About the Song
As Taw Taw recently remarked, the origins of “All the Heroes Have Surrendered” can be traced to the early days of the psychedelic movement, a time when Ozly’s metaphysical inclinations resonated in mysterious chord progressions, when his archetypal notions burgeoned unchecked in esoteric lyrics. According to Ozly, it took him twenty years to finish the song. It took longer to come up with a mix that he and the generation that grew up with the song could live with.
All the Heroes Have Surrendered
Words and Music by Thomas Gannett
All the heroes have surrendered, one by one refusing blame.
And you can’t believe you’ve seen them, feel you can’t survive the shame.
And you can’t resist the moment:
cold wind moan right through you, sometimes, don’t it, sometimes?
You are the first breath in my body; you are the first light in my eyes.
Yet I speak to you in whispers, and I meet you in disguise.
And the heroes march till night falls,
catch their breath and onward leaving with the first light.
‘Cross a million miles of nowhere—oh, moving so slow.
No one guessed we’d dare to go there on our own.
Does it matter if they still care?
I don’t know; I don’t believe so.
To the sound of distant fanfare we must go.
All the heroes are defeated, roaming far from hearth and home.
They are fallen in the distance; only night fall shrouds their bones
as we lay our heads down lightly.
Guess we’ve seen enough unsightly stuff in our day.
You are the gentle wind that wakes me; you are the dawn in my night song.
Yet I lie rapt in my dream covers, afraid to wake and find you gone.
And the heroes in great voices
sing out songs of victory over the night winds.
‘Cross a million miles of nowhere—oh, moving so slow.
No one guessed we’d dare to go there on our own.
Does it matter if they still care?
I don’t know; I don’t believe so.
To the sound of distant fanfare we must go.