Changing Of The Guards Lyrics - Patti Smith

Sixteen years 

Sixteen banners united over the field 

Where the good shepherd grieves 

Desperate men, desperate women divided 

Spreading their wings 'neath falling leaves. 

Fortune calls 

I stepped forth from the shadows to the marketplace 

Merchants and thieves, hungry for power, my last deal gone down 

She's smelling sweet like the meadows where she was born 

On midsummer's eve near the tower. 

The cold-blooded moon 

The captain waits above the celebration 

Sending his thoughts to a beloved maid 

Whose ebony face is beyond communication 

The captain is down but still believing that his love will be repaid. 

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They shaved her head 

She was torn between Jupiter and Apollo 

A messenger arrived with a black nightingale 

I seen her on the stairs and I couldn't help but follow 

Follow her down past the fountain where they lifted her veil. 

I stumbled to my feet 

I rode past destruction in the ditches 

With the stitches still mending beneath a heart-shaped tattoo 

Renegade priests and treacherous young witches 

Were handing out the flowers that I'd given to you. 

The palace of mirrors 

Where dog soldiers are reflected 

The endless road and the wailing of chimes 

The empty rooms where her memory is protected 

Where the angel's voices whisper to the souls of previous times. 

She wakes him up 

Forty-eight hours later the sun is breaking 

Near broken chains, mountain laurel and rolling rocks 

She's begging to know what measures he now will be taking 

He's pulling her down and she's clutching on to his long golden locks. 

Gentlemen, he said I don't need your organization, I've shined your shoes 

I've moved your mountains and marked your cards 

But Eden is burning either brace yourself for elimination 

Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards. 

Peace will come 

With tranquillity and splendor on the wheels of fire 

But will bring us no reward when her false idols fall 

And cruel death surrenders with its pale ghost retreating 

Between the King and the Queen of Swords.