Fish (aka. Derek William Dick) - Vocals
Mark Kelly - Keyboards
Ian Mosley - Percussion
Steve Rothery - Guitar, Photography
Pete Trewavas - Bass
Mark Freegard - Mixing Engineer
Chris Kimsey - Mixing
Peter Mew - Digital Remastering
Nigel Reeve - Project Coordinator
Lucy Jordache - Project Coordinator
Thomas Steimier - Recording
John Arnisson - Management
Mark Wilkinson - Sleeve design and illustration
Recorded at Hansa Ton Studios, Berlin, March - May, 1985. All music by
M. Kelly/S. Rothery/JP. Trewavas. All lyrics by Fish/Derek W. Dick.
A masterpiece of articulate and emotional lyrics, it has exciting and
colorful musical settings. The songs form a continuous album-length
suite.
Michael P. Dawson, All-Music Guide
Die meisten Alben mit der ursprünglichen Marillion-Besetzung sind
äußerst schwer verdaulich, gleichwohl aber so etwas wie
"Gebetbücher" für die echten Fans. Mit Misplaced Childhood
gelingt der Band der Brückenschlag zu einem breiteren Publikum.
Befindet sich doch mit "Kayleigh" ein echter Klassiker auf dem Album,
der bis heute auf kaum einer Compilation über die Achtziger fehlt.
Es ist aber eine Schande, den Hit aus dem Zusammenhalt des Albums
herauszuschneiden. Erst in voller Länge dem Hörer
zugeführt, eröffnet das nicht ohne Grund mit fließenden
Übergängen aufgenommene Werk seine vielschichtigen
Qualitäten. So wird die eben noch gehörte Melodie ein oder
zwei Stücke später in anderem Zusammenhang zitiert und
Marillion besitzt eine Dynamik, die vom brummigen Keyboard-Teppich bis
zum perfekt gespielten Heavy-Arrangement dem großen musikalischen
Können der Band ein weites (Spiel-)Feld bietet. Um der
inhaltlichen Aussage von Misplaced Childhood beizukommen, reicht ein
simples Wörterbuch sicher nicht aus. Typisch für Marillion
führt uns Sänger Fish durch Metaphern und Bilder, die man
letztlich gar nicht vollständig verstehen muß und kann. Die
Wirkung des Werkes bleibt so oder so nicht aus, denn Misplaced
Childhood ist eine geglückte Verbindung von hohem inhaltlichem
Anspruch und musikalischen Höhenflügen.
Wolfram Lumpe, Amazon.de
Marillion were at the forefront of the brief progressive rock revival
of the 80s, and as such had to endure constant critical carping about
their similarities to Genesis. Led at this stage of their career by
Fish, they reached a creative and commercial peak with this 1985
release, a concept album based loosely around the singer's childhood.
What saved the album from empty bombast was Marillion's sudden
emergence as a skilled and melodic rock group, exemplified by the UK
hit single "Kayleigh". While nothing else on the album was quite able
to match this song, the rest is still worthy of re-investigation.
Marillion has reached its peak with their masterpiece Misplaced
Childhood. Childhood is to Marillion what Sgt. Pepper was to the
Beatles in that the album itself is connected musically; there are no
breaks between the songs. It is a themed album centering around a
broken relationship. Fish, Marillion's singer/songwriter, is in
incredible form, both lyrically and vocally. The album is strong in its
stance, yet Fish injects tender, almost sorrowful moments with just the
right touch. "Kayleigh" and "Lavender" are the most memorable songs on
the album. Misplaced Childhood is an exceptional album and Marillion's
finest hour.
Huddled in the safety of a pseudo silk kimono
wearing bracelets of smoke, naked of understanding.
Nicotine smears, long, long dried tears, invisible tears.
Safe in my own words, learning from my own words,
Cruel joke, cruel joke.
Huddled in the safety of a pseudo silk kimono
A morning mare rides, in the starless shutters of my eyes.
