Van der Graaf Generator - Childlike Faith in Childhood's End
from the album Still Life (1976).
Transcribed by Cory (coryp23@gmail.com), 2010

[G C (x32010@1)name="chord_xx0232@1">D    C (x32010@1)B (x2444x@1)name="chord_xx0232@1">D     C (x32010@1)B]   F#dim (2312xx@1)name="chord_1201xx@1">Abdim
Existence is a stage on which we pass,
[Ab A (x02220@1) B (x2444x@1) C (x32010@1)   B (x2444x@1) A (x02220@1)  B]  Da (xx0232@1)sleepwalk trick for mind and heart;
     D (xx0232@1)         G (320003@1)                    Fit's (133211@1)hopeless, I know, but onward I must go
 F (133211@1)              Eand (022100@1)try to make a start

n.C.
at seeing something more 
            E (022100@1)                           Dthan (xx0232@1)day to day survival, chased by final death.
                       G (320003@1)                            Fif (133211@1)I believed this the sum of the life to which we've come,
                    EmI (022000@1)wouldn't waste my breath.
Am (x02210@1)                                
Somehow, there must be more.

Bm (x24432@1)  G (320003@1)C (x32010@1)   Csus4 (x33010@1)     C (x32010@1)                     E (022100@1) 
There was a time when more was felt than known
                           D (xx0232@1) 
but now, entrenched inside my sett,
              G (320003@1)                               Fin (133211@1)light more mundane, thought rattles round my brain:
                      Emwe (022000@1)live, we die...and yet?

Riff 1:
  D (xx0232@1)name="chord_x32010@1">C   D (xx0232@1)name="chord_x32010@1">C   D (xx0232@1)name="chord_x32010@1">C E (022100@1)C (x32010@1)D (xx0232@1)name="chord_x32010@1">C A (x02220@1)--------------------------------|
--------------------------------|
--7-5---7-5---7-5-9--5--7-5-2---|
--7-5---7-5---7-5-9--5--7-5-2---|
--5-3---5-3---5-3-7--3--5-3-0---|
--------------------------------|

Riff 1
In the beginning there was order and destiny
but now that path has reached the border and on our knees 
is no way to face the future, whatever it be.

Am (x02210@1)              G (320003@1)              FThough (133211@1)the forces which hold us in place
             Am (x02210@1)      G (320003@1)     Flast (133211@1)through eons in unruffled grace
F (133211@1)                Ewe, (022100@1)too, wear the face of creation.
         
Riff 1
As anti-matter sucks and pulses periodically
the bud unfolds, the bloom is dead, all space is living history.
It seems as though time must betray us yet we're alive
and though I see no God to save us, yet we survive

Dm (xx0231@1)                         A7 (x02020@1)             
through the centuries of progress
Dm (xx0231@1)                   Bbwhich (x1333x@1)don't get us very far.
A7 (x02020@1) Dm (xx0231@1)                    A7All (x02020@1)illusion! All is bogus...
Dm (xx0231@1)                   Bb (x1333x@1)   Gm (355333@1)  Awe (x02220@1)don't yet know what we are.

Riff 1         
Laughing, hoping, praying, joking, Son of Man,
with lowered eyes but lifting hearts, we're grains of sand
and though, in time, the sea may claim us for its own
we are the rocks which root the future - on us it grows!

Dm (xx0231@1)                           A7We (x02020@1)might not be there to share it
Dm (xx0231@1)            Bb (x1333x@1) A7 (x02020@1)  Dm (xx0231@1)                  A7 (x02020@1) 
if eternity's a jest but I think that I can bear it
Dm (xx0231@1)                    Bb (x1333x@1)   Gm (355333@1)  Aif (x02220@1)the next life is the best.

(riff 1 with solo's)

4:17
| C# | F# | C# | F# |
| F (133211@1)| Bb| (x1333x@1)C (x32010@1)| F (133211@1)G (320003@1)  Am (x02210@1)          G (320003@1)             F (133211@1)          
Even if there is a heaven when we die,
        Am (x02210@1)              G (320003@1)                Fendless (133211@1)bliss would be as meaningless as the lie
            Am (x02210@1)           G (320003@1)      
that always comes as answer to the question
F (133211@1)                        E7"Why (020130@1)do we see through the eyes of creation?"

