Dancing with the Moonlit Knight Lyrics
"Can you tell me where my country lies?"
Said the unifaun to his true love's eyes
"It lies with me!" cried the Queen of Maybe
For her merchandise, he traded in his prize
[Verse 1]
"Paper late!" cried a voice in the crowd
Hmm-hmm, "Old man dies!"
The note he left was signed "Old Father Thames"
It seems he's drowned
Selling England by the pound
[Verse 2]
Citizens of Hope and Glory
Time goes by, it's the time of your life
Easy now, sit you down
Chewing through your Wimpy dreams
They eat without a sound
Digesting England by the pound
[Pre-Chorus]
Young man says, "You are what you eat," eat well
Old man says, "You are what you wear," wear well
You know what you are, you don't give a damn
Bursting your belt that is your homemade sham
The Captain leads his dance right on
Through the night, join the dance
Follow on till the Grail sun sets in the mould
Follow on till the gold is cold
Dancing out with the moonlit knight
Knights of the Green Shield stamp and shout
[Instrumental Break]
[Pre-Chorus]
There's a fat old lady outside the saloon
Laying out the credit cards, she plays Fortune
The deck is uneven right from the start
And all of their hands are playing a part
[Chorus]
The Captain leads his dance right on
Through the night, join the dance
Follow on, a Round Table-talking down we go
You're the show, off we go with—
[Bridge]
You play the hobby-horse
I'll play the fool
We'll tease the bull
Ringing round diddle loud, loud diddle round
Follow on with a twist of the world we go
Follow on till the gold is cold
Dancing out with the moonlit knight
Knights of the Green Shield stamp and shout
[Instrumental Outro]
About
The first track of the band’s 1973 album ‘Selling England by the Pound’, ‘Dancing with the Moonlit Knight’ is a blend of early 70’s progressive rock and English folk music which characterised a number of Gabriel’s songs in this period.
Lyrically, the song is often interpreted as an elegy for a lost England. Gabriel addresses the ‘Citizens of Hope and Glory’, a reference to one of England’s monikers as the ‘Land of Hope and Glory’, exposing their life in England as one based on a fixation on the immediate and material, with ‘Wimpey Dreams’ name-dropping a popular English fast food restaurant in which the ‘Citizens of Hope and Glory’ mindlessly let their country be digested by their apathy to its existence (others have suggested ‘Wimpey’ is a reference to Wimpey Homes, a property development company which built many of England’s housing estates, with Gabriel mocking the false idyll that was post-war English suburban life).
In the concerts, Peter Gabriel used to say this before playing the song:
Hi, I’m in the English Channel. It is cold, exceedingly wet.
I am the voice of Britain before Daily Express. My name is Britannia. This is my song. It is called: Dancing With The Moonlit Knight“.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 1.Duke’s End
- 3.Mama
- 9.Afterglow
- 10.Hold on My Heart
- 12.That’s All
- 14.In Too Deep
- 16.Duchess
- 17.No Son of Mine
- 18.Firth of Fifth
- 23.Invisible Touch
- 24.I Can’t Dance
- 25.Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
- 27.Abacab