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The original version of Amanda Lear's 1978 song “The Sphinx,“ from a television performance in 1979. Her later recording of it, from 1998, is on YouTube here: The song, written by Lear herself, is notable for its esoteric lyrics; they may sound almost meaningless to most people but anyone who has studied esotericism, mysticism, mythology, or Theosophy, will recognise a depth and significance to the wording: - - - - - I wish I could be like the king who said to his people: “My friends, this is now the end, if we lose this battle we shall live forever. The people of the sun will remember this day and give us immortality - long after I'm gone, long after the sun.“ I want to be like this king but I can't stand the pain, my friend, and I keep looking for all the faces I had before the world began. I've only known desire and my poor soul will burn into eternal fire and I can't even cry; a sphinx can never cry. I am standing in the wish that I could be a silent sphinx eternally. I don't want any past, only want things which cannot last. And I can't even cry, though God knows how I try. A sphinx can never cry and sphinxes never die. I'm famous or am I infamous? It doesn't matter much anymore. Phony words of love or painfully truth, I've heard it all before. Appraisal or critics or even politics, a conversation piece. A woman or a priest; it's all a point of view. I am standing in the wish that I could be a silent sphinx eternally. I don't want any past, only want things which cannot last. And I can't even cry, a sphinx can never cry and sphinxes never die. A sphinx can never cry. - - - - - You can read more about Amanda Lear on Wikipedia and elsewhere online.
