A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => Mark Knopfler Discussion Forum => Topic started by: nababo on October 14, 2013, 07:20:40 PM
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After the huge success of discussing "Back to Tupelo", our everpresent camerado Love Expresso suggested that we try to cast some lights at "In the sky", "Kill to get crimson" closing song.
So here we go.
My first thought about the song is that MK was trying to emulate Van Morrison's style. I think he got it.
About the lyrics, ItS lies in the sea, a recurring theme in Mark's career, from "Down to the waterline" and "Single-handed sailor" onwards.
But I'm going to far. Anyone?
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My biggest problem is who might be addressed as "soul balladeer".
Also this verse
And the hard-bitten stranger
as deaf as a post
who stands at the fire
where a poet's dreams roast
He can't know the story,
he can't feel the pain
and all of the glory
falls around him like rain
in the sky
in the sky
has obviously a very concrete moment. The first two ones COULD be about a song, not a person. In fact, Mark said more than once that songs are like children, little people, they grow up and go out of the house. And sometimes or suddenly they come back. The same with song meanings - when he lets them go, the audience makes them their own.
Another theory: It is indeed about one of his boys (or both) who starts maybe songwriting, goes out into the land of lyrics and poetry and sometimes gets hurt or has to learn a lot of stuff the hard way. Or he has some great ideas he thinks and they maybe don't turn out to be so great. And Mark maybe sees himself in this young man and remembers how he felt when he began writing songs and grow up as a Musician..
And then again, I don't understand WHO is strong as a rope and a light in the dark. These words doesn't fit to t father-son relationship. So different perspectives again here? That was what made me bringing up the idea of talking about In The Sky
LE
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"Everpresent"?? Wtf.. ;D
LE
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Oh please guys, can you discuss The Ragpickers Dream? I listen it for decade almost every day without even trying to understand it :D
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Sure Foma, please feel free to start another topic for Ragpickers. Not smart to do 2 songs in one topic, it's hard enough to understand already ::)
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Just want to say I love the song and that I love that it's longer than 5 minutes. :wave
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In the Sky is one of those songs that I haven't really paid attention to. I consider that to be my failing, not MK's. There have been many instances where it took me a while to come around to a song and then realize that it has become one of my favorites...
Since the thread on Back to Tupelo generated so many intelligent responses, I thought I should give In the Sky a good listen and take a look at the lyrics on the liner notes.
Nababo, you mentioned that the song is in the style of Van Morrison, and I can definitely imagine his voice singing the song! Never thought about that before.
My first thought of the lyrics is that it sounds like a wife talking to her husband as he returns from a journey. Or a parent talking to a son. But rather than a physical journey, it sounds like the soul balladeer has returned from his trip into his own creative mind. Maybe it's like saying to someone who has a faraway look in their eyes "A penny for your thoughts".
So maybe the narrator is the wife of a writer (songwriter, artist, etc) talking to him after he returns from the far away place in his own head.
Anyway, that's my first thought. Will give it some more listens and think about it some more. I'm sure there will be some other interesting interpretations.
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Seems to me that he is referring to a writer..."No crotchets or quavers in your books"...a novelist..not a songwriter. There are many nautical references in the song. Could it be about his favorite author...Patrick O'Brian?
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Seems to me that he is referring to a writer..."No crotchets or quavers in your books"...a novelist..not a songwriter. There are many nautical references in the song. Could it be about his favorite author...Patrick O'Brian?
So maybe he's been talking about his own wife, Kitty. Could it be possible? He had already made kind of an entire album to her, and sparsely songs in other albuns were meant to her ("Our Shangri-La", among others).
As Love Expresso pointed out, expressions like "light in the dark", "beacon of hope" "strong as a rope" do not fit in any kind of relationship, but go well in a love relation in which one admires the other. It's not a love song, though. It's a song about respect, esteem, and also about saudade, hence he celebrates the returning of the subject from a trip - "from the sea". And she's the one who touches his soul.
