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Old 19th September 2020, 04:11 PM
Susan Foreman's Avatar
Susan Foreman Susan Foreman is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Childhood home of Billy Idol - Orpington
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12/13: Pretty much a Pete solo song - the first of many that would appear throughout the rest of the bands catalogue - 'Sunrise' finds him in a romantic mood, picking on an acoustic guitar, using jazzy chords and singing a beautiful high-pitched melody which would have been beyond Roger's range


"You take away the breath I was keeping for sunrise
You appear and the morning looks drab in my eyes
And then again I'll turn down love
Having seen you again
Once more you'll disappear
My morning put to shame

You take away the breath I was keeping for sunrise
You appear and the morning looks drab in my eyes
And then again I'll turn down love
Having seen you again
Once more you'll disappear
My morning put to shame

Sometimes I fear that this will go on my life through
Each day I spend in an echoed vision of you
And then again I'll turn down love
Remembering your smile
My every day is spent
Thinking of you all the while

The times I've let myself down
My head's spinning 'round
My eyes see only you
The chances I've lost
Opportunities tossed
Away and into the blue

You take away the breath I was keeping for sunrise
You appear and the morning looks drab in my eyes
And then again I'll turn down love
Having seen you again
Then again you'll disappear
My morning put to shame"


13/13: The chord progression for the second half of 'Rael 1' would be later used as a central theme on the 'Tommy' album! On its first outing here, however, it forms the climax to Pete's second mini-opera. 'Rael' is a much more balanced affair than 'A Quick One' and, it is an ethereal, unearthly song

It's been suggested that it is a political song, with 'Rael' being a shortened form of 'Israel', and the Red Chins mentioned in the lyrics being the Red Chinese. I don't know if this is a factual reading or not, but it seems certain that Rael is meant to be a place...


"The Red Chins in their millions
Will overspill their borders
And chaos then will reign in our Rael

Rael, the home of my religion
To me the center of the Earth

The Red Chins in their millions
Will overspill their borders
And chaos then will reign in our Rael

My heritage is threatened
My roots are torn and cornered
And so to do my best I'll homeward sail
And so to do my best I'll homeward sail

Now Captain, listen to my instructions
Return to this spot on Christmas Day
Look toward the shore for my signal
And then you'll know if in Rael I'll stay

If a yellow flag is fluttering
Sickly herald against the morn
Then you'll know my courage has ended
And you'll send your boat ashore

But if a red flag is flying
Brazen bold against the blue
Then you'll know that I am staying
And my yacht belongs to you

Now Captain, listen to my instructions
Return to this spot on Christmas Day
Look toward the shore for my signal
And then you'll know if in Rael I'll stay

He's crazy if he thinks we're coming back again
He's crazy if he thinks we're coming back again
He's crazy if he thinks we're coming back again
He's crazy, anyway

If a yellow flag is fluttering
Sickly herald against the morn
Then you'll know my courage has ended
And you'll send your boat ashore"


...which the coda, 'Rael 2' makes clear. This short song was edited out of the song, and wasn't released until the 1994 box set 'Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B'. What Pete *has* said about the song is that the plot concerns the Chinese "crushing established religion as their expanding population takes over the whole world". But interpretations are meaningless as Pete himself has admitted "No one will ever know what it means. It has been squeezed up too tightly to make sense!"


"What I see is all I've seen,
In my sweetest sleep in dreams,
What I feel is all I've felt,
When by newborn babes I've knelt,
What I know now is all I've known,
That has been good while I have grown,
Bless the thoughts that made me sail
And the God who made Rael."
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