 Original sleeve notes and lyrics from the album From Worlds Afar - click the titles to hear the songs (you may have to be patient with the Geocities bandwidth).
The Cockeyed Ballad
Three Wise Men
From World's Afar
Heralding The Dawn
Isn't It Amazing?
There's A Lot I Could Tell You
Time No More
Space Talk
Dawn Breaks
Think Big Thoughts
There is a surprise around every corner – and one of the biggest and loveliest surprises that met me was to the discover that there IS life on other planets and in other galaxies. And so how was I to set about sharing this fact with other people? I have tried talking to them – a few listened with interest but the majority dismissed the whole idea s science-fiction-fantasy.
It is almost as though I have a garden full of roses, all of different colours and perfumes, but when I open the gate and invite people into my garden they run in the opposite direction as fast as they can go.
People are funny things but I am very fond of them – so now I am going to see how far my singing will carry. You can join in and sing, you can dance if you want to, or you can just sit and listen and see if you like the thoughts you can hear. The words and music came into my head, though I am neither a writer nor a composer, so I think I can saythat this record is the result of "inspiration" – a word which to me simply means "breathing in" – (the air in my rose garden is full of a variety of novel ideas).
Mollie Thompson
1) The Cockeyed Ballad (.mp3, 516kb)
I start with a smile on my face, for although living is a serious occupation it also has its funny side. Even so I am not laughing AT "The Institution", I am laughing WITH it.
There's a cockeyed feeling in the world today
That power politics is here to stay,
But China, Russia and the U.S.A.
Boy, don't let them fool you.
Take a look at this world of ours,
Just one mud ball in a sea of stars—
Other planets have no colour bars
Because they've got perspective.
Yanks and Ruskies put men into space
But it's all a mad politicians race.
One-up-Manship in this year of grace
It makes you giggle.
The population stands and stares
While men in capsules explore upstairs.
Why—we can't even manage our own affairs—
Some cheek colonization.
Besides they've got people on Venus and Mars—
Lads and lasses and Mas and Pas,
And they've got better transport than four wheel cars.
Have you ever seen them ?
Those flying saucers whisking through our sides.
Must take some power to make them rise.
But government departments just hide their eyes,
And call them meteors.
With all the lies that they print and shout
The general public has its work cut out
Figuring what it's all about,
But just you keep on trying.
I suppose you know why I'm telling you this—
So you won't shriek and shake your fist
When you discover Martians do exist—
They're real nice fellows.
I know cos I met one a week ago
His ship came down for an hour or so,
He talked to me but then he had to go,
Real interested I was.
Got brothers on Venus and Saturn it seems,
Fly their ships on magnetic beams,
They wear one-piece suits—you can't see any seams—
But apart from that—they're just like us.
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2) Three Wise Men (.mp3, 620kb)
Life seems to be presented to us in three sections – the past, the present and the future; but I prefer to think of it as a string of NOWs all joined together.
Three wise men travel with old Father Time,
The past, the present and the future,
They're the rungs of the ladder we climb.
The first wise man is an old man
The past turned his hair snowy white,
He found flint tools and arrows and bullets
Now he knows what it's futile to fight.
Three wise men .....
The second wise man is a young man,
Science well nigh turned his head,
Weighing lasers and antibiotics
In his scales for the living or dead.
Three wise men .....
The third wise man is a baby,
The future looks bright to his eyes,
For his brothers will be from the planets,
And his teachers will drop from the skies.
Three wise men .....
Father Time will walk on never ending
Bringing age after age in his train,
For the men of all worlds share a future
Which is forged from the links in its chain.
Three wise men .....
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3) From World's Afar (.mp3, 672kb)
The story in this one could happen to any one of you at any moment. It might come as rather a surprise when it happens but if you get accustomed to the idea first you will find yourself more able to sit back and enjoy meeting these new friends.
Through the valley walking, morning light was pale.
Trees for silent company flanked the leaf-blown trail.
As I climbed from slope to slope
The town lay there below me.
Strange to know—for all his works—man is very frail.
I stood on the hilltop, grass was damp and green.
High above then I looked up, wondering what I'd seen,
Through the lazy drifting clouds
I caught a flash of brilliance.