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I remember some years ago someone here on rthis forum syaing that this song was about Kitty.
So I guess that Lestroid's point of view about a wife talking to her husband could fit
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But it does not fit with the way the husband is described - Mark would never let someone talk about him in this big headed way ;D
I still think it is more about something theoretical - songwriting, or inspiration, being inspired for example, and not so much about a concrete person. And maybe Mark describes himself as the hard-bitten stranger. Someone has been away into his own inner world of ideas and inspiration and comes back to reality... and as a songwriter himself, the narrator knows the feeling of being inspired - or sometimes not being inspired. So the ideas fly around, inspiration comes and goes. The inspiration then could be the beacon of hope and strong as a rope etc. The feeling of confidence that it will work out at the end because the song WANTS to be created.. something that way...
LE
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I didn't pay attention to song as well and didn't listen a lot to the whole album, which is strange, because i liked it when i first listened to it. But Privateering i listened over and over, KTGC not! So i'm very thankful that LE urges me to listen to the song closer. Result: I LOVE this song! It's beautiful, very poetic! But it's a real challenge to get to a feeling of deeper understanding. I think at first we really have to - what you have already done - collect all possible connotations this song evolve and compare, every hint is necessary. The range of possibilities is just too wide!
- Has Mark or a bandmate in an interview ever spoken about this song? If somebody knows something, every hint is welcome!
Ok, some brainstorming:
Who/What is the soul balladeer? What is the difference between a balladeer and a soul balladeer?
a.) It can be kind of a nickname for a real person you love,
b.) it can be a figurative expression for sth (feelings, dreams, process of writing, thinking, singing, reading etc.) which has effects on the soul like a balladeer on a real person.
c.) a soul singer
If it is a.)
Somebody is coming home. Been long time away. Not everything was easy. Person is courageous. Is sailing on a boat he made (Reminds me on the privateering-metaphor). If soul balladeer is a musician he didn't write the music (No crotchets or quavers in your books) but maybe is playing it instinctively (straight in the vain / like a bird on his own flight in his domain in the sky). hard-bitten strangers = fans who listen to music, but don't know the background? / Beacon of hope, light in the dark = the person to whom the balladeer is coming home? He ties up his boat (the whole tour stuff) in a haven? Other person is the rope? (As strange as a rope)? As important as the boat?
If it is b.)
Could be a song (like a bird on his own flight?) / composer (And the hard-bitten stranger (composer himself?) as deaf as a post
who stands at the fire where a poet
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So, this is what the song does to me. It's only one possibility of reading, i know, that there are more. The reading with Mark coming home to Kitty...well, for me it's a little bit too concrete and too personal. But of course i think that the experience of homecoming is part of the song. :think
In the sky
The song
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After listening some more and reading some of the other ideas, I'm beginning to think that Yon Two Crows is on the right track. The narrator is Mark and the "soul balladeer" is his inner song writer, who seems to function independently, free from the things that hold him here on dry land. The verse about the "hard bitten stranger" seems to be the audience or at least that part of the audience that, like me, just ignores the song.
Something interesting struck me when I looked at the liner notes - As I scanned the booklet looking for "In the Sky", I cast my eyes upon the opening line of Madame Geneva's which is on the opposite page. "I'm a writer of ballads right pretty". It seems to correspond to the "soul balladeer". But whereas "Madame Geneva's" is a very dark song that seems to be about someone suffering from depression, haunted by inner demons, who is drowning his sorrows in gin", "In the Sky" is a very optimistic song. It ends with the verse that starts "You're a light in the dark, a beacon of hope". I don't think it is an accident that the two songs are juxtaposed, or that the album ends with a song of hope. I seem to recall Mark saying in an interview that he is an optimist...
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The narrator is Mark and the "soul balladeer" is his inner song writer, who seems to function independently, free from the things that hold him here on dry land. The verse about the "hard bitten stranger" seems to be the audience or at least that part of the audience that, like me, just ignores the song.
