Genesis Songs - The Fountain Of Salmacis Lyrics

Genesis - The Fountain Of Salmacis

Genesis - The Fountain Of Salmacis Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Nursery Cryme
Released: 1971

The Fountain Of Salmacis Lyrics

From a dense forest of tall dark pinewood, Mount Ida rises like an island.
Within a hidden cave, nymphs had kept a child;
Hermaphroditus, son of gods, so afraid of their love.

As the dawn creeps up the sky
The hunter caught sight of a doe.
In desire for conquest,
He found himself within a glade he'd not beheld before.

Hermaphroditus:
"Where are you, my father?
Give wisdom to your son"
Narrator:
Now lost, the boy was guided by the sun"
"Then he could go no farther

And as his strength began to fail
He saw a shimmering lake.
A shadow in the dark green depths
Disturbed the strange tranquility.

Salmacis:
"The waters are disturbed
Some creature has been stirred"
Narrator:
"The waters are disturbed
Naiad queen Salmacis has been stirred"

As he rushed to quench his thirst,
A fountain spring appeared before him
And as his heated breath brushed through the cool mist,
A liquid voice called, "Son of gods, drink from my spring".

The water tasted strangely sweet.
Behind him the voice called again.
He turned and saw her, in a cloak of mist alone
And as he gazed, her eyes were filled with the darkness of the lake.

Salmacis:
"We shall be one
We shall be joined as one"
Narrator:
"She wanted them as one
Yet he had no desire to be one"

Hermaphroditus:
"Away from me cold-blooded woman
Your thirst is not mine"

Salmacis:
"Nothing will cause us to part
Hear me, O Gods"

Unearthly calm descended from the sky
And then their flesh and bones were strangely merged
Forever to be joined as one.

The creature crawled into the lake.
A fading voice was heard:
"And I beg, yes I beg that all who touch this spring
May share my fate"

Salmacis:
"We are the one
We are the one"
Narrator:
"The two are now made one
Demi-god and nymph are now made one"

Both had given everything they had.
A lover's dream had been fulfilled at last,
Forever still beneath the lake.

Writer/s: GABRIEL, PETER / BANKS, ANTHONY / HACKETT, STEVEN / RUTHERFORD, MICHAEL
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, CARLIN AMERICA INC, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Fountain Of Salmacis

Steve Hackett explained how this song came about: "We were rehearsing one night about six months after I joined. Tony (Banks) started playing something on his own, which he said was part of a previous number that they'd done. He incorporated the mellotron into the song and I started putting a harp-like effect on to it, which was a very subtle way of playing guitar, but it gave it spark. The whole thing developed into The Fountain Of Salmacis."'

"The guitar solo at the end was, I think, a breakthrough at the time," he continued. "Previously we'd had both chords that sounded very orchestral, which I loved; but suddenly there was a solo over the top of that."

The Mellotron Mark II played by Banks on this song had been purchased by the band from King Crimson.

Salmacis fountain is located near the ancient Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and it is now a tourist attraction located in present-day Bodrum, Turkey. Although excellent to drink, in classical times, it was thought to have the effect of making men effeminate and soft.

According to Ovid's Metamorphoses, a naiad nymph called Salmacis fell in love with Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. When he bathed in her fountain, she embraced him and prayed to the gods to be united with him forever. The gods heard her prayer and merged their bodies together, transforming Hermaphroditus into an androgynous being. Hermaphroditus then cursed the Salmacis fountain, so that any man who drank or bathed in its water would also become androgynous.