Lyrics to Prelude 12 (Promised Land)

This version of Prelude 12 (Promised Land) was released by Styx in 1975.

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It was ’bout 15 years ago
Just about this time
The child we both were waiting for
Soon opened his eyes
First the cough & then the pain
Showed within your face
I felt the cold mist round your hand
Like death was in its place

Lord, Lord take my hand
Take me down to the promised land
Ever since you died my heart has died
I’ll be with you in the sunshine, sand

I called the doctor to your side
He knelt down by your bed
He looked at you, he held your hand
Then he shook his head
The child you want won’t give the love
You both want to get
As your wife come quickly now
Cos she has not long to live
He said–

Lord, Lord take my hand
Take me down to the promised land
Ever since you died my heart has died
I’ll be with you in the sunshine, sand

Every day I go to kiss, the ground in which you lay
Your golden hair has turned to dust
Your smile has turned to clay
The pain I felt for 15 years
This life won’t take a win
And I will lie within your arms
By the evening of this day

Lord, Lord take my hand
Take me down to the promised land
Ever since you died my heart has died
I’ll be with you in the sunshine, sand

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Styx has released many songs over the years besides Prelude 12 (Promised Land). Styx released songs from 1972 to 2005 spanning across albums like Styx, Styx II, The Serpent Is Rising, Man Of Miracles, Equinox, Crystal Ball, The Grand Illusion, Pieces Of Eight, Cornerstone, Paradise Theater, Kilroy Was Here, Caught In The Act, Edge Of The Century, Return To Paradise, Brave New World, and Big Bang Theory. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Styx.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1975 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Prelude 12 (Promised Land) by Styx

When you decide to study the lyrics to Prelude 12 (Promised Land), you're looking at the words, verses and background chorus from the 1975 song by Styx. Some of the lyrics to Prelude 12 (Promised Land) have clear meanings and some contain metaphorical references. Like most songs, only Styx and their collaborators know the full story behind any of the their songs.

You can understand the lyrics to Prelude 12 (Promised Land) if you take apart the structure of the words. 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 Prelude 12 (Promised Land)" means the words set to the music of Prelude 12 (Promised Land), or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Styx. 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 Prelude 12 (Promised Land) and the lyrics to Prelude 12 (Promised Land) are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Styx who came here looking just for the lyrics to Prelude 12 (Promised Land), but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.