For me, that's it! Thank you so much. After many years of thinking about it - really, I can't listen to this song, I really can't, without skipping back and listen once more and more, because I tend to get un-relaxed because I want to know more about the lyrics. It was the KEY that was missing for me. Now it seems I have it! Thank you so much again, Yontwocrows and Lestroid, god bless the day you decided to get members of AMIT! ;D
And it is SO obivous! Are you home from the sea MY soul balladeer - Mark tells us - we just have to see it! ;)
LE
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Well Love Expresso, I've enjoyed participating in these song threads. In this case, I've grown to love this song that I previously just skipped over. Mark's songs can be challenging that way - you have to listen and think while you feel the music wash over you a few times before you really get them. And then they don't leave you...
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The narrator is Mark and the "soul balladeer" is his inner song writer, who seems to function independently, free from the things that hold him here on dry land. The verse about the "hard bitten stranger" seems to be the audience or at least that part of the audience that, like me, just ignores the song.
Unfortunately I'm not convinced. The theory about "inner song writer" i like. BUT:
And the hard-bitten stranger as deaf as a post
who stands at the fire where a poet
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After reading all the posts here, firstly I got more confused than in the begining of the thread. I put aside some of my initial thoughts about the lyrics and, reading again all your opinions, I got to a conclusion, with some possibilities. And I must say I drank in many thoughts of you, so most of why I'll write it's not original.
MK pays homage to a poet or someone who spreads poetry - like a singer, fir instance. It can also be a certain person, unaware to us, or just the "idea of a poet", the whole world of poetry makers. I tend to think that is a specific person.
A poet is an artist. Any artist aims to the change of the situation, or at least points out what is wrong inthe world. As any artist, a poet must connect or reconnect with himself to understand the world outside. So he travels and the destination is his own mind. The songs captures the moment in which he comes back. When he returns, he's ready to point the world that some things are wrong.
Some imagery of the lyrics also puts the poet as a visionary, a pioneer. To many, this is a sign of madness. And one possible reaction is to deny or try not to listen to what it's been said. Nevertheless, the future is on the side ofe those who think ahead, and this generates light over the world.
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I have been listening to the song for a while now and the words "sound of guitars" and the "songs" are irritating me still and make it not too easy to accept the last few ideas very easy, although I wrote something different a few hours ago..
What about this: Back to Kitty: She's a writer (a poet?), has published her third novel last year. So maybe it's about being creative and the ability to just let it go, after having created it, giving it (novel, song) away to others now? The first verses could just show how MK admires her for going so deep into imagination and the creative process, and now the novel is ready, she's coming home, back to reality, in a way.
The hardbitten stranger, deaf as a post, could be the critic/reviewer or the public in general. After a long and adventurous creative process, it may be not too easy to let the produced art (novel/song) go - also to expose it to critics. Mark is more experienced in dealing with criticism after all those years. And she has taken the big adventure of writing this or these books, unafraid and so on, and the hardbitten stranger, deaf as a post, he can't know the story, can't feel the pain, stands at the fire, where the poet's dreams roast... Mark would never call himself a poet, so maybe it's about that.
We learned that Let It All Go is about a similar theme, so maybe about an artist that has to learn to be confident in what he does - and Kitty was just my first example. Mark's songs always are generally applicable. Why not thinking of one of his sons, doing his first steps into song writing...
The songs and the laughter at the end could come from him trying to comfort her, trying to console the hurt writer's soul, because of love. The vagabond wind might imply that not only songs and laughter, but also the words of the critics are flying away in the sky and therefore are not important. The music of this song shows that it has a deep warm and loving theme, whatever the explicit lyrics are about.
Phew.
