Ayreon Album

It is the 22nd century. I am the last of the Mars Colonists. The air supply has almost run out on this desolate Mars colony, and the food supplies from Earth have stopped arriving since the final war of 2084. I am walking through the tunnel towards our recreation machine called the Dream Sequencer. I hope it will sweeten my final days...

(Dream sequencer system online)
Good morning, colonist. You have selected the Universal Migrator program. Please lie down in the energy tank and place the electrodes on your temples. Think of your designation number and drink the fluid from the vessel at the left terminal.

(Program loaded, commencing U.M. preincarnation protocol)
Now focus on the music as I take you back to your childhood......and beyond.....

It is the end of the 21st Century. I have returned to my own childhood. I remember it all as the Dream Sequencer images mix with my own recollections. This is the day my sister and I realised that we would never see the planet Earth.


Daddy where are you now
Forgot about your vow
You promised you'd return and take me to Earth

Did you have to fight that war
What was it all for?
The honor of one's name, what is it worth?

MAN: I'm all alone
WOMAN: We're all alone
MAN: My future's unknown
WOMAN: Our future's unknown
MAN: I reach out to the stars
BOTH: Out here in my house on Mars

Mother did you hear me cry?
You never told me why
You put me in this world of rock and dust

No friends for playing games
No foes who scorn my name
Computerized machines of steel and rust

MAN: This is my home
WOMAN: This is our home
MAN: This desolate dome
WOMAN: This desolate dome
MAN: I call out to the stars
BOTH: I'm alone in my house on Mars

I'll never smell the ocean breeze
I'll never climb the highest trees
I'll never feel the burning sun
I'll never meet my chosen one

In my house.

Daddy, I forgive you now
You could not keep your vow
You will never return, I'll never see Earth

MAN: My time has come
WOMAN: Our time has come
MAN: I'm emotionally numb
WOMAN: Emotionally numb
MAN: I'm headed for the stars

BOTH:
I'm leaving my house on Mars.
No friends in my house on Mars.
No foes in my house on Mars.
I was born in my house on Mars.
I will die in my house on Mars.

It is the 21st century. The Final Experiment has failed. The final devastating war that was foretold by the blind minstrel Ayreon has indeed come to pass. The war has destroyed all life on Earth, making it completely uninhabitable. I hover above my own dead body...


Silence fills the air
Echoes fade away...
Sadness and despair
On that cruel and fateful day...

My body lies motionless
Upon the kitchen floor...
The Earth has died, the world's at rest
2084...

Many centuries ago
In a dark, enchanted land...
Our fate had been foretold
By a poor, misguided man...

We carried on down the road we chose,
The path of Nevermore
The journey ends, the book is closed
2084...

And now I have to leave, my work on Earth is done
I'm heading for the planet known as Mars
To the last of its race, the final newborn son
Before I start my voyage to the stars

And now I have to leave, my work on Earth is done
I'm heading for the planet known as Mars
To the last of its race, the final newborn son
Before I start my voyage to the stars

My body lies motionless
Upon the kitchen floor...
The Earth has died, the world's at rest
2084...

It is the 20th century. I am a little boy peacefully asleep. My father comes to wake me so that I can witness an historic event in the finite story of mankind...

15, 14, 13, 12, 11 (Procedure), 10, 9, (Engines on) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Go.
Trajectory's good, thrust is good.
We're on our way Houston!

Over the backside of the moon...

On an early summer morning, July '69
As I dream of the planets
I hear a voice softly whisper: "Son, it is time
It's happening soon"

It's a quarter to four now and he carries me down
To our place by the telly
I see lights on in houses all over town
For the man on the Moon

One small step for man
But a giant leap for mankind
The mighty Apollo prevailed
The Eagle has landed

I go back to my warm bed, back to my dreams
But not the one of the planets
I decided this morning I don't want to be
The man on the Moon

One small step for man
But a giant leap for mankind
The mighty Apollo prevailed
The Eagle has landed

As I lie here in this cold tank, living a dream
I'm the last on the planets
I decided this morning I don't want to be
The man on Mars

One small step for man
But a giant leap for mankind
The mighty Apollo prevailed...

One small step for man
But a giant leap for mankind
The mighty Apollo prevailed

This is gonna be a rock and roll ride...

