There are not that many good Dutch rock songs, but “Strange Machine”s by The Gathering, certainly can be called a great metal track.
It is the first song of The Gathering’s third album, the first to feature vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen. The song contains a passage from George Pal’s film version of H.G. Wells’s book, The Time Machine.
It is about the desire to construct a machine that can fly through time.
In 1995, The Gathering released “Mandylion,” their third album and first to feature lead vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen, through Century Media; proving to be their breakthrough and selling over 130,000 copies in Europe. Two singles were released from Mandylion, “Adrenaline/Leaves” and “Strange Machines”, the latter, which reached number 37 on the Dutch singles charts and helped raise the group’s popularity in Europe and the United States.
[Verse 1]
It has always been in the back of my mind
Dreaming about going to the corners of time
I always wanted to fly in strange machines
[Chorus 1]
I wanna do centuries in a lifetime
And feel it with my hands
Touch the World War II and Cleopatra
Flying…
[Verse 2]
Could it be that my dream would come true
Building a machine that would actually do
What I want it to do
[Verse 3]
Russian revolution, let’s do that in one day
Beethoven and Gershwin, I think that would be OK
More than anything I wanna fly in strange machines
[Chorus 2]
I wanna do centuries in a lifetime
And see it with my eyes
Watch Jesus rise, if he ever did
Flying…
You might also like
Eléanor
The Gathering
In Motion #1
The Gathering
But Daddy I Love Him
Taylor Swift
[Chorus 3]
I wanna do centuries in a lifetime
And feel it with my hands
Touch the Renaissance and Chaka Khan
Flying…
Sources
History of Sorts 