I am sure I will come up with another theory about this tomorrow. This song is very evil in a way. And I wish MK would give a small hint that would help us to understand it. he often did it in the past. For example the mentioning of Sonny Liston made it very easy for me to understand and love Today Is Okay. Patrick O'Brians name helped a lot to understand Haul Away. Why not a single little hint for us? :wave
LE
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Mark would never call himself a poet
That's a point! Interesting input your whole post, i've to think about it. :think
I'm listening to the song as well. and yes, it's warm; it's love; it's infinity; it's somehow consoling... :)
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In an ideal world, Mark would register himself in AMIT, and answer all this questions. I'm sure he would enjoy doing, because is for the meaning, the interpretation of the lirics, not for the music or the riffs.
But we are in a real world. :-[
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:thumbsup
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In an ideal world, Mark would register himself in AMIT, and answer all this questions. I'm sure he would enjoy doing, because is for the meaning, the interpretation of the lirics, not for the music or the riffs.
But we are in a real world. :-[
I don't know...I wouldn't get away with 99% of the comments I make! ;D
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I really enjoyed reading all of your interpretations of this song. I always thought this song was about MK's wife, Kitty. For me, it just sounds full of love at the end whe she comes back home to the family after her journey of being away writing her novel. Too simplistic, I know, but I always envision MK with his happy family at the end of this song.
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In an ideal world, Mark would register himself in AMIT, and answer all this questions. I'm sure he would enjoy doing, because is for the meaning, the interpretation of the lirics, not for the music or the riffs.
But we are in a real world. :-[
I don't know...I wouldn't get away with 99% of the comments I make! ;D
As he said in Bridport again (and said earlier) he doesn't discuss the meaning of the songs. It's own interpretation.
But what a nice world it would be if he would ;-)
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I really enjoyed reading all of your interpretations of this song. I always thought this song was about MK's wife, Kitty. For me, it just sounds full of love at the end whe she comes back home to the family after her journey of being away writing her novel. Too simplistic, I know, but I always envision MK with his happy family at the end of this song.
I love simplicity and simple answers in connection with lyrics, so your reading is not excluded. My first reading I've trashed, thanks LE ;)
But there are many parts i can't understand if you're theory is right. (The verse with the stranger i don't get / and also the guitar sound and that songs are carried away in the sky (=last line and title)) So, if you have suggestions how to read it, plz. We have to try a little bit. At the moment i've the feeling that we are swimming in a kind of uncertainty. But patience, we have time!
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In an ideal world, Mark would register himself in AMIT, and answer all this questions. I'm sure he would enjoy doing, because is for the meaning, the interpretation of the lirics, not for the music or the riffs.
But we are in a real world. :-[
I don't know...I wouldn't get away with 99% of the comments I make! ;D
As he said in Bridport again (and said earlier) he doesn't discuss the meaning of the songs. It's own interpretation.
But what a nice world it would be if he would ;-)
I think it's because we all have our own interpretations of them and they can have mean different things to each of us, perhaps even in a personal way. Maybe these threads are rendered pointless in view of this; I think one can overanalyse a songs' meaning. To a point we can discuss where the idea came from and what some of the lyrics mean but at the end of the day the song as a whole is always open to interpretation and that, I think, is why Mark doesn't discuss this.
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"New tune, we gonna attempt a new tune. This one is called a Quality Shoe, I don't know why, but there it is".
It depends on the song, I think. Storytelling MK songs is pretty clear even for me, non-English speaker. As long as this just a story, it's clear, but when ambiguity and poetic complexity begin to appear
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'I really enjoyed reading all of your interpretations of this song. I always thought this song was about MK's wife, Kitty. For me, it just sounds full of love at the end whe she comes back home to the family after her journey of being away writing her novel. Too simplistic, I know, but I always envision MK with his happy family at the end of this song.
I love simplicity and simple answers in connection with lyrics, so your reading is not excluded. My first reading I've trashed, thanks LE ;)
But there are many parts i can't understand if you're theory is right. (The verse with the stranger i don't get / and also the guitar sound and that songs are carried away in the sky (=last line and title)) So, if you have suggestions how to read it, plz. We have to try a little bit. At the moment i've the feeling that we are swimming in a kind of uncertainty. But patience, we have time!
