Atlantis

Album: Barabajagal (1969)
Charted: 23 7
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  • The continent of Atlantis was an island
    Which lay before the great flood
    In the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean
    So great an area of land, that from her western shores
    Those beautiful sailors journeyed
    To the South and the North Americas with ease
    In their ships with painted sails

    To the East Africa was a neighbor, across a short strait of sea miles
    The great Egyptian age is but a remnant of The Atlantian culture
    The antediluvian kings colonized the world
    All the Gods who play in the mythological dramas
    In all legends from all lands were from fair Atlantis
    Knowing her fate, Atlantis sent out ships to all corners of the Earth
    On board were the Twelve:
    The poet, the physician, the farmer, the scientist
    The magician and the other so-called Gods of our legends
    Though Gods they were
    And as the elders of our time choose to remain blind
    Let us rejoice and let us sing and dance and ring in the new

    Hail Atlantis!
    Way down below the ocean where I want to be she may be
    Way down below the ocean where I want to be she may be
    Way down below the ocean where I want to be she may be

    Way down below the ocean where I want to be she may be
    Way down below the ocean where I want to be she may be

    My antediluvian baby, oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah
    I want to see you some day
    My antediluvian baby, oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah
    My antediluvian baby
    My antediluvian baby, I love you, girl
    I want to see you some day
    My antediluvian baby, oh yeah
    I want to see you some day, oh
    My antediluvian baby
    My antediluvian baby, I want to see you
    My antediluvian baby, gotta tell me where she gone
    I want to see you some day
    Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, oh yeah
    Oh glub glub, down down, yeah
    My antediluvian baby Writer/s: Donovan Leitch
    Publisher: Peermusic Publishing
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 7

  • Rvak from Alaska I heard it while in the ‘nam. Due to getting the words wrong it took a while to finally search and find it again.
  • Finatelli from São Paulo,brazilI'd like to do an observation: The correct lyrics is" Way down below The Ocean...and not " ..beneath The Ocean.
  • Larry from CanadaRandy, no I'm not a Nam vet ... I did however spend a 30 year Navy career commencing in '73. A number of my earlier peers did see a somewhat different side of Nam than an Army guy and your sentiment about this tune and Donovan himself is spot on for a lot of us. Thankyou. Sara ..., yes , a lovely song and for those that wish to remain literal in their life, so be it. You are correct, their comments rank right up there with stupid. This is a meaningful ballad of love and hope. So well put together. Enjoy it, for what it is.
  • Randy from Fayettevile, ArWhen "Atlantis" was entering the Top Ten in 1969, I was entering Vietnam, courtesy of the US Army. I still love the song & Donovan. The song was popular while I was in "Nam & got good airplay by AFVN (the military radio station there). So, whenever I hear it on these oldies stations now it bring back some good & some bad memories of the times. My brother bought the album "Barabajagal" in 1969 so when I got out of the Army and got home I got to hear & love that LP. Actually, I've been a Donovan fan since his "Catch The Wind" hit from years earlier. So, this is a special song to me.
  • Oldpink from New Castle, InMartin Scorsese used this song in the movie "Goodfellas" for the scene where Billy Batts is brutally beaten to death by Joe Pesci and Robert Deniro.
    The juxtaposition of this beautiful song with incredible violence is a very shocking moment, and very effective.
  • Sara from Silver Spring, MdOn a website about Atlantis it says that many of the things described in the song are not the way Plato described them: Plato did not write of a "great flood" but of floods and earthquakes.
    Africa wasn't a neighbor, the Alanteans did not know of their fate, there were ten Altantean kings not "twelve", etc.
    I'm sure this is just taken from the original view of the song and Donovan did his own view after reading a book on Atlantis.
  • Sara from Silver Spring, MdIt's "Hail Atlanta" not "Hail Atlantis" on Futurama. It was written around the same time as "Hey Jude" but not as long.
    Oddly enough Stephen King a devoted Donovan fan refers to this in a negative light (as stupid) in
    the book Hearts in Atlantis while on an episode of
    "Stargate Atlantis" Jack O'Neil refers to it as a "negative Donovan song". That is pretty stupid enough. Such a pretty song has been riduculed again and again!
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