URIAH HEEP - SYMPATHY

SYMPATHY

URIAH HEEP

SONGWRITER: HENSLEY KENNETH WILLIAM DAVID

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: FIREFLY

LABEL: WARNER RECORDS

GENRE: ROCK

YEAR: 1977

Firefly is the 10th album by British rock band Uriah Heep, released in 1977 by Bronze Records in the UK and Warner Bros. Records in the US. It was their first album without lead vocalist and founding member David Byron, and the first of three albums with new singer John Lawton.

Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. Their current lineup includes lead and rhythm guitarist Mick Box, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, lead vocalist Bernie Shaw, drummer Russell Gilbrook, and bassist Davey Rimmer. Of this lineup, Box is the only remaining original member. Throughout many lineup changes, the band has included many notable musicians, such as vocalists David Byron, John Lawton, John Sloman, Peter Goalby and Steff Fontaine, bassists Gary Thain, Trevor Bolder, John Wetton, Bob Daisley and John Jowitt, drummers Nigel Olsson, Lee Kerslake and Chris Slade, and keyboardists Ken Hensley and John Sinclair.

Over the course of their 51-year career, Uriah Heep have released twenty-four studio albums (of original material), twenty live albums and forty-one compilation albums (including two greatest hits albums composed of re-recorded material: Celebration – Forty Years of Rock and Totally Driven). Twelve of the band's studio albums have made it to the UK Albums Chart (Return to Fantasy reached No. 7 in 1975) while of the fifteen Billboard 200 Uriah Heep albums Demons and Wizards was the most successful (#23, 1972). In the late 1970s the band had massive success in Germany, where the "Lady in Black" single was a big hit.

The band maintains a significant following and performs at arena-sized venues in the Balkans, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia and Scandinavia. They have sold over 45 million albums worldwide with over 4 million sales in the U.S, where its best-known songs include "Easy Livin'", "The Wizard", "Sweet Lorraine", and "Stealin'".

Sympathy just doesn't mean that much to me

Compassion is now compassion in my mind

And if you're looking for a shoulder to cry on

Don't turn your head my way

'Cause I'd rather have my music in a day

You and I are master of our destiny

We look for consolation all the time

Till we find out things are not what they were meant to be oh no

And if it doesn't suit our mood, we'll call it crime

Dedication is not an obligation

All I think about someone's imagination

It's the only way to say to live from day to day

To make each passing way a smile succession

Dreams are the possession of the simple man

Reality the fantasy of youth

When living is a problem that is common to us all

We love the only common road to truth.