"The Day Begins"

I listened to Days of Future Passed on Tuesday.  I considered listening to the vinyl copy I have, so I dug it out on Tuesday morning, but I ended up listening to the 2008 CD re-issue so I could also listen to the bonus tracks.

But when I was looking at the record sleeve, I noticed something about "The Day Begins," if only tangentially.

For years, the only copy of Days of Future Passed I had was a CD re-issue, and judging by what information is available on discogs.com, it's from 1991.  The two poems at the beginning and end of the album are printed in the liner notes.  When I listened to it, I thought one line in "The Day Begins" was "Let insipid figures of light pass by," but since the booklet had "Let inspired figures of light pass by," I just assumed I heard it wrong.

"The Day Begins" from the CD booklet

When I lookt at the vinyl record sleeve on Tuesday morning, I was surprised to find that it reads, "Let insipid figures of light pass by."

"The Day Begins" from the record sleeve

(For what it's worth, the vinyl copy I have is a reprint from 1972.)

I feel justified now in hearing "Let insipid figures of light pass by," but I'm still in the dark as to how "insipid" was changed to "inspired" in the CD booklet.

"The Day Begins"

I recently learned that ἥλιος is the ancient Greek word for sun, and of course this got me thinking about the poem at the beginning of Days of Future Passed, which invokes the mythological figure with the same name: "Brave Helios, wake up your steeds."

In thinking about the poem, I realized that there's internal rhyme in the line "The mighty light of ten thousand suns" and that the repetition of -ight helps indicate that strength.