The Poetry of Rock n' Roll: "Socrates The Python"

To observe National Poetry Month, once a week I am featuring lyrics of rock n' roll or pop songs that also double as exquisite poetry.

For our second installment of The Poetry of Rock n' Roll, let's examine the lyrics to a song by Peter Murphy, Godfather of Goth, singer-songwriter, and former frontman for legendary group Bauhaus. "Socrates The Python" is not about a snake, but about the issues of our age stemming from a disconnect with the spirit. But not an abstract spirit...a spirit that asks us to be involved, a spirit that offers knowledge and not blind belief as a way to enlightenment. It's a profound idea...one where he name checks the mystic and philosopher Gurdjieff along with one of Gurdjieff's disciples J.G. Bennett in a sort of incantation, pitting the idea of self-discovery and self exploration against the head-in-the-sand perspective of much of organized religions.

Socrates The Python

by Peter Murphy

Today
Your problems are not
Of blind belief
That is or means
Belief ain't enough, belief ain't enough
The oracle of your age
Point towards the word
Psychological

You may freeze
You may fear
You may wince
And not hear
You can sick at the heart
When I say
"God is one"
Does God the word
Make you reel
And I mean, real

But it isn't God the father son or holy one,
But the key to your age
Get it together, and listen
With all the books
On the shelf
All the wisdom
With all the books
On the shelf
All the wisdom

Socrates, Pythagoras
Yin and bloody Yang
Hatha Yoga, Omm
Bennett, Gurdjieff, Jesus
Old Testament and New
Libraries full of keys
Libraries full of keys
Where's your lock?

Socrates Pythagoras
Yin and bloody Yang
Hatha Yoga, Omm
Bennett, Gurdjieff, Jesus
Old Testament and New
Libraries full of keys
Libraries full of keys

Bennett, Gurdjieff, Jesus
Bennett, Gurdjieff, Jesus

https://www.petermurphy.info/