It is the 17th century. I am a noble ensign-bearer posing with my guild for the Dutch master painter, Rembrandt van Rijn, in Amsterdam.

I'm standing proud
In this noble crowd
My banner raised high
The coat of arms of Amsterdam
To the mystic sky
A magic light enchants the land
We're marching on
The shooting company of Captain Frans B. Cocq

My uniform shines
The livery of a high-born man
The Claw-guild signs
Immortalised by the master's hand
Light and shade
With colours rich and brushwork bold
Night and day
With shadows black and armours gold
We're marching on
The shooting company of Captain Frans B. Cocq

I'm standing proud
In this noble crowd
In our golden age
Eternalised by the artist's hand
A glorious page
In the history of our tiny land
We're marching on
Up to the battlefield to where the spirits walk
The shooting company of Captain Frans B. Cocq

It is the 16th century. I am Queen Elizabeth sending out the brave Sir Francis Drake to defend the English realm against the invading armada.

Times are dark now, our empire's gone astray.
Forces from down south, armada on the way.
So we call our greatest men to run the barricade!
Shine your light where shadows fall and wash the night away!

Sail on for your queen!
Sail into history!
You will never be the same...
Sail on for country,
Into our memory!
Time will remember your name -
Dragon on the sea!

Fires burn now, in once our tranquil bays.
Tall ships that rain down thunderbolts and flames.
Go and raise your pirate flag, cast the lines away!
Take your fleet where darkness falls and turn the night to day!

Sail on for your queen!
Sail into history!
Time will remember your name -
Dragon on the sea!

The sun never sets on the Empire One.
But wise men say never say never say never (say never).
It slips through our hands just like sand in sun.
We thought it would go on forever forever forever (forever).

Sail on for your queen!
Sail into history!
You will never be the same...
Sail on for country,
Into our memory!
Time will remember your name -
Dragon on the sea!

Dragon ships they keep on sailing, on to Nova Albion.
While the waking world is sleeping, dragon ships are sailing on.
Dragon ships they keep on sailing, on to Nova Albion.
While the waking world is sleeping, dragon ships are sailing on.
Dragon ships they keep on sailing, on to Nova Albion.
While the waking world is sleeping, dragon ships are sailing on.
Dragon ships they keep on sailing, (on to Nova Albion...)

[No lyrics]

It is the 6th century. This is where it all began. My tired body has passed away, but my once-tortured spirit is finally free now.
My name is ... Ayreon.

I've crossed the edge where time disappears
My life has been taken by the charm of the seer
My conscience is clear, I committed no sin
My spirit roams free now, carried by the wind

My mission has failed, the spell has been cast
I wasn't the first one, and I won't be the last
This can't be the end, so let it begin
My message will reach you, carried by the wind

Out here on Mars I now realize
Mankind has vanished, tears fill my eyes
There must be a world I can live in
My spirit will find it, carried by the wind

My message will reach you, carried by the wind

My spirit roams free now, carried by the wind

It is 2800 B.C. I quietly witness the astounding secret behind the creation of a
mysterious monument in Wiltshire, England.

The moon sheds no light on Salisbury plain
The day turns to night and the bonfires cease burning

The druids gather round and the chants fill the air
Their echoes resound and the living world stops turning

The magic words are spoken
As we leave the plain in silence
Now the circle stands alone
And the druids turn to stone

The dawn shines its light on Salisbury plain
The day floods the night with gilded rays of sunshine

The magic words were spoken
As we left the plain in silence
Then the circle stood alone
And the druids turned to stone

The rising sun is dancing on the edges of the stones
Casting shadows, creeping down the Avenue
Into the heart of the sarsen trilithons

I marvel at this mystery, beholder of the stars
A holy temple, a sacred burial ground
Guarding well its secrets from us all

The moon sheds no light on Salisbury plain
The day turns to night and the bonfires cease burning

The magic words are spoken
As we leave the plain in silence
Now the circle stands alone
And the druids turn to stone

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...

In fields of green, vast as the oceans
Is this a dream, is it evermore?
A million years, Vast as an ocean
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

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

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

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

Hold on to this moment in time (Hold on)
Savor a life how it used to be (Savior this moment... how it used to be)
Hold on to the world in its prime (In its prime)
Breathe in the air, feel the energy (Feel the energy)

[No lyrics]