Circle - Roy Harper

I had to pass all of my exams

The old man said I had to be the best one

I had to do this and I had to do that

They really kept me under constant pressure

'And why aren’t you the captain of the cricket team?'

'Why aren’t you the genius of the class?'

'It's about time you pulled your socks up, me lad

Otherwise you’ll get a rude awakening'

I had to be this and I had to do that

I really had to try and be a someone

And they all tried to make a someone out of me

And never saw that I could only be me

The worst thing about the system is the system

And if I was to be successful now

They’d all turn round and say:

'Eeee Mother, that’s our lad there, look

He’s a good lad'

'Aye he’s a good lad'

'He's got forty-eight million in the bank now, aye

Aye he’s a good lad.'

'But I always knew he had it in him, you know

I always knew he had it in him, I said so.

Eeee I was right.

Eeee I was right'

'But Dad, I came away from you

I came away from everything the whole of that scene stood for-

I mean you remember all those heroes you wanted me to be?

All those engine drivers I had to be?

I tell you there was only one thing I could have been and that was me.

Yeah but you know, oh well'

'Aye lad, but I knew you had it in you'

'So you knew I had it in me?

Yeah so what’s the new word?

— Success?

Yeah, all right, so, well if that’s what success means you can stuff it

I don’t wanna know

And the money and the trappings you can throw in the sea

'Cause I don’t want them.'

'Eeee now lad, now then, come on lad

Hey it’d take me a long time to throw all the money you’ve got in the sea.

Heh-heh, hee-hee, heh-heh!'

'Oh I don’t know.

I should never have picked the guitar up in the first place

I knew what I was doing wrong

I was just trying to turn people on

That’s all I was trying to do

But then, yeah, that’s just as bad as them though, that, isn’t it?

Everybody’s got to be converted

Everybody must be converted

You’ve got to belong somewhere

Yeah — well — never mind.

Just get on with it all I suppose

Just get on with it.'

'Eeee lad, I don’t know, you’re talking a lot of rubbish tonight.

What do you mean?'

There once was a tiny, very naughty little boy —

With a dirty face

His Mummy taught him to be clean and tidy and kept him in his place

Father was a man of culture.

God was in the sky ready to give chase

There once was a tiny, very naughty little boy, who grew into a youth

The Mum and Daddy read the daily horror the bible was the only truth

They groomed him for the battlefield of living in a world of abuse

Once upon a time there was a little being kicked out into a seething world

The lies that dear old Mum and Dad so innocently fed him with were all unfurled

In ignorance he grew to hate the lot he had inherited at birth

Look at the literature under his arm, he is doing his best to impress you

Man of the world and his own daydream hero he desperately tries to convert you

But his thoughts they are changing — and as he looks at himself

He looks at himself

Oh where am I going and what am I doing?

My head is so big and so weary

It’s no good me trying to be all the things that I’m not I’m me and I’m me only

And I’ve been so greedy, I’ve always wanted to be

And never just been

Not much room for a selfish thought and yet knowing just that, it becomes one

Not much room for conceit — yet knowing that knowing that is conceited

What I am saying now exists not as words but only as feeling

I’m feeling so la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-de-la-la

There once was a time

When I thought you needed me

There once was a time

When I thought I needed you

And I was right

You needed me

For the continuance of the race

And all that I was needing was your loving

Why did you deceive me?

Telling me that you had the answer?

Why did you not tell me?

That there wasn’t even a question?

Have you ever been absolutely liberated just opening your eyes?

Has it ever occurred to your searching senses that nothing is disguised?

Have you ever had the feeling that the only thing you’re living is your life?

Have you ever had the feeling that the only thing you’re made of is your life?

Have you ever had the feeling that the only thing you’re made by is your life?

'Aye lad, but I knew you had it in you.'