Lyrics to
The Knife

This version of The Knife was released by Genesis in 1970.

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For Those that Trespass against us

Tell me my life is about to begin
Tell me that I am a hero,
Promise me all of your violent dreams
Light up your body with anger.
Now, in this ugly world
it is time to destroy all this evil.
Now, when I give the word
get ready to fight for your freedom
Now –

Stand up and fight, for you know we are right
We must strike at the lies
That have spread like disease through our minds.
Soon we’ll have power, every soldier will rest
And we’ll spread out our kindness
To all who our love now deserve.
Some of you are going to die –
Martyrs of course to the freedom that I shall provide.

I’ll give you the names of those you must kill,
All must die with their children.
Carry their heads to the palace of old,
Hang them high, let the blood flow.
Now, in this ugly world
break all the chains around us,
Now, the crusade has begun
give us a land fit for heroes,
Now –

Stand up and fight, for you know we are right
We must strike at the lies
That have spread like disease through our minds.
Soon we’ll have power, every soldier will rest
And we’ll spread out our kindness
To all who our love now deserve.
Some of you are going to die –
Martyrs of course to the freedom that I shall provide.

We are only wanting freedom
We are only wanting freedom
We are only wanting freedom
We are only wanting freedom (“Freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom…”)
We are only wanting freedom (“Things are getting out of control here today”)
We are only wanting freedom (“OK men – fire over their heads!”)
We are only wanting freedom

— WE HAVE WON —

Some of you are going to die,
Martyrs of course to the freedom that I shall provide.

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Genesis has released many songs over the years besides The Knife. Genesis released songs from 1969 to 2000 spanning across albums like From Genesis To Revelation, Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, A Trick Of The Tail, Wind And Wuthering, ...And Then There Were Three..., Duke, Abacab, Genesis, Invisible Touch, We Can't Dance, Calling All Stations, Genesis Archive 1967-1975, and Genesis Archives #2 1976-92. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Genesis.

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

About Lyrics and The Knife by Genesis

The lyrics to The Knife are the words, verses and chorus for the song released by Genesis in 1970. Elements of the lyrics to The Knife are both direct in meaning and also metaphorical with the real meanings of the song only known by Genesis and any collaborating writers working on the lyrics for The Knife back when it was created.

Some people have an interest in the etymology behind words and phrases. You can take apart the lyrics to The Knife by Genesis 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 The Knife" means the words set to the music of The Knife, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Genesis. 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 The Knife and the lyrics to The Knife are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Genesis who came here looking just for the lyrics to The Knife, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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