Shadow of a Lonely Man

Thanks to my childhood music memories for this renewed understanding. Sometimes you do remember what is reverberating in your mind

The reason both You and I need to read the same book several times throughout our life is because every single time we read it, new lessons, new paradigm shifts, new moments are added to your learning curve, to our life, and then, the same words sound different in your mind.

The added experiences show new ways to interpret those words, and then suddenly a new lesson appear to be added to our own baggage.

As the time passes by, there is no opportunity to fix the mistakes that our past -my past- carry to the future. Simply because most of them passed the point of no return.

And then the sorrow, the repent, the joy of crying alone arises as the only way to move forward:


Look at me now, a shadow of the man I used to be...
Or  I dreamed to be, or I needed to be.

Look through my eyes and through the years of loneliness you'll see...
As tears in the rain that go to the asphalt river.

To the times in my life when I could not bear to lose
And now, loosing is the only way to be sure I am still breathing.

A simple game.
What is simple? What is  it not? The only simple is the futility of avoiding the game. It must be played anyway.

And the least of it all was the fortune and the fame...
The most was the really happy moments...

But the dream seemed to end just as soon as it had begun...
Or never started?

Was I to know?
Yes, I do too.

For the last thing of all that was on my mind
Was the close at the end of the show.
The shadow of a lonely man feels nobody else...
YES, I am still felling, don't let me drown alone. Please don't.


In the shadow of a lonely, lonely man
I can see myself...
(Looking out of nowhere...Looking out of nowhere...)
Looking at myself, looking possible futures, as dark as they can be, and as bright as they will be.

But the sound of the crowds when they come to see me now,
Is not the same.
There is no sound when you are alone, only the noise of your own thoughts.

And the jest of it all is I can't recall my name. But I cling to a hope till I can't hold on anymore...anymore... And for all the acclaim, I am all alone!
Thinking about you, about me, about us...

And I see as I look through the door,
The shadow of a lonely man...There's nobody else...
In the shadow of a lonely, lonely man
I can see myself!
...Look at me now, a shadow of the man I used to be....
I  really can't see anything else, but the reflection of my inner search and the blurred image of the past and the blurriest of the future.




And now, just for fun, the real lyrics:



Songwriters: Alan Parsons / Eric Woolfson
The Alan Parsons Project
Shadow of a Lonely Man

Look at me now, a shadow of the man I used to be...
Look through my eyes and through the years of loneliness you'll see...
To the times in my life when I could not bear to lose
A simple game.
And the least of it all was the fortune and the fame...
But the dream seemed to end just as soon as it had begun...
Was I to know?
For the last thing of all that was on my mind
Was the close at the end of the show.
The shadow of a lonely man feels nobody else...

In the shadow of a lonely, lonely man
I can see myself...

(Looking out of nowhere...Looking out of nowhere...)

But the sound of the crowds when they come to see me now,
Is not the same.
And the jest of it all is I can't recall my name.
But I cling to a hope till I can't hold on anymore...anymore...
And for all the acclaim, I am all alone!
And I see as I look through the door,

The shadow of a lonely man...There's nobody else...
In the shadow of a lonely, lonely man
I can see myself!

...Look at me now, a shadow of the man I used to be....