The spirit of a misplaced childhood is rising to speak his mind,
To this orphan of heartbreak, disillusioned and scorned,
A refugee, refugee.
(Safe in the sanctuary, safe)
Kayleigh
Do you remember, chalk hearts melting on a playground wall?
Do you remember, dawn escaped from moonwashed college halls?
Do you remember, the cherry blossom in the market square?
Do you remember, I thought it was confetti in our hair
By the way didn't I break your heart?
Please excuse me, I never meant to break your heart.
So sorry I never meant to break your heart.
But you broke mine.
Kayleigh is it too late to say I'm sorry.
Kayleigh could we get it together again.
I can't go on pretending that it came to a natural end.
Kayleigh I never thought I'd miss you,
and Kayleigh I'd hoped that we'd always be friends.
We said our love would last forever,
so how did it come to this bitter end.
Do you remember, barefoot on the lawn with shooting stars
Do you remember, loving on the floor in Belsize Park
Do you remember, dancing in stilletos in the snow
Do you remember, you never understood I had to go.
By the way, didn't I break your heart ?
Please excuse me I never meant to break your heart
So sorry, I never meant to break your heart,
But you broke mine.
Kayleigh, I just want to say I'm sorry,
but Kayleigh I'm too scared to pick up the phone.
To find you've found another lover to patch up our broken home.
Kayleigh, I'm still trying to write that love song,
Kayleigh it's more important to me now you're gone.
Maybe it'll prove that we were right
Or it will prove that I was wrong.
Lavender
I was walking in the park dreaming of a spark
When I heard the sprinklers whisper,
Shimmer in the haze of summer lawns.
Then I heard the children singing,
They were running through the rainbows.
They were singing a song for you.
Well it seemed to be a song for you,
the one I wanted to write for you, for you, you.
Lavenders blue, dilly dilly, lavenders green.
When I am King, dilly dilly, you will be Queen.
A penny for your thoughts my dear,
A penny for your thoughts my dear,
I.O.U. for your love, I.O.U. for your love.
Lavenders green, dilly dilly, lavenders blue.
When you love me, dilly dilly, I will love you.
A penny for your thoughts my dear,
A penny for your thoughts my dear,
I.O.U. for your love, I.O.U. for your love.
For your love, for your love, for your love.
Bitter Suite
I) Brief Encounter
A spider wanders aimlessly within the warmth of a shadow,
Not the regal creature of border caves,
But the poor, misguided, directionless familiar
of some obscure Scottish poet.
The mist crawls from the canal
Like some primordial phantom of romance
To curl, under a cascade of neon pollen.
While I sit tied to the phone like an expectant father.
Your carnation will rot ina vase.
II) Lost Weekend
A train sleeps in a siding,
The driver guzzles another can of lager, lager.
To wash away the memories of a Friday night down at the club.
She was a wallflower at sixteen,
she'll be a wallflower at thirty four.
Her mother called her beautiful.
Her daddy said, (a whore).
III) Blue Angel
The sky was Bible black in Lyon,
when I met the Magdalene.
She was paralyzed in a streetlight.
She refused to give her name.
And a ring of violet bruises,
They were pinned upon her arm.
Two hundred francs for sanctuary and she led me by the hand,
to a room of dancing shadows where all the heartache disappears
And from glowing tongues of candles I heard her whisper in my ear.
'J'entend ton coeur',
'J'entend ton coeur',
I can hear your heart, I can hear your heart, I can hear your heart.
Hear your heart.
I can hear your heart.
IV) Misplaced Rendezvous
It's getting late, for scribbling and scratching on the paper.
Something's gonna give under this pressure,
and the cracks are already beginning to show,
It's too late.
The weekend career girl never boarded the plane.
They said this could never happen again.
Oh, so wrong, so wrong.
This time it seems to be another misplaced rendezvous.
This time, it's looking like another misplaced rendezvous,
With you,
The parallel of you, you.
V) Windswept Thumb
On the outskirts of nowhere,
On the ringroad to somewhere,
On the verge of indecision,
I'll always take the roundabout way,
Waiting on the rain.