There it hovered, closer now, a disc of silver sheen.
Statue still I gazed at it poised up there so high,
Then it moved with lightning speed—slicing through the sky.
Suddenly I reeled and swayed
Lost my balance, stumbled.
Gentle winds swept over me, blowing back my cry.
As I lay in stunned amaze, flat against the turf
Grassy waves moved over me, rippling like the surf.
What a strangeness met the eyes
That I dared to open.
For a ship from worlds afar rested on our earth.
Men they were who beckoned to me, asking me to rise.
And I lost all doubt and fear when I looked into their eyes.
For they told me many things
Born of understanding.
Countless questions that I asked brought smiling replies.
When they left they promised me that they'd soon return,
For to show us what life holds is their main concern.
In the town my friends all laughed
For they simply can't believe me,
But I know the time is near when we all shall learn.
Yes I know the time is near when we all shall learn.
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4) Heralding The Dawn (.mp3, 420kb)
Who wrote this one for me I wonder? Perhaps someone who knows more about us than we know about ourselves – so I am glad that they see the dawn as a rosy glow.
I've travelled with my friends
Down to where the rainbow ends,
We are from a planet where the Light of wisdom shines
Heralding the dawn, heralding the dawn.
Men are freedom born, heralding the dawn.
Along the corridors of time
We've watched the true Light shine
Down to your world, where dim suspicion hid the glow
Of the coming dawn, of the coming dawn.
Men are freedom born, heralding the dawn.
Your science shakes its hand,
Wielding power you can't withstand,
But there's a key which can unlock each hidden door
Leading to the dawn, leading to the dawn,
Men are freedom born, heralding the dawn.
Come from your concrete caves,
Cease the fight your instinct craves.
Greet us as brothers and together we will stand
Heralding the dawn, heralding the dawn.
Men are freedom born, heralding the dawn.
Verse 1 repeat.
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5) Isn't It Amazing (.mp3, 348kb)
A human brain is a fascinating instrument. It can ask questions but the answers that come out must depend upon "how the computer is programmed" – and we do not have all the information yet because it is a huge universe.
Did you ever wonder where you were when time began,
Did you ever stop to think why they called us Man.
Isn't it amazing, isn't it unique
How thinking raises questions and answers make you seek.
Are there other planets where life in time evolved,
Did they have our problems and are their problems solved.
No one yet can answer, no one yet can speak,
But thinking raises questions and answers make you seek.
Did our ancient forbears know these skyborn men,
And do we hear the legends that they'll return again.
Ocean-clad Atlantis, pyramids high peak
Break your long-held silence. Sphinx relent and speak.
Time is winding onward like the coiling of a spring.
As man waits all unknowing for the gifts the planets bring.
Wisdom of the ancients. Wonders we can see.
Answers to our questions. Thoughts to set us free.
Oh, isn't it amazing, isn't it unique,
How thinking raises questions and answers make you seek.
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6) There's A Lot I Could Tell You (.mp3, 628kb)
Someone else taking a look at us – and it seems as though she is down here among us, but not as a tourist, more like a public relations officer.
Now there is a lot I could tell you about.
There is a lot I could tell you about.
I hope that you'll hear and that you'll understand
For I only whisper, I don't care to shout.
I may just look like the girlie next door.
Yes I may just look like the girlie next door.
But though I look like you I'm not of your race
And I've never been on your planet before.
The way that you live looks peculiar to me.
The way that you live looks peculiar to me.
I can't find the meaning in much that you do
And I don't like the reason in much that I see.
Your world's population is on the increase.
Your world's population is on the increase.
There's food grown in plenty but half goes to waste,
And men fire off guns while they're shouting for peace.
The planet I come from would offer you aid.
The planet I come from would offer you aid.
But are you too blind to accept us as friends
Or is it that you like the mess that you've made.
There isn't much time now and soon I must leave.
There isn't much time now and soon I must leave.
We don't like to watch you in turmoil and pain
But we're powerless to give until you can receive.
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7) Time No More (.mp3, 496kb)
I am not entirely sure what time no more implies – unless it is suggesting we can live fully in each NOW as it arrives without regrets for past or apprehension for future.
