Something we rarely get to hear is the ENTIRE song “Nights in White Satin,” by The Moody Blues. It was one of those songs that was created to run much longer than usual after songs like “Hey Jude” became popular, but most radio stations that play it fade it out after the lyrics end. The other day on WKLU I heard the last half of the song while I was heading home from work. They actually let it play all the way to the gong at the end. That means they aired the reading of the poem “Late Lament,” which was read during the song, starting at about the six-minute mark.
The song was the last one on the album Days of Future Passed, so the album ended with this poem and then that gong. Pretty cool!
Poems during that era tended to be rather weird or obtuse. Figurative language was definitely at a height. As poems from this time go, I rather like this one, so I’ve included it here. Enjoy. (For what it’s worth, it was written by their drummer, Graeme Edge.)
Late Lament
(From “Nights in White Satin”)Breathe deep the gathering gloom;
Watch lights fade from every room.
Bedsitter people look back and lament;
Another day’s useless energy spent.Impassioned lovers wrestle as one;
Lonely man cries for love and has none.
New mother picks up and suckles her son;
Senior citizens wish they were young.Cold-hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colors from our sight.
Red is grey and yellow white,
But we decide which is right,
And which is an illusion.
If you’d like to hear it, visit Rhapsody.com.
Na
