Day dawns dark
It now numbers
Infinity
Life crawls from the past
Watching in wonder
I trace its patterns in me
Tomorrow's tomorrow is birth again
Boats burn the bridge in the fens
The time of the past returns to my life
And uses it
Don't blame me
For the letters that may
Form in the sand
Don't look in my eyes
You may see all the numbers
That stretch in my sky
And colour my hand
Don't say that I'm wrong in imagining
That the voice of my life cannot sing
Fate enters and talks in old words
They amuse it
Hands shine darkly and white
Only in dark, they appear
Bless the baby born today (wicked little)
Flying in pitch (Scorpio doomed to die a thousand times)
Flying on fear (before he lives)
They shine in my eyes and touch my face
Where I have seen them placed before
Don't blame me, please, for the fate that falls
I did not choose it
I did not choose it
I did not
No, no, I did not
I truly did not choose it
Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much commercial success in the UK, but became popular in Italy during the 1970s. In 2005 the band reformed, and are still musically active with a line-up of Hammill, organist Hugh Banton and drummer Guy Evans.
The band formed at the University of Manchester, but settled in London where they signed with Charisma. They went through several incarnations in their early years, including a brief split in 1969. When they reformed, they found minor commercial success with The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other (released in early 1970 and their only album to chart in the UK), and after the follow-up album, H to He, Who Am the Only One (December 1970), stabilised around a line-up of Hammill, Banton, Evans and saxophonist David Jackson. The quartet subsequently achieved significant success in Italy with the release of Pawn Hearts in 1971. After several exhausting tours of Italy, the band split in 1972. They reformed in 1975, releasing Godbluff and frequently touring Italy again, before a major line-up change and a slight rename to Van der Graaf. The band split in 1978. After many years apart, the band finally reunited at a gig at the Royal Festival Hall and a short tour in 2005. Since then, the band has continued as a trio of Hammill, Banton, and Evans, who record and tour regularly in between Hammill's concurrent solo career.
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