The First Rebreather Songtext
von Big Big Train

In a place where the river banks draw near
Men work a heading to the west
Where streams like giants′ fingers close
From the hills to the emptiness beneath
To the depths of the mere

Morning light
Midwinter sun
Underneath
The river song

In a place where the river banks draw close
(Men break stone to make new ground)
Light and air are hard down deep to find
(Engines work to hold the water back)
To the edge of the mere

"Run boys run toward the light"
"The river's in, the tunnel′s in"

Here she comes
The sleeper wakes, ten thousand years
She lay in wait for this


Every night their dreams were filled
With the fear (of the river breaking in)
But this was not a river god
This was something (rising from the deep)
From the depths of the mere

"Run boys run make for the light"
"Save yourselves, the tunnel's in"
Here he comes
The first rebreather, like a mummer
Like a souler
Come to save them

Rising up to the height of the river (river)
At flood tide
Engines fail, lost to the water
As silence falls

This man will walk into darkness
One foot in front of the other

Into the unsounded depths
Of the heading
Into the fifth circle of hell
With no light to lead him home
Man is all alone
At the end...


(This man will walk into darkness)
(Without fear of what lurks in the shadows)

Watching the surface grow (quite still)
Waiting for hope at the ninth hour
Man all alone in the darkness

Here he comes