The path you tread is narrow
And the drop is shear and very high
The ravens all are watching
From a vantage point nearby
Apprehension creeping
Like a tube-train up your spine
Will the tightrope reach the end
Will the final couplet rhyme

And it's high time
Cymbaline
It's high time
Cymbaline
Please wake me

The lines converging where you stand
They must have moved the picture plane
The leaves are heavy around your feet
You feel the thunder of the train
Suddenly it strikes you
That they're moving into range
Doctor Strange is always changing size

And it's high time
Cymbaline
It's high time
Cymbaline
Please wake me


Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae

Cymbaline Lyrics as written by Nick Turner Dave Brock

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, T.R.O. INC.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Cymbaline song meanings
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40 Comments

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  • +4
    General Comment

    I like how the final couplets don't rhyme (range/size), as predicted by the first verse.

    timothyrealon May 15, 2008   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    One of my all time favs, from an under appreciated album. I do find it unfortunate that he chose the line about manager and agent busy on the phone.... It just immediately reminds me this is NOT a song about me and my experiences, but rather about rock stars and theirs. As I said, I love this song, but will always wish to change that one line, it ruins my personal interpretation.

    asydheadon February 03, 2013   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    the posted lyrics are wrong, im sure its this instead:

    the path you tread is narrow and the drop is sheer and very high

    that makes much more sense. excellent song! classic floyd!

    dom_stapletonon May 04, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    this song portrays anxiety in a very colourful way. "lines converging where you stand" "ravens all are watching" "you hear the thunder of the train and suddenly it strikes you that youre moving into range" when one has anxiety, he feels as though the whole world's focus is on himself alone and he cannot escape. the woman in this song must have felt that the only way she could escape was to indulge in drugs or alcohol in order to feel more relaxed, to forget.

    piperatthewallon August 24, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    God, I love this song. Much more than Ibiza Bar, it has so much depth to it.

    TenYears_Goneon October 24, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    A lot like Ibiza Bar, now that I think about it. The themes are similar.

    inpraiseoffollyon July 09, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    A cautionary tale warning a loved one of the world's dark side. Quintessential, and much better than Cat Stevens' Wild World...

    KrflwthataxUGnon October 12, 2008   Link
  • +1
    My Opinion

    Lott79, this is most plausible as it's from the soundtrack to the film More. A French film by Iranian producer Barbet Schroeder about the making of a heroin addict. The main character, Stefan, fresh from college, hitches from Germany to Paris, meets an American girl and they heads off to Ibiza, gets hooked on dope etc. in the hippie lifestyle and so on.

    imdb.com/title/tt0064694/

    That probably why there's a track Ibiza Bar too!

    Interesting link about the Dr Strange reference docstrange.com/dsssmuseum/pinkfloydac.asp

    Also, the lyrics for both the album and movie version of Cymbaline can be fond here sites.google.com/site/pinkfloydlyrics/more

    Another film, La vallée, also by Barbet, features many songs from Obscured By Clouds as it was the soundtrack album. The film, is also about sexual freedom and mind alteration (possibly by drug use) ... typical of the late 60's and early '70's and even up to today I guess. But better for its soundtrack than plot.

    imdb.com/title/tt0069451/

    AlwaysAFloydFanon March 06, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    What's Cymbaline?

    HighwayStaron March 07, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i agree dom, that is the actual line...

    beautiful song...one of my favs...

    Demau????? what does LIONS converging ....mean

    its lines converging

    daysleeper7076on June 07, 2005   Link

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