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Child of Illusion

from Strange Presence by Xrisville

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about

Child of Illusion (3:20)

I’d just purchased a copy of “A Trick of the Tail” by Genesis and was in the middle of my thirtieth or fortieth listen when I wrote the melody for this small reinvention of narrative rock, a progressive style of music popular through the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

Central to this song’s story is the Child, similar to the doomed Lady Crane character in Tim Burton’s 1999 nail-biter “Sleepy Hollow.” The Child is purely innocent. He knows nothing of how the world should and shouldn’t work, and as a result, magical things manifest all around him. The trouble is, the people of his city fear what they don’t understand and only realize what they’ve lost after driving the Child away.

Instrumentation: piano strings, slap bass, D-50 organ, phased steel-string acoustic guitar, nylon-string acoustic guitar, distorted guitar, drums, percussion, tubular bells.

lyrics

Child of Illusion (Lyrics)

Breath of a wind in the courthouse
glance of a green thing at sea
he was a child of the great illusion
gifted to those who could see
oh if they could see
Down to the street he would wander
easy of mercy and time
while he sang of a world forgotten
though it was there to receive
oh if they could see

He had a song
and he really didn’t mind if
nobody came to the show
he was fine with being the truth of his soul
while finding the way to his home

And so he sang to the wind in the courtyard
sang to the birds and the trees
So they chained him and called him crazy
while offering coins at his feet
for they couldn’t see

He had a song
and he really didn’t mind if
nobody came to the show
he was fine with being the truth of his soul
while finding the way to his home

So the people tried to see
a trick behind his eyes
and while they railed and wailed about it
he stood and cradled their lives

They couldn’t believe him
so they beat him
and left him there bleeding

Then the people realized
a chance of meaning had come
but while they bent and broke and cursed themselves
the chance of meaning was done

And to the wind went the child of illusion
blind to the hate and the fear
while he sang of a world remembered
simple and open and near
oh it was so clear

He had a song
and he really didn’t mind if
nobody came to the show
he was fine with being the truth of his soul
while finding the way to his home

credits

from Strange Presence, released November 28, 2012

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Xrisville Guelph, Ontario

The musical archive of writer-composer-visual artist Xristopher Bland.

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