Kenosis to Gnosis

Most of Gerry Rafferty's songs have the Gnostic theme of becoming the soul and returning home in them. There are too many to list here, but if you look at the lyrics of his songs, it is pretty clear what his beliefs are.

 

Baker Street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baker Street is really a song about the prodigal son. The man in this song comes from a city in darkness with no soul and where he finds no happiness and he goes to a man in a house with light. The man from the city realizes there's nothing in there and he returns to the man in the house. This is a modern way of looking at the prodigal story. At the end of this song the Sun comes up, he wakes up and he comes home. The light, waking up and returning home are linked together. This is the soul returning home to where it came from.

Winding your way down on Baker Street
Light in your head, and dead on your feet
Well another crazy day
You drink the night away
And forget about everything (This is the forgetfulness of the soul in the body).
This city desert makes you feel so cold,
Its got so many people but its got no soul (The city is this world and it is a desert and the collective consciousness of the people have no soul).
And it's taken you so long to find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything (You think the world has so much, but it is really empty).

You used to think that it was so easy
You used to say that it was so easy
But you're tryin', you're tryin' now
Another year and then you'd be happy
Just one more year and then you'd be happy
But you're cryin', you're cryin' now (You think one day you will be happy, but happiness wont come in this world).

Way down the street there's a light in his place (The street is this life. The light is the light at the end of this life).
He opens the door (This is the door to the spirit).
He's got that look on his face
And he asks you where you've been

You tell him who you've seen
And you talk about anything
He's got this dream about buyin' some land
He's gonna give up the booze and the one night stands
And then he'll settle down
It's a quiet little town
And forget about everything
But you know he'll always keep movin'
You know he's never gonna stop movin'
'Cause he's rollin'
He's the rolling stone
And when you wake up it's a new mornin' (This is your soul waking up).
The sun is shining it's a new mornin' (The sun is the light of the spirit).
And you're going, you're going home (Home is Heaven or the spirit. Waking up is a new morning and it is returning home).

 

The waters of forgetfulness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gerry Rafferty has two angels in the background, one is colored normally and the other is in the negative, this represents polar opposites that the soul is in in the body.

Born on the wind, cooled by the rain
Lost in a dream, no memory remains (The dream is this life and no memory remaining means forgetting about your true self).
Under the clouds, far from the sun (The sun is the light of the spirit and the clouds are the forgetfulness that blocks out the light. The movie called the Never Ending Story shows clouds that destroys Fantasia and the world that the soul comes from).
Tied to a wheel, since time has begun. (The wheel represents cycles or time and you are tied to it. In the story of Samson, Samson is forced to turn a millstone).

And we sleep the live long night
As part of the river we suffer together so far from the light (The sleep is the sleep of the soul and suffering comes from being far from the light of the spirit).
And we gaze the live long day
Into the waters of forgetfulness, yeah yeah yeah. yeah yeah yeah.

Tossed on the sea, still in a dream
Looks like a war, it’s not what it seems
Ruled by the moon, pulled by the tide
Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

And we sleep the live long night
As part of the river we suffer together so far from the light
And we gaze the live long day
Into the waters of forgetfulness, yeah yeah yeah. yeah yeah yeah.

And we sleep the live long night
As part of the river we suffer together so far from the light
And we gaze the live long day
Into the waters of forgetfulness, yeah yeah yeah. yeah yeah yeah.