Commentary of Lyrics - Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

From my early years I have been deeply inspired by poetry and song lyrics which, if taken in context, is poetry set to music in many cases. This holds true for me with many of the Pink Floyd and Roger Waters songs. The song 'Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun' goes back to the 1960s, a time when freedom of speech had become popular in a modernizing Western world.

The music to the song is brilliant in that it produces a haunting but free feeling and the lyrics invokes thought and wonder; pricking the imagination.

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
(Waters) July 1968. From 'A Saucerful Of Secrets'

Little by little the night turns around.
Counting the leaves which tremble at dawn.
Lotuses lean on each other in yearning.
Under the eaves the swallow is resting.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.

Over the mountain watching the watcher.
Breaking the darkness, waking the grapevine.
One inch of love is one inch of shadow
Love is the shadow that ripens the wine.
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.

Witness the man who raves at the wall
Making the shape of his questions to Heaven.
Whether the sun will fall in the evening
Will he remember the lesson of giving?
Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
The heart of the sun, the heart of the sun.

I won't mention names yet, but I know a Gatherite who might enjoy and might have something to say about the line "One inch of love is one inch of shadow", and other Gatherenes who will comment on the line "Will he remember the lesson of giving".

The song itself is best as played at the Roger Waters - In The Flesh concert. Take a listen and experience it; let it inspire you.