Bm  D  F#sus F#m  [D E] Bsus4 [D C] Asus4

Bm (x24432@1)             F#mAdrift (244222@1)without a course,
     [D E] Bsus4 (x24452@1)Bmit's (x24432@1)very lonely here,
          Asus4our (x02230@1)only conjecture
     A (x02220@1)             Bm (x24432@1)        F#mwhat (244222@1)lies behind the dark.
F#m (244222@1)              EmStill, (022000@1)I find I can cling to a lifeline,
Bm (x24432@1)                            Esus4 (022200@1)           Emthink (022000@1)of a lifetime which means more than my own one,
Esus4 (022200@1)      Em (022000@1)      Bm7 (x20202@1)       Bmdreams (x24432@1)of a grander thing than we are.

[C# D]   F#m (244222@1)      EmTime (022000@1)and Space hang heavy on my shoulders...
Bm (x24432@1)                  [G  A]  E7sus4when (020200@1)all life is over who can say
       Em (022000@1)              Bsus4 (x24452@1)   B (x2444x@1)      Eno (022100@1)mutated force shall remain?

E (022100@1)                      B7 (x21202@1)name="chord_244222@1">F#m     B7 (x21202@1) 
Though the towers of the city
E (022100@1)              B7 (x21202@1)F#m (244222@1)name="chord_x21202@1">B7
are denied to we men of  clay
E (022100@1)                    B7 (x21202@1)  F#m (244222@1)name="chord_x21202@1">B7      F#m (244222@1)Ab7still (xx1112@1)we know we shall scale the heights some day.
Ab7 (xx1112@1)             (E)                      
Frightened in the silence, frightened, but
A (x02220@1)      E/G# (143121@4)name="chord_022100@1">E    B (x2444x@1)thinking ve - ry   hard, 
E (022100@1)              B7 (x21202@1)name="chord_244222@1">F#m  B7 (x21202@1)   Elet (022100@1)us make computations of the stars.

E B E

[Instrumental section]

Riff 1         
Older, wiser, sadder, blinder, watch us run:
faster, longer, harder, stronger, now it comes...
colour blisters, image splinters gravitate
towards the centre, in final splendour disintegrate.

Dm (xx0231@1)                A7The (x02020@1)universe now beckons
Dm (xx0231@1)                     Bb (x1333x@1)
and Man, too, must take His place;
A7 (x02020@1)   Dm (xx0231@1)                A7 (x02020@1)just a few last fleeting seconds
Dm (xx0231@1)             Bb (x1333x@1)  Gm (355333@1)    Ato (x02220@1)wander in the waste,

Am (x02210@1)              G (320003@1)             Fand (133211@1)the children who were ourselves move on,
       Am (x02210@1)               G (320003@1)           Freincarnation (133211@1)stills its now perfected song,
     Am (x02210@1)          G (320003@1)          F (133211@1)      Bsus4 (x24452@1) Band (x2444x@1)at last we are free of the bonds of creation.
         
E (022100@1)                B (x2444x@1)      E (022100@1)                 BAll (x2444x@1)the jokers and gaolers, all the junkies and slavers too,
E (022100@1)                      B (x2444x@1)           Ab7all (xx1112@1)the throng who have danced a merry tune...
Ab7 (xx1112@1)        E (022100@1)                  A (x02220@1)     E/G# (143121@4)name="chord_022100@1">E    B (x2444x@1)human we can all be, but Humanity we must rise above,
E (022100@1)                B (x2444x@1)                Ein (022100@1)the name of all faith and hope and love.

E (022100@1)                    B (x2444x@1)       E (022100@1)                B (x2444x@1) 
There's a time for all pilgrims, and a time for the fakers too,
E (022100@1)                  B (x2444x@1)                        Ab7there's (xx1112@1)a time when we all will stand alone and nude,
Ab7 (xx1112@1)        E (022100@1)                   A (x02220@1) E/G# (143121@4)name="chord_022100@1">E     Bnaked (x2444x@1)to the galaxies...naked, but clothed in the overview:
E (022100@1)                     B (x2444x@1)          Eas (022100@1)we reach Childhood's End we start anew.

E (022100@1)           B (x2444x@1)
And though dark is the highway,
E (022100@1)                     Band (x2444x@1)the peak's distance breaks my heart,
E (022100@1)               B (x2444x@1)                     Ab7for (xx1112@1)I never shall see it, still I play my part,
                       Ebelieving (022100@1)that what waits for us
              A (x02220@1)        E/G# (143121@4)    E (022100@1)    Bis (x2444x@1)the cosmos compared to the dust of the past.
E (022100@1)                  B (x2444x@1)               E (022100@1)       
In the death of mere Humans Life shall start!