For I was born with a habit, from a sign.
The habit of a windswept thumb.
And the sign of the rain,
(rain on me, rain)
It's started raining.
It's started raining.
It's started raining.
It's started raining.
It's started raining.
It's started raining.
It's started raining.
Heart Of Lothian
I) Wide Boy
Wide boys, wide boys, wide boys, born with hearts of Lothian.
Wide boys, wide boys, born with hearts of Lothian.
Wide boys, we were wide boys, born with hearts of Lothian.
These hearts of Lothian.
It's six o'clock in the tower blocks,
The stalagmites of culture shock, (culture shock)
And the trippers of the light fantastic, bowdown, hoedown
Spray their pheremones on this perfume uniform.
And anarchy smiles in the Royal Mile.
And they're waiting on the Slyboys, flyboys, wideboys.
Rooting, tooting Cowboys, lucky little ladies at the watering holes.
They'll score the Friday night goals.
I was born, with a heart of Lothian.
I was born, with a heart of Lothian.
I was born, with a heart of Lothian.
With a heart of Lothian.
II) Curtain Call
And the man from the magazine,
wants another shot of you all curled up.
'Cos you look like an actor in a movie shot.
But you're feeling like a wino in a parking lot.
How did I get here anyway?
Do we really need a playback of the show?
'Cos the wideboys want to head for the watering holes,
watering holes, watering holes.
Let's go.
And the man in the mirror has sad eyes.
Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)
When the taxis gather in mock Solemnity.
Funeral hearses court the death in virginity,
Was it paradise lost or paradise found?
Did we gain respect or were we holding ground?
You had found true love, or so you believed
And the wideboys tattooed your hearts upon their sleeves.
So when you think it's time to go,
when you think it's time to go,
Don't be surprised, the heroes never show.
And the patter merchants selling false impressions,
Tipping eyes at the waitress with American expressions,
Tie angels to the bar with sweet Martini's and their charms
They're lying on every word and every arm
They're turning down their noses to the best lines
And the cheap wines.
And the wideboys,
They wear their lovebites for their crimes.
So when you think it's time to go,
when you think it's time to go,
Don't be surprised, the heroes never show.
Lords Of The Backstage
A love song with no validity.
Pretend you never meant that much to me.
Numb, a vallium child, bored by meaningless collisions.
A lonely stretch of headlight, diamonds trapped in black ice.
A mirror cracked along the white lines.
I just wanted you to be the first one.
I just wanted you to be the first one.
Ashes are burning, burning.
Ashes are burning, burning.
A lifestyle with no simplicities.
But I'm not asking for your sympathies.
Talk, we never could talk, distanced by all that was between us.
A lord of the backstage, a creature of language,
I'm so far out and I'm too far in.
I just wanted you to be the first one.
I just wanted you to be the first one.
Bridges are burning, burning.
Bridges are burning, burning.
Now, now, now, now
Blind Curve
I) Vocal Under A Bloodlight
Last night you said I was cold, untouchable.
A lonely piece of action from another town.
I just want to be free, I'm happy to be lonely.
Can't you stay away?
Just leave me alone with my thoughts.
Just a runaway, just a runaway,
I'm saving myself.
II) Passing Strangers
Strung out under a necklace of carnival lights.
Cold moan, held on the crest of the night.
I'm too tired to fight.
So now we're passing strangers, at single tables.
Still trying to get over,
Still trying to write love songs for passing strangers.
All those passing strangers.
And the twinkling lies, all those twinkling lies,
Sparkle with the wet ink on the paper.
III) Mylo
Oh I remember Toronto when Mylo went down,
And we sat and cried on the phone.
I never felt so alone,
He was the first of our own.
Some of us go down in a blaze of obscurity.
Some of us go down in a haze of publicity.
The price of infamy, the edge of insanity.
Another Holiday Inn, another temporary home,
and an interviewer threatened me with a microphone,
'Talk to me, tell me your stories.'
