We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Chapter Four

from THE CLIMBER by JUDGE SMITH

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £1.50 GBP  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

lyrics

THE CLIMBER:
She wasn’t easy, she kept her secrets, she asked for respect.
On some difficult pitches, quite technically tricky,
just me and a guide.

CHOIR:
People can have the strangest ideas. People get strange ideas.
A mountain can never be your mother,
a mountain can never be your wife.
A mountain is always just a mountain, just a mountain.
But people can have the strangest ideas. People get strange ideas.
A mountain is not some great cathedral,
a mountain is not a way to God.
A mountain can only be a mountain, just a mountain.
But people can have the strangest ideas. People get strange ideas.

THE CLIMBER:
Only the flesh and the bones of the planet were real.
Everything else was a bad dream,
And I wanted to strip it away, get back to the last irreducible things.
And her rock and her ice as they’re freezing and bruising my hands, and gravity hauling me backwards,
I wanted my life to be real, and this was as real as reality gets.

And when she surrendered, the summit was perfect,
an ice-covered shrine;
Whiteness and silence, clouds like a veil, untouched, undefiled.

CHOIR:
People can have the strangest ideas. People get strange ideas... Etc.

THE CLIMBER:
I didn’t want to be sharing this moment with anyone.
I wanted to be alone with her.
Told the guide I would like to try this route solo,
but he wouldn’t hear of me climbing alone.

CHOIR:
Signore, is too much danger. Signore, this part of the year,
Signore, is clouds and fogs, Signore, come with no warning.
You do not know the way.
Signore, you climb okay, but, Signore, precipice are many.
Signore, when clouds are coming, Signore, the way is hidden.
You must not climb alone.

credits

from THE CLIMBER, released May 8, 2020

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

JUDGE SMITH image

JUDGE SMITH Glastonbury, UK

Judge Smith co-founded the band Van der Graaf Generator in 1967 with Peter Hammill, & has since been involved in many music projects as writer, composer or performer. He has written stage musicals, classical & rock libretti, songs for television & a book on Life after Death; directed a prize-winning short film, & released fourteen CDs & two DVDs. He was born in 1948 & lives near Glastonbury, UK. ... more

contact / help

Contact JUDGE SMITH

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like JUDGE SMITH, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now