maze to unwind
    Conquistador there is no time
    I must pay my respect
    and though I came to jeer at you
    I leave now with regret
    and as the gloom begins to fall
    I see there is no, only all
    and though you came with sword held high
    you did not conquer, only die
  • And though I hoped for something to find

  • I could see no maze to unwind

    She Wandered Through The Garden Fence (Brooker / Reid)

    She wandered through the garden fence
    and said, 'I've brought at great expense
    a potion guaranteed to bring
    relief from all your suffering.'
    And though I said, 'You don't exist,'
    she grasped me firmly by the wrist
    and threw me down upon my back
    and strapped me to her torture rack
    And, without further argument
    I found my mind was also bent
    upon a course so devious
    it only made my torment worse

    She said, 'I see you cannot speak
    is it your voice that is too weak?
    Is it your tongue that is to blame?
    Maybe you cannot speak for shame.
    Or has your brain been idle too,
    and now it will not think for you?'
    I hastened to make my reply
    but found that I could only lie
    And like a fool I believed myself
    and thought I was somebody else
    But she could see what I was then
    and left me on my own again


    Something Following Me (Brooker / Reid)

    While standing at the junction on 42nd Street
    I idly kick a pebble lying near my feet
    I hear a weird noise, take a look up and down
    The cause of the commotion is right there on the ground
    Imagine my surprise, thought I'd left it at home
    but there's no doubt about it, it's my own tombstone

    I went into a shop, and bought a loaf of bread
    I sank my teeth into it, thought I'd bust my head
    I dashed to the dentist, said, 'I've got an awful pain!'
    The man looks in my mouth and screams, 'This boy is insane!'
    Imagine my surprise, thought I'd left it at home
    but there's a lump in my mouth of my own tombstone

    I went to see a movie, got the only empty seat
    I tried to stretch out in it, something blocking my feet
    Finally the lights came up, and I could clearly see
    a slab of engraved marble, just staring up at me
    Imagine my surprise, thought I'd left it at home
    but there's no doubt I'm sitting on my own tombstone


    Mabel(Brooker / Reid)

    Don't eat green meat it ain't good for you
    you know it killed your brother, killed your sister too
    even fresh fried chicken on new-mown sand
    can't beat red beans eaten outa your hand

  • Oh Mabel, Mabel! You know I love you gal but I'm not able

  • Mabel, oh Mabel, please get off the kitchen table
    Don't slice no onions, don't peel no grape
    dream about banana slice nor sniff around short cake
    and if on a winter's day you find your sundial's wrong
    you'll know the weather is what's brought it on
  • Oh Mabel, Mabel! You know I love you gal but I'm not able

  • Mabel, oh Mabel, please get off the kitchen table
    Put the peas in the pot, put the pot on the hot
    In the cellar lies my wife, in my wife there's a knife
    so tote that hammer, lift that pick
    and banish inhibition with a pogo stick
  • Oh Mabel, Mabel! You know I love you gal but I'm not able

  • Mabel, oh Mabel, please get off the kitchen table

    Cerdes (Outside The Gates Of) (Brooker / Reid)

    Outside the gates of Cerdes sits the two-pronged unicorn
    who plays at relaxation time a rhinestone flugelhorn
    whilst mermaids lace carnations into wreaths for ailing whales
    and Neptune dances hornpipes while Salome sheds her veils

    Phallus Phil tries peddling his pewter painted pot
    but Sousa Sam can only hear the screams of Peep the sot
    who only sips his creme de menthe from terra cotta cups
    and exhales menthol scented breath whilst spewing verbiage up

    Down technical blind alleys live the wraiths of former dreams
    And Greeps who often crossed them are no longer what they seem
    And even Christian Scientists can but display marble plaques
    Which only retell legends whilst my eyes reach out for facts
    Yeah, my eyes reach out for facts


    A Christmas Camel (Brooker / Reid)

    My amazon six-triggered bride
    now searching for a place to hide
    still sees the truth quite easily
    but shrouds all else in mystery
    while madmen in top hats and tails
    impale themselves on six-inch nails
    and some Arabian also-ran
    impersonates a watering can

    Some Santa Claus-like face of note
    entreats my ears to set afloat
    my feeble sick and weary brain
    and I am overcome with shame
    and hide inside my overcoat
    and hurriedly begin to quote
    while some Arabian sheikh most grand
    impersonates a hot-dog stand

    The Red Cross ambulance outside
    can only mean that I must hide
    'til dusk and finally the night
    when I will make a hasty flight
    across the sea and far away
    to where the weary exiles stay
    and some Arabian oil-well
    impersonates a padded cell


    Kaleidoscope (Brooker / Reid)

    Jostle, hassle, elbow bustle
    in a swirling rainbow tussle
    Caught and frozen, broken sheen
    now unites for one brief scene

  • Lonely in the dark I grope

  • the key's in my kaleidoscope
    Confused faces change their places
    take up stances, exchange glances
    Lost in multicoloured hues
    there is no whole which I can choose
  • Lonely in the dark I grope

  • the key's in my kaleidoscope
    In one face, one moment's fusion
    realize the new illusion
    Clutching fingers break the puzzle
    jostle, hassle, elbow bustle
  • Still out in the dark I grope

  • the key's in my kaleidoscope

    Salad Days (Are Here Again) (Brooker / Reid)

    You come to me at midnight and say, 'It's dark in here.'
    You know you robbed me of my sight, and light is what I fear
    I tell you that I can not see but you persist in showing me
    those bangles that I paid for long ago

  • And though my face is smiling I'm really feeling low

  • and though you say you're with me I know that it's not so
    Your skin crawls up an octave, your teeth have lost their gleam
    The peaches snuggle closer down into the clotted cream
    and for some unknown reason my watch begins to chime
    and though I beg and plead with you, you tell me it's not time
  • And though my face is smiling I'm really feeling low

  • and though you say you're with me I know that it's not so
    The sun seeps through the window to see if we're still dead
    to try to throw some light upon the gloom around our bed
    At quarter past the doorbell rings, the water faucet drips and sings
    and still my reason will not rhyme, and still you tell me it's not time
  • And though my face is smiling I'm really feeling low

  • and though you say you're with me I know that it's not so
    You really know that it's not so
    Click here for variant Salad Days words

    Good Captain Clack (Brooker / Reid)

    Still scowling black
    good Captain Clack
    must eat his humble pie
    His bed is made
    the colours fade
    his eyes once wet are dry

    The naked muse
    who sits and chews
    tobacco off a tree
    removes his shoes
    gives way to booze
    and searches endlessly

    See the naked jumberlack
    sip his aphrodisiac
    Cotton-picking farmers three
    Though I lost my weather vane
    and of sense I have one grain
    I'm content sipping lemon tea


    Warning about copyright         Words from other Procol Harum albums


     
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