Fair Rosanna your vagrancy's a familiar tale.
Fraught with danger, the lives you led were judged profane.
Hatred enfolds us, inculcates our minds with it's heresy.
Laymen enfold us, clemency arise to set you free.

Fate, although Xavier has prayed that life giving waters may rain
Down on the souls of men to cure them of their ways.
These were the sins of Xavier's past, hung like jewels in the forest of veils.
Deep in the heart where the mysteries emerge

Eve bears the stigma of original sin.
Freedom's so hard, when we are all bound by laws
Etched in the scheme of natures own hand, unseen by all those who fail
In their pursuit of fate.

Although Xavier has prayed that life giving waters may rain
Down on the souls of men to cure them of their ways.
And as the night turns into day will the sun illuminate your way,
Or will your nightmares come home to stay.

Xavier's love lies in chains.
These were the sins of Xavier's past,
Hung like jewels in the forest of veils.


Lyrics submitted by Neon_Like

Xavier Lyrics as written by Lisa Germaine Gerrard Brendan Michael Perry

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Xavier song meanings
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3 Comments

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  • +5
    General Comment

    Brenden revealed recently that this song is about Roseanna Xavier (one person), a fictitious character who is dealing with being a woman born into a man's world. For YEARS I wondered who this Xavier person was, and if it was a historical character. But Roseanna is the combined name of Brendan's mother and aunt.

    unfashionedon May 22, 2010   Link
  • +2
    Song Meaning

    The fourth track from Dead Can Dance’s third album, Within the Realm of a Dying Sun, details the trials of one Roseanna Xavier, a fictional woman who is unjustly persecuted for unspecified (but subtly implied) reasons. Xavier makes for a tragic feminist heroine subjugated by the confines of a society dominated by men.

    The narrator makes an appeal for humanity to look on the judgements of Xavier with a critical eye, and for empathy to rule over the fear of the unknown and of that which differs from convention.

    The exact nature of the persecution that Xavier suffers is undisclosed but centers around the fact that she is a woman. She is judged a vagrant and profane, suggesting perhaps that she suffers due to an open expression of sexuality or of a strong identity that diverges from the expectations of a patriarchal society that favours submissive and conforming women.

    St. Francis Xavier was the the greatest Roman Catholic missionary of modern times. I am thinking there was some inspiration for why he chose that as the songs name. With encouragement from his friend Ignatius of Loyola, Xavier devoted himself to religious service and became one of the founders of the Jesuit order. so I do agree with unfashioned's comment especially since it's from Brendan Perry himself but I have always believed there was some genuine religious undertones in this songs lyrics and title that cannot be ignored.

    EternalTearsOfSorrowon June 12, 2018   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Even the savior has sins... though he has traveled far into the mysteries, go in deep enough and you can see his flaws as well

    anomalous3on May 06, 2007   Link

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