Todd Rundgren: Initiation

Artist

Todd Rundgren

Players

Todd Rundgren, Kevin Ellman, John Siegler, Ralph Shuckett, Moogy Klingman, John Wilcox, Rick Derringer, Roy Markowitz, Barbara Burton, Lee Pastora, John Miller, Roger Powell, Bernard Purdie, Rick Marotta, Bob Rose, Dave Sanborn, Chris Parker, Barry Lazarowitz, Dan Hartman, Edgar Winter

Producer

Todd Rundgren

Release Date: 1975
Duration: 67:27
Label: Rhino/Bearsville
Catalog Number: RNCD 70866

From the LP liner notes:

Technical Note: Due to the amount of music on this disc
(over one hour), two points must be emphasized.
Firstly, if your needle is worn or damaged,
it will ruin this disc immediately.
Secondly, if the sound does not seem loud enough
on your system, try re-recording the music onto tape.
By the way, thanks for buying the album.

  1. Real Man
  2. Born To Synthesize
  3. The Death of Rock and Roll
  4. Eastern Intrigue
  5. Initiation
  6. Fair Warning
  7. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

Real Man

When I was a child
I thought as a child
I spoke as a child
I didn't know better
But now I'm a man
I look like a man
I'm old as a man
And I should know better
Got my head in the sky
And my mind knows what it wants
But my body just drags me down
And my world is something you can't see
But it's still very real to me
You can find it in the hole where I keep my soul
There it is - way down inside me
There's a real man
Forget about my body and be a real man

I see with my heart
I hear with my heart
I feel with my heart
Sometimes it works better
And some so-called friends put me down
And they pity me for trying
Bad emotions push me around
But the vision shines on and on
It will shine when we all are gone
And I'd like to add a little sparkle while I'm here
Light it up - way down inside me
There's a real man
Forget about bad feelings and be a real man

Some men's world is only hate and money
Afraid of everything and they laugh at nothing
And they only live to criticize
You can laugh at me now [ha ha ha]
But the time comes to everybody
When you must decide
When that day finally comes along
You might wish you'd been a little more strong
Then you'll wake up in the morning cryin'
	"Oh my God"
There it is - way down inside me
It's a real man
You got to grow up sometime
Be a real man
Suffer them slings and arrows
Be a real man
Now be a real man
Don't sell yourself for nothing
Be a real man
Don't take no crap from no one
Be a real man
Get your trip together
Be a real man

Born To Synthesize

A handful of nothing is all that I need
It contains plus and minus everything
The odd combinations are what make up
The world that you see before you
In one hand I hold what people call good
The rest I hold in the other
But these are just symbols to the perfected minds
Of which we are but mere reflections
I was born to synthesize
Energize and catalyze
I was born to synthesize
Like waves on still water the forms reappear
Quickly erasing the ones before
But forms like these are born only to die
But the life in them lives forever
Pyramids, spheres, and obelisks
	are the patterns of all creation
But the red polygon's only desire
	is to get to the blue triangle
I was born to synthesize
Visions rise before your eyes
I was born to synthesize
The orbits of consciousness spin 'round and 'round
Apparently they go nowhere
But the odd combinations are leading you on
To your home which is in the center
You were born to synthesize
Ain't no jive - it's no surprise
You were born to synthesize

The Death of Rock and Roll

Just the other day I got a call from a friend
 "I heard what you been playin' and I think it's a sin
Why can't you make a living like the rest of the boys
Instead of fillin' your head with all that synthesized noise?"
Jackals wait nearby, watching rock and roll die
And no one dared to help it
Vultures fill the sky
I thought we was supposed ta, supposed ta be free
But we all got sold
It must be the Death of Rock and Roll
The critics got together and they started a game
You get your records for nothing
	and you call each other names
Things got out of hand and somebody got sore
Now we're all tuning up for the Rock and Roll War
Time to take up sides, helping rock and roll die
Pick up your check at the window
No one left to cry
I thought we was supposed ta, supposed ta be free
But we all got sold
It must be the Death of Rock and Roll
Nobody paid, nobody played, nobody stayed
Just my lonely guitar
Nobody paid, nobody stayed, nobody played
Just my lonely guitar

Eastern Intrigue

As the sun rises in the east
As the wind blows the fog across the sea
As the hand of Man creeps across the face of the world
Caught in a web of glamours
Persian perfume and oriental eyes
Yogi in knots and Sufi wise
Master sublime and swami high
Through in some Voodoo on the side
And a dash of the old Kung Fu
Lord you got me strung out on eastern intrigue
Chapter six and verse eleven
If you wanna get to heaven
You've got to ask the Man who owns the Property
Ya gotta dance your dance
And do your act
And get His Big Attention that's a natural born fact
I'm on my knees, one question please
Will the real God please stand up?

