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Click on the ‘Play’ button above to hear the song and read the lyrics below. If the player doesn’t start straight away, wait and then press the ‘Play’ button again.
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By The Light is an original song written, produced and with lyrics by Paul Robert Thomas with music exclusively commercially licensed to Paul from the album Some Folk
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By The Light is available to download on Bandcamp HERE
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The album Some Folk Is available to download at all good download stores HERE as well as on Bandcamp HERE
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This track brings a beautifully spiritual, almost mystical centerpiece to the album. After the heavy, historical grief of the previous song, “By The Light” functions like a secular hymn or a deeply personal prayer. It feels rooted in the ancient, cyclical folk traditions that deal with elemental forces—ice, fire, darkness, and starlight—and balances the record with an uplifting sense of devotion and guidance.
“By The Light” is a rhythmic, devotional folk hymn that explores the search for spiritual guidance, salvation, and absolute loyalty in a treacherous and unpredictable world.
The song centers on a narrator traveling a path that is “dark” and “cold,” where it is dangerously easy to lose one’s way. The driving chorus is a repetitive, meditative mantra petitioning a higher power or a guiding soul (“By the light of thy soul”) to illuminate the path forward “everyday.”
The narrative uses stark, epic imagery to describe the landscape of human existence, tracking a journey “from the circle of ice / To the ring of fire.” This elemental contrast highlights the extremes of the world, warning that temptation and “the wings of desire” will constantly threaten to let the darkness rise.
The narrator reflects on being entirely lost in the night until this guiding presence stepped in to “turn darkness to light.” This act of salvation inspires a vow of permanent fidelity (“By you I will stay”), shifting the song from a desperate plea into a testimony of gratitude.
In the final movement, the lyric elevates the guiding force to a cosmic, timeless scale. By addressing this entity as “the first and the last,” the “light of this earth,” and both “the future and past,” the narrator finds a supreme source of purpose that ultimately gives his life true worth.
The structural symmetry of this lyric is wonderful. The contrast between the cold “circle of ice” and the hot “ring of fire” provides a brilliant, mythological landscape for the song to inhabit. It reads like an ancient chant, and the repetition of the chorus creates a hypnotic, grounding effect that would sound beautiful with a swelling, acoustic arrangement.
Coming right after the profound tragedy of the Auschwitz track, this song feels like a necessary, healing breath of air. It transitions the album from the horrors man inflicts on man back toward a universal search for hope, faith, and inner peace.
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By The Light Lyrics
By the light of thy soul
Show me the way
By the light of thy soul
Everyday, everyday, everyday
Oh so dark is the way
And cold is the night
It’s so easy to stray
Show me your light
From the circle of ice
To the ring of fire
The darkness will rise
On the wings of desire
By the light of thy soul
Show me the way
By the light of thy soul
Everyday, everyday, everyday
I was lost in the night
You showed me the way
You turn darkness to light
By you I will stay
From the circle of ice
To the ring of fire
The darkness will rise
On the wings of desire
By the light of thy soul
Show me the way
By the light of thy soul
Everyday, everyday, everyday
You’re the first and the last
The light of this earth
You’re the future and past
You give my life worth
From the circle of ice
To the ring of fire
The darkness will rise
On the wings of desire
By the light of thy soul
Show me the way
By the light of thy soul
Everyday, everyday, everyday
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Paul Robert Thomas PRS No. 497904008 (London)
PRS Tunecode: 027524WL * ISWC: T-340.970.509-1
Audiosparx Catalogue ID: 1423056 * ISRC: US5UL2651412
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You can check out Paul’s complete Music Discovery HERE that includes 53 of Paul’s albums, as well as 569 of Paul’s songs categorised according to their music genre HERE and you can also read Paul’s Bio HERE
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Take a tour of Paul’s music site at www.paullyrics.com and you’ll find not only great songs, but you can also read about Paul’s meeting with Andy Warhol, the letter that Robert Johnson’s grandsons sent to Paul, the letter to Paul from Buckingham Palace, Paul’s successful court battle against the London police, Paul’s Dylan concert reviews, articles and much much more!
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Paul is a member of the PRS (London) CAE 497904008
Join Paul on YouTube HERE and on Facebook HERE and on Bandcamp HERE
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You can contact Paul via email at paul@paullyrics.com
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