From the recording Amnesia / For Fear of Forgetting

The phrase "the great silence" has historically been used for a number of things, including the collusion of the Catholic church with the Nazi regime in WWII.

But physicists also use it to describe the fact they have to date never discovered signs of extraterrestrial life. This is the sense in which the phrase is used in the second verse.

In the first verse it is used to indicate a lack of scientific proof for the existence of God.

But at the same time it’s also a love song. It’s saying “love can fill the void”.

Lyrics

The Great Silence

I look at you
You look at me
We’re looking at the world about us
We can see

I listen hard
I scour the stars
I search the firmament
For further evidence

But there is none
The voice of God
It stays dumb

I try to pray
To no avail
My voice rings like an echo in a well

Is it just me and you
Listening to
The great silence
Is it just you and me
Listening to the silence of eternity

You look at me
I look at you
There’s noone else here
It’s just us two

I’m searching low
I’m searching high
For signs
Of other types of life

But there are none
No aliens
No martians

Out there in space
The earth rotates
Extra-terrestrial beings make us wait

Is it just me and you
Listening to
The great silence
Is it just you and me
Listening to ourselves breathe

Only you give my life meaning and
Only you keep my heart beating
Only you, you keep me breathing and
Only you, you give me healing

Is it just me and you
Listening to
The great silence
Is it just you and me
Listening to the silence of eternity

What can fill the void?
What can fill the void?
What can fill the void?
Only love can fill the void?