	Jesus and Moses, Mohammed, and Sri Krishna
	Steiner, Gurdjief, Blavatsky, and Bhudda
	Guru Maharaji, Reverend Sun Myung Moon

On the banks of the Holy Nile
As the palm tree sways at the base of the sphinx
'Neath a crescent desert moon many thousands
	younger than ours
In fact, forget about time completely
Think of it in the abstract please
Think of the swaying tropic trees
One of your many destinies
Like having a hot peyote tea
In the palace of Fu Manchu
Lord you got me strung out on eastern intrigue
Sell your wife and pawn your heater
Buy the new Bhagavad Gita
Do the pranayama 'til your spine gets sore
I'll tell you for free
'Cause God told me
We checked it with the Pope and so we all agree
I'm on my knees, one question please
Will the real God please sit down?

Initiation

Power changes hands in the unseen worlds
'Cause in '75 something comes alive
Watch the silver cup and the golden rod
Silently listen and it shall be revealed
I was born to fly higher,
	born to stand where I'm standing now
Basking in the light of the neon fire
As it burns my useless body to the ground
Desire let me go
I would fly so high through the sky, never to die
Love has come, Love has come
Inside outside, it shall be revealed
Brilliant stars splash down across a crystal sky
And the moon and the sun and the earth are one
See the shining soul break the ring-pass-not
Spiraling upward and it shall be revealed
The spirit is free
The Universe wants it to be, It calls you and me
Love has come, Love has come
Over under, it shall be revealed
When the bells ring out
And the fire burns within and without
Initiation
When your star grows bright
	and fills all of the world with its light
Unification
Swallow your pride, you don't need it no more
Don't have to hide, all I am is only one more
Standing at the door
	waiting for the world's Initiation
Thunder roar and lightning crack
Snakes of fire dance up and down my back
A long, long road is behind me now
Too late to be afraid of the choice that I have made
But there's one thing I know
Where my spirit says to go,
	you know that's where I must go
When the golden ray
Of the dawn signifies a new day
Initiation
And when loves grows strong
And the spheres join together in song
Unification
Swallow your pride, you don't need it no more
Don't need to hide, all I am is
Only one more, then shut the door
	waiting for the world's Initiation
Over under, it shall be revealed

Fair Warning

You know, wishing won't make it so
Hoping won't do it, praying won't do it
Religion won't do it, philosophy won't do it
The supreme court won't do it,
	the president and the congress won't do it
The UN won't do it, the H-bomb won't do it,
	the sun and the moon won't do it
And God won't do it,
	and I certainly won't do it
That leaves you, you'll have to do it

I know that you've been wondering
	if I'm the same man inside
Never tried to fool you
	'cause I've got nothing to hide
I gave you fair warning I could never be tied down
'Til I've seen paradise with my very own eyes
Love owns us all, Time owns us all, Life owns us all
But the world doesn't own me
Dontcha follow me now
I ain't afraid to say I may have been wrong
I have to go now
I'd rather live by a dream than live by a lie
And that's why
There ain't no cure for what I've got baby
We just have to suffer
I feel no pain, I can't complain,
	things could always be rougher
But I picked up this banner
	and I just can't put it down (No)
I can't let the world die just 'cause no one would try
Dontcha follow me now
Everybody's got to find his own place in the sun,
	everyone
So shine on me now
I'd rather live by a dream then live by a lie
You can say what you will about me
	talk is cheap and I don't mind
When you lay your life down in them grooves
	you know you're bound to get scratched up sometime
It's only just a song, pay me no mind
I have to go now
You've got to walk that road alone
	if you walk it at all
Don't follow me now
I gave you all fair warning
Now it's goodbye
And every once in a while why don't you think of me
'Cause it's a long, long time and a long way to go
Can't you see the light shining in my eyes
'Cause it's just one victory
'Cause your dream goes on forever
Don't you know that I've been trying
	to get my trip together
Be a real man
I got to be a real man
1, 2, 3, do it one more time
Be a real man
Everybody be a real man
Go then, don't believe, and I don't know
'Cause I got to be a real man
You can be a man, a real man
I'll swim that river, climb that mountain
You and me, we all gotta be, real men

A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

instrumental

Other References


Lyrics v. 2.4.2
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