So I talked about conscience and I talked about pain,
and he looked out the window and it started to rain.
I thought maybe I've already gone crazy.
So I reached for a bottle and he reached for the door,
And I picked up the sleeping pills crushed in the floor.
Inviting me to casual obscenity.
IV) Perimeter Walk
It would be incredible if we could
Retrace all the times that we lived here.
All the collisions.
Wasted, I've never been so wasted.
I've never been this far out before.
Perimeter walk.
There's a presence here.
I feel could have been ancient,
I could have been mystical.
There's a presence,
A childhood, my childhood,
My childhood, childhood, a misplaced childhood,
My childhood, childhood, a misplaced childhood,
Give it back to me, give it back to me.
A childhood, the childhood, the childhood,
the childhood, the childhood.
Oh please give it back to me.
V) Threshold
I saw a war widow in a laundrette,
Washing the memories from her husband's clothes.
She had medals pinned to a threadbare greatcoat
A lump in her throat with cemetary eyes.
I see convoys curbcrawling West German Autobahns
Trying to pick up a war.
They're going to even the score.
Oh... I can't take any more.
I see black flags on factories,
Soup ladies poised on the lips of the poor.
I see children with vacant stares,
destined for rape in the alleyways.
Does anybody care, I can't take any more!
Should we say goodbye?
I see priests, politicians?
The heroes in black plastic body-bagsm under nations' flags
I see children pleading with outstretched hands,
drenched in napalm, this is no Vietnam.
I can't take any more, should we say goodbye,
How can you justify?
They call us civilised!.
Childhood's End?
And it was morning.
And I found myself mourning,
for a childhood that I thought had disappeared.
I looked out the window,
And I saw a magpie in the rainbow, the rain had gone
I'm not alone, I turned to the mirror,
I saw you, the child, that once loved.
The child before they broke his heart,
Our heart, the heart that I believed was lost.
Hey you, surprised? More than surprised,
to find the answers to the questions,
Were always in your own eyes.
Do you realize that you give it on back to her?
But that would only be retraced in all the problems that you ever knew,
So untrue.
For she's got to carry on with her life,
and you've got to carry on with yours.
So I see it's me, I can do anything
And still the child,
'Cos the only thing misplaced was direction
And I found direction.
There is no Childhood's End.
There is no Childhood's End.
Cos' you are my childhood friend.
Cos' you are my childhood friend.
Oh lead me on.
Hey you, you've survived.
Now you've arrived,
to be reborn in the shadow of the magpie.
Now you realize, that you've got to get out of here.
You've found the leading light of destiny,
burning in the ashes of your memory.
You want to change the world.
You'd resigned yourself to die a broken rebel,
But that was looking backward.
Now you've found the light.
You, the child that once loved,
The child before they broke his heart.
The heart, the heart that I believed was lost
So it's me I see, I can do anything.
I'm still the child.
'Cos the only thing misplaced was direction, and I found direction.
There is no childhood's end.
There is no childhood's end.
There is no childhood's end.
I am your childhood friend.
Oh.. lead me on.
White Feather
When I hit the streets back in '81
With a heart and a gown and a poet's crown.
I felt barbed wire kisses and icicle tears,
Wearing at me for all these years.
I saw political intrigue, political lies.
Going to wipe those smiles of self-satisfaction from their eyes
I will wear your white feather,
I will wear your white flag,
I will swear I have no nation,
But I'm proud to own my heart.
I will wear your white feather,
I will wear your white flag,
I will swear I have no nation,
But I'm proud to own my heart.
My heart, My heart,
This is my heart.
We don't need your uniforms,
We have no disguise,
Divided we stand, together we rise.
[All the children, all the children,
Tell your children...]
We will carry your white feathers,
We will carry your white flags,
We will swear we have no nation,
But we're proud to own our hearts.
We will carry your white feathers,
We will carry your white flags,
We will swear we have no nation,
But we're proud to own our hearts.
Our hearts,
These are our hearts