THE SOUL IS THE ROCK
Gordon Lightfoot 
1975
album: Cold On The Shoulder

Gordon Lightfoot


The soul is the rock and the rock will not be moved
Nothing is disputed, yet nothing is disproved
And the seeds of the earth that were planted long ago
Still yield a better harvest than the rock was prone to grow.

Say what you like to do what you do, everyone's sleeping now two by two
Bats in the roof, cats in the hall, dust on the stairway, gnats on the wall
Big rain coming, big rain coming this way
Rain on the rock, rain on the rock, rain on the rock.

The sea is the space which the rock has displaced
The mind is some stranger that the soul has embraced
And somewhere between, in a no-man's land of dreams
The heart becomes the soldier yet the rock is not redeemed.

Say what you like to do what you can, live like a sheep, die like a lamb
Bats in the roof, cats in the hall, dust on the stairway, gnats on the wall
Big rain coming, big rain coming this way
Rain on the rock, rain on the rock, rain on the rock.

The soul is the rock and the rock will always roll
In circles 'round the sun doing rings around the pole
When the mind is not sure what the heart will do next
The rock becomes the master and the road becomes what's left.

Late one night when the moon shone down, we went to the mill on the edge of the town
She wore white, I wore black, the town was sleeping when we got back
Big rain coming, big rain coming this way
Rain on the rock, rain on the rock, rain on the rock.

The soul is the rock and the rock will not be harmed
Though man must be cheated just as woman must be charmed
And the mind is the light for the heart which cannot see
The soul becomes the stranger but the rock will always be.

Say what you like to do what you do, everyone's sleeping now two by two
Bats in the roof, cats in the hall, dust on the stairway, gnats on the wall
Big rain coming, big rain coming this way
Rain on the rock, rain on the rock, rain on the rock, rain on the rock.

The soul is the rock and the rock will not be moved
Nothing is disputed, yet nothing is disproved
And the seeds of the earth that were planted long ago
Still yield a better harvest than the rock was prone to grow.

And the seeds of the earth that were planted long ago
Still yield a better harvest than the rock was prone to grow.



(Transcribed by David Story - January 2013)