Lyric sheets were never included with any release of Prelude, Days of Future Passed or In Search of a Lost Chord. Later, "budget" CD releases of albums didn't always include the full liner notes with lyric sheets either. This makes deciphering lyrics to these songs a challenge.

Commercially published songbooks for these albums also have some glaring, and sometimes hilarious, errors. (Perhaps the single work with the most extensive errors is a Japanese single of "Question" which included an English lyric sheet with no fewer than 15 errors! See Higher & Higher magazine Issue #33.) The members of Lost Chords have collectively come up with the following corrections to common or published mistakes.

"Another Morning" (Days of Future Passed)
Uncle Bill, he gets a thrill
Sitting watching Bobby quill
should be:
Angler Bill, he gets a thrill
Sitting, watching bobbing quill.
(Note: a quill is a float for a fishing line)

"Twilight Time" (Days of Future Passed)
Match-sticks do ring like puppets on string
should be:
Bats take to wing like puppets on string

"Cities" (Prelude and the B-side of the "Nights in White Satin" single)
Taxis like poodles run
should be:
Taxis like beetles run

"Ride My See-Saw" (In Search of the Lost Chord
Run, run like a fire,
But don't you run in, the lace of our time
should be:
Run, run like a fire,
But don't you run in, in the lanes, run for time

"Candle of Life" (To Our Children's Children's Children)
was listed on some CD releases as "Candle of Light"

"Question" (A Question of Balance
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That's what the wall of blood is for
should be:
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That's what the war of love is for

"Fly Me High" (Prelude)
I leave you behind on the streets in the gloom
I'm up here alone on this brand new broom.
should be:
I leave you behind on the streets in the gloom
I'm up here alone an' there's plenty of room

"One Step Into the Light" (Octave)
The river of living breath
Is flowing through the son.
He was there before the earth began.
Should be:
The river of living breath
Is flowing through the sun.
He was there before the earth began.
(Mike Pinder has said that he was referring to the physical sun, since all matter that makes up things on earth was formed in stars.)

"I Am" (The Present) The whispered part at the beginning of "I Am" has been much debated and many people have spent time with headphones and signal processors on this quest. The best fan interpretation, as reported in Higher & Higher magazine Issue # 24, was:
Built in the image of the Father
From the outside, looking in
But inside is a different place
Beautify Earth - and scream
I am!

Higher & Higher magazine Issue #39/40 included contributions from Pip Williams (producer for The Present), who checked with Ray Thomas on these lyrics. Pip says the whispered words are:
Built in the image of the Father
From the outside, looking in
But inside is a different place
Due to my earthbound skin
I am!

On to Section 5.6

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