Thursday 30 July 2015

Ozymandias, the Man Behind the Hit

When Banner wrote Ozymandias back in 2005 for the israeli singer Noa (his favorite singer) he was inspired not only by the character created by Alan Moore for his Watchmen, he also fusioned a couple of obscure poems by Percy Shelley and his friend Horace Smith.



Here you got both poems and also the final lyrics chosen by Banner:

Shelley's "Ozymandias"

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

Smith's "Ozymandias"

In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desert knows:—
"I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,
"The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
"The wonders of my hand."— The City's gone,—
Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose
The site of this forgotten Babylon.

We wonder,—and some Hunter may express
Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace,
He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
What powerful but unrecorded race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place.


Banner´s solution (please, don´t miss the personal message at the end of the lyrics!):

First verse:

If i sing my song for you…
If I´d said my heart is true
Would you rise straight from the dust of your Karnak
(my soul is waiting here my love)

Second Verse:

If i sing this song for you
Would your hands, rebuild the land,
King of kings, a Babylon settled in stone
(playing ancient rites of the moon)

Chorus:

Your world is beautiful, so very beautiful,
How can the universe collapse in two?

Your face is beautiful, your spiritit is beautiful,
Still reigns among the stones of your Karnak

Third verse:

All alone,  gigantic Legs, which far off throws shadows of dust,
King of kings, said the stone, The City's gone,—(Nought but the Legs remaining true)

Fourth Verse:

In this land, Half sunk in sand, a shattered visage look us back, with wrinkled lips that seems to say: (“My name is Ozymandias)

Chorus:

Just behold my works!!! You mighty and despair!!!” Nothing else beside the stone remains...

Your face is beautiful, your spiritit is beautiful,
Still reigns among the stones of your Karnak*

* Dear Noa, i have sung a different verse in the guide vocals but i think that this one fits much better to finish the song. Sorry if i drive you nuts!!!!

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