[Lyrics for Ayreon – The First Man On Earth]
“It is 50000 B.C. The world is almost empty; nature is still untouched by man. Off in the
distance, a clan of ape-like creatures gather near a cliff side. But I am the first to
stand. I must be…”
Neil Morse, Mark McCrite
In fields of green, vast as the oceans
Is this a dream, is it evermore?
A million years, fast as a notion
I stand alone here on the silent shore
I’m after prey in the fields
Shelter in a cave from the cold and lonely nights
And now it all seems so real
Warming at the fireside beneath the pale moonlight
This is the dawn of time
I am the first to stand
Looking through the eyes of the primal man
This is the dawn of time
Witnessing the birth
I am the first man on earth
The skies of blue reach to the heavens
They go on and on forevermore
No avenues, no city sidewalks
Planet Mars is but ancient lore
This place has all that I need
No computers glowing screens, no industrial machines
Somehow it all seems surreal
Memories of days gone by, a slowly fading scene
No one here to blame me
No one here to hurt
So much space here to occupy my mind
I can breathe the breath of virgin land
The firefly at nighttime
The sounds of nothing known
And I belong here like I never have before
The wandering child returning home
When twilight falls, red is the sunset
Planets appear across the colored sky
No prison walls, no war, no bloodshed
Hard to believe this new world will die
I wish that I could stay for a while
In the dream world that the sequencer creates
And though it all seems so real
Now I fear the time is gone, I feel its heavy weight
Hold on to this moment in time
Savor a life how it used to be
Hold on to the world in its prime
Breathe in the air, feel the energy