Lyrics to
Or Down You Fall

This version of Or Down You Fall was released by Gil Scott-Heron in 1971.

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I sail out on my paper ship
The sea is made of fire
I ride my horse of nuts and bolts
We made to never tire

The world is just a simple circle
I’ve got to keep on turning, yeah
I’ve got to keep on turning
‘Til I fall

Down to the top of a mountain
Inside a hollow stone
I pretend that I’m an iron man, yeah
Instead of flesh and bone

The world is just a simple circle
And it keep on turning, yeah
And it keep on turning
You’ve got to

Go away
I can’t stand to see your face
Cause you’ve seen the weakest me
And now you know I’m only human
Instead of all the things I’d like to be

The world is just a simple circle
You’ve got to keep on turning, yeah
You’ve got to keep on turning
Or down you fall

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Gil Scott-Heron has released many songs over the years besides Or Down You Fall. Gil Scott-Heron released songs from 1970 to 2005 spanning across albums like Small Talk At 125th And Lenox, Pieces Of A Man, Free Will, Winter In America, The First Minute Of A New Day, It's Your World, From South Africa To South Carolina, Bridges, Secrets, The Mind Of Gil Scott-Heron, 1980, Real Eyes, Reflections, Moving Target, Spirits, and Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Messages (Anthology). Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Gil Scott-Heron.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1971 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Or Down You Fall by Gil Scott-Heron

The lyrics to Or Down You Fall are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Gil Scott-Heron in 1971. Elements of the lyrics to Or Down You Fall are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by Gil Scott-Heron and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for Or Down You Fall back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to Or Down You Fall by Gil Scott-Heron in a number of ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Or Down You Fall" means the words set to the music of Or Down You Fall, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Gil Scott-Heron. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Or Down You Fall and the lyrics to Or Down You Fall are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Gil Scott-Heron who came here looking just for the lyrics to Or Down You Fall, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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