Richard Thompson - Outside Of The Inside Lyrics






God never listened to Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker lived in vain
Blasphemer, womanizer
Let a needle numb his brain
Wash away his monkey music
Damn his demons, damn his pain

And what's the point of Albert Einstein
What do we need physics for?
Heresy's his inspiration
Corrupt and rotten to the core
Curse his devious mathematics
Curse his deadly atom war

There's a message on the wind
Calling me to glory somewhere
There are signs too deep for the dumb
Like perfume in the air
And when I get to heaven
I won't realize I'm there

Shakespeare, Isaac Newton
Small ideas for little boys
Adding to the senseless chatter
Adding to the background noise
Hard to hear my oratory
Hard to hear my inner voice

Van Gogh, Botticelli
Scraping paint onto a board
Colour is the fuel of madness
That's no way to praise the Lord
Grey's the colour of the pious
Knelt upon the misericord

There's a message on the wind
Calling me to glory somewhere
There are signs too deep for the dumb
Like perfume in the air
And when I get to heaven
I won't realize I'm there

I'm familiar with the cover
I don't need to read the book
I police the world of action
Inside's where I never look
Got no time to help the worthless
Lotus-eaters, Mandarins, crooks

There's a message on the wind
Calling me to glory somewhere
There are signs too deep for the dumb
Like perfume in the air
And when I get to heaven
I won't realize I'm there





Other Lyrics by Artist

Rand Lyrics

Last Posts

Richard Thompson Outside Of The Inside Comments
  1. J.... L....

    I can't think of a song with deeper lyrical content than this. I love smart lyrics, I've been searching for them and enjoying them my whole life and this one has the most interesting, disturbing ideas in it of any song I can think of. Not fun stuff but people like the fanatic expressing his feelings in this song exist in our world in their millions and understanding these people is essential. We can keep trying to bomb them out of existence but that will just reinforce the resolve of those who are portrayed in this song.

    J.... L....

    Haunting and chilling in the same breath. When I first heard him perform this, he said
    it was "a terrorist's eye view of the world." It really makes you understand how the
    fundamentalists are brainwashing their young into believing that the west is evil and
    decadent, and that they must return the earth to the Dark Ages, and shut down things
    like education, science, and music. God save us.

  2. M.... A....

    As always , great music by Richard. Deserves to be more famous than he is.

    M.... A....

    More famous??? He's one of the most famous folk/folk rock musicians of all time. You're clueless.

  3. P.... D....

    One of Richard Thompson's best ever songs:  Lyrically brilliant and sign- of- the- times   relevant "folk music" for this current day and age. Check "Dad& s Gonna Kill Me" on his album  Sweet Warrior too.