Peter Hammill - Jeunesse Dor

The youth are voting with their feet,
such a shame that the dance-beat gets so complicated.
Pretty, pretty it seems...
on second glance, the look is overrated.
In the hot-house there's a magic potion,
timeless motion...
Now and again now lasts forever;
jeunesse dore gilding the lily of pleasure.

The youth are voting with their clothes,
such a shame that the hip pose is so calculated.
Round and round it goes:
how careless the rapture that's overstated.
In the picture lost devotion,
waveless ocean.
Time and again style goes out of fashion;
jeunesse dore taking the heat out of passion.

Look at the kid with the golden touch,
check out the stony expression;
look at the man with the golden arm
and the sensational lesson.
Follow-my-leader's a game we can play
till we swallow the tail without thinking:
catch the hook, toe the line
never mind that we're sinking!

The youth are voting themselves in...
but the wheel takes a fresh spin and they find tomorrow
gaudy garments worn thin,
all at best rent and the worst are borrowed.
Closing orders, fading nation,
dissipation...
time and again, time's unforgiving;
jeunesse dore gilding the lily of living.
Now and again now lasts forever;
jeunesse dore gilding the lily of pleasure.

...Cut.