The Book of Lies

Lyrics

You keep reading me the Book of Lies (1)
You keep reading me the Book of Lies

And you keep giving me
And you keep reading me
The Book of Lies
The Book of Lies
Book of Lies
You keep telling me
Book of Lies
The Book of Lies

Book of Lies

Book of Lies
Book of Lies

Reading me the Book of Lies
I don't like what I'm doing to you
You don't like what you're doing to me
Don't make me cry
The Book of Lies
The Book of Lies
Book of Lies
The Book of Lies

You don't listen to anything I say
Or do anything you promised to do
So why should I?
So why should I?
The Book of Lies
Book of Lies

Reading me the Book of Lies
You keep reading me the Bool of Lies

You don't listen to anything I say
Or do anything you promised to say
So why should I
Listen to
Subject to
The Book of Lies?
The Book of Lies

You keep reading me The Book of Lies
Book of Lies

Reading me the Book of Lies
You keep reading me the Book of Lies
Keep reading me the Book of Lies

(You don't do anything I want you to
You don't promise anything that I ask you to)

 

 

Notes

1. The title is probably inspired by The Book of Lies by Aleister Crowley, a gnomic series of vignettes that are meant to convey knowledge of "magick" (Crowley's preferred spelling) to the reasonably enlightened reader (the book is not a "novel," as the Reformation site incorrectly calls it). According to The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, the author's "auto-hagiography," Theodor Reuss, the head of the O.T.O. (Ordo Templi Orientis, a freemasonic-type organization) came to his apartment and chastised him for publishing secrets of the order, of which Crowley protested perfect ignorance (the secret in question was the method of sexual magic(k) taught to initiates of the ninth degree). Reuss then pulled The Book of Lies from Crowley's shelf and showed him a chapter. Crowley claims he had not grasped the meaning of what he had written, but it came upon him at that moment. Reuss then told Crowley that he must receive the ninth degree immediately, since he was already in possession of the secret. Crowley went on to become the head of the order, which persists to this day in various forms, all of which are mostly dedicated to propagating the teachings of Crowley. The punchline of the story is, according to Crowley's undoubtedly honest account, that Reuss' visit took place several years before the book was even written. The song itself is a fairly straightforward "you done me wrong" kind of complaint.   

Kenny Brady sings co-lead vocals.

 

^

Comments (8)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 03/07/2014
Bit of backing vocal overlap at the end which I'm ignoring, but here is what I hear - slight differences from the abovc only.

You keep reading me the Book of Lies
You keep reading me the Book of Lies

And you keep giving me
And you keep reading me
The Book of Lies
The Book of Lies
Book of Lies
You keep telling me, Book of Lies
The Book of Lies
Book of Lies
Book of Lies
The Book of Lies

You keep reading me the Book of Lies

I don't like what I'm doing to you
You don't like what you're doing to me
Don't make me cry
The Book of Lies
The Book of Lies
The Book of Lies
The Book of Lies

You don't listen to anything I say or do anything you promised to do
So why should I?
So why should I?
The Book of Lies
The Book of Lies

You keep reading me the Book of Lies
You keep reading me the Book of Lies

You don't listen to anything I say or do anything you promised to say
So why should I listen to ...
Subject to the Book of Lies
The Book of Lies

You keep reading me the Book of Lies
Book of Lies

You keep reading me the Book of Lies
The Book of Lies
You keep reading me the Book of Lies

Book of Lies
Junkman
  • 2. Junkman | 05/03/2018
Backing vocal at the end:

"You don't do anything I want you to
You don't promise anything that I ask you to"
vdf
  • 3. vdf | 14/11/2020
1991 Interview

On the new album the lyrics seem to be more accessible. Was that a
conscious decision?

"No, eh, a quarter of it was improvised, actually, on the spot. With
stripping the band down, I can work more on a thought level with
them. But I've always been trying to get me lyrics not simpler, but
more straight to the point, really. It's not like a commercial aim,
it's more like getting it [with?] less verbiage."

It sometimes seems to be clear what the song is about. I don't know if
there's a double layer...

"Exactly. ... There were a lot of complaints, in England, you know,
'the titles are very boring'. It wasn't 'esoteric' enough, which I
think is good. You know, 'A Lot Of Wind' is about a lot of wind, you
know. 'The Book Of Lies' is about lies."
dannyno
  • 4. dannyno | 15/11/2020
Let's have the links!

That's from the "Miejer interview", text available here: https://sites.google.com/site/reformationposttpm/Home/bibliography/1991---early---miejer-interview
bzfgt
  • 6. bzfgt (link) | 13/02/2021
Yes, if people quote something from a web source please include the link, if it's not a web source please say where it comes from
bzfgt
  • 7. bzfgt (link) | 13/02/2021
Of course "The Book of Lies' is from a source generally considered esoteric, although he could have forgotten that's where he got it I think we have to assume Crowley's book as the ultimate source of the phrase
dannyno
  • 8. dannyno | 25/04/2022
Craig Scanlon on the Hanley brothers Oh! Brother podcast (Season 2, episode 7, 25 April 2022), confirms that Kenny Brady is on vocals.

https://play.acast.com/s/605f39df77590c5e123f9e5c/6265a5f4f6db2100121105d5

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