Time no more, time no more,
We've had our time for learning
Now, time no more.
Through the countless ages man had his story to tell.
Victor in glory ascended, vanquished in penury fell.
Time no more .....
What did man gain from the victor a mixture of blessing and ill
Civilizations that crumbled, nature that bent to his will.
Time no more .....
Power we can wrest from the atom, fruit we can pluck from the earth,
But what of the love that lies buried, now is its season of birth.
Time no more .....
Earth has so much to discover, space has so much yet to give.
We will find planets are kingdoms where other men learnt how to live.
Time no more .....
Many will welcome the meeting, others may fear the unknown,
But we've had our time for learning, we shall find we were never alone.
Time no more .....
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8) Space Talk (.mp3, 732kb)
We can send our envoys into space, visit all sorts of other worlds, and their technology will give us more of a boost than any booster rocket.
The powers that be will tell us we're alone
They'll tell us that in space we are unique,
On this little desert island we call earth
The human race is just a kind of freak.
When we send our envoys into space,
There'll be a smile upon the planets face.
For brother, right out there I'm telling you
There's another human race, its very true.
They're a very very peaceful crowd
For they just never go to war.
And they cannot interfere
This is by universal law.
The spaceman's message to us all
Is based on how to banish fear.
And if we only understand
We will find it heaven here.
While we must rely on war
We never will be happy here,
While this world's economy
Is based on hardship, strife and fear.
How do they live without a war
In their lands of milk and honey,
They don't need economy
Because they don't use any money.
They cannot give us any ships
So we must try and build our own,
But they are waiting right out there,
Oh, my friends, we're not alone.
How do they go at such great speed
And vanish then without prediction,
Because they use free energy
And there isn't any friction.
Brothers, have you seen their ships,
Sisters, have you seen them glow?
As they dance and hover in the sky
And make our fastest jets look slow.
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9) Dawn Breaks (.mp3, 348kb)
This is a glass full of champagne bubbles – light and joyful the human equivalent of the dawn chorus of birds who have woken up after being asleep for so long.
Big cloud, dark cloud, true light hiding,
Mankind struggles, cannot find his way.
Working, hoping, striving, yearning—
All are shadows soon to pass away.
Dawn is near, clear and bright
Mist of ages fade before the light.
Eyes are shining. Love's designing
Brings mankind within its view of peace.
Voice of Man and heart of Nature
Sing for joy, begin and never cease.
Dawn is here, see how bright.
Never more shall dark defeat the Light.
Eyes are shining. Love's designing
Brings mankind within its view of peace.
Voice of Man and heart of Nature
Sing for joy, begin and never cease—
Begin and never cease.
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10) Think Big Thoughts (.mp3, 668kb)
This last song is the golden key to all tomorrows – a "do-it-yourself-handbook." Thoughts are such powerful things for they shape the world in which we live. The world which my inner eyes view is peopled with a race of human angels. They will have a dictionary in which you cannot find such words as hate, fear, poverty or disease – tomorrow's earth will even have forgotten what these unlovely concepts were.
Think big thoughts,
That's what my grandad said to me.
Think big thoughts my girl,
They're powerful and they're free.
When I was a little lass, two foot six or so
I thought big big thoughts and I began to grow.
Think big thoughts .....
When I was a school girl my life stretched way ahead.
And when exams came round each year I recalled what my grandad said.
Think big thoughts .....
Then I was a teenager and found to my surprise
That grandad's big thoughts were not concerned with size.
Think big thoughts .....
When I grew a little older I came to understand
That as life spins its glorious web our thoughts form every strand.
Think big thoughts .....
Mean thoughts, small thoughts, they make our life's web weak.
But joy, love and laughter herald mankind's peak.
Think big thoughts .....
Why not keep your mind's eye fixed on what is true
And this world you live in will shower its gifts on you.
Think big thoughts
That's what my grandad said to me,
Think big thoughts my friend
They're powerful and they're free.
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Long Play Play 33 R.P.M. Mono
Asteroid Records JH 101
Nield & Hardy Ltd
Stockport Cheshire England
All songs written and performed by Mollie Thompson, please respect her copyright.
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