The stranger verse could be the critics (who are deaf as a post) of Kitty's (the poet) work. I envision Kitty being compared to a sailboat coming in on the tides returning home to the sound of guitars, MK.
Sounds way too personal for MK though. :think
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I think it's because we all have our own interpretations of them and they can have mean different things to each of us, perhaps even in a personal way. Maybe these threads are rendered pointless in view of this; I think one can overanalyse a songs' meaning. To a point we can discuss where the idea came from and what some of the lyrics mean but at the end of the day the song as a whole is always open to interpretation and that, I think, is why Mark doesn't discuss this.
Of course, you're right with everything, dmg. But what is a great advantage of this forum, that there are many interested and clever members, who like to think about the meanings. And who are interested in that exchange. I know that there are songs that will stay unclear to a certain point. "In the sky" is a good example for this. But then i'm even more interested what other listeners are thinking about it. And also "In the sky" becomes in that way clearer to me - in very little steps. For me it's not only about a perfect understanding, but also a way to reflect upon the own life. And it was a good motivation to listen to the song for many times and to get very deep into it. Without this discussion i wouldn't have paid too much attention to it. But now: I love this song! And the variety of thoughts it produces! And the documentation of it!
And another advantage: the threads keep staying. Who knows? In ten years we get the decisive hint and the songs become clearer. Then we've a good documentation about our way of thinking and the way it was supposed to be. Could be funny and interesting.
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I think it's because we all have our own interpretations of them and they can have mean different things to each of us, perhaps even in a personal way. Maybe these threads are rendered pointless in view of this; I think one can overanalyse a songs' meaning. To a point we can discuss where the idea came from and what some of the lyrics mean but at the end of the day the song as a whole is always open to interpretation and that, I think, is why Mark doesn't discuss this.
Of course, you're right with everything, dmg. But what is a great advantage of this forum, that there are many interested and clever members, who like to think about the meanings. And who are interested in that exchange. I know that there are songs that will stay unclear to a certain point. "In the sky" is a good example for this. But then i'm even more interested what other listeners are thinking about it. And also "In the sky" becomes in that way clearer to me - in very little steps. For me it's not only about a perfect understanding, but also a way to reflect upon the own life. And it was a good motivation to listen to the song for many times and to get very deep into it. Without this discussion i wouldn't have paid too much attention to it. But now: I love this song! And the variety of thoughts it produces! And the documentation of it!
And another advantage: the threads keep staying. Who knows? In ten years we get the decisive hint and the songs become clearer. Then we've a good documentation about our way of thinking and the way it was supposed to be. Could be funny and interesting.
Yes, I see where you're coming from YTC. :)
May I add also that I agree with Foma's point and would further add that I think the melody is probably more important to me than the lyrics because you can listen to a tune blocking out the words (sometimes can't make them out anyway ;)) but the melody is an ever-present that cannot be ignored.
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I think it's because we all have our own interpretations of them and they can have mean different things to each of us, perhaps even in a personal way. Maybe these threads are rendered pointless in view of this; I think one can overanalyse a songs' meaning. To a point we can discuss where the idea came from and what some of the lyrics mean but at the end of the day the song as a whole is always open to interpretation and that, I think, is why Mark doesn't discuss this.
Of course, you're right with everything, dmg. But what is a great advantage of this forum, that there are many interested and clever members, who like to think about the meanings. And who are interested in that exchange. I know that there are songs that will stay unclear to a certain point. "In the sky" is a good example for this. But then i'm even more interested what other listeners are thinking about it. And also "In the sky" becomes in that way clearer to me - in very little steps. For me it's not only about a perfect understanding, but also a way to reflect upon the own life. And it was a good motivation to listen to the song for many times and to get very deep into it. Without this discussion i wouldn't have paid too much attention to it. But now: I love this song! And the variety of thoughts it produces! And the documentation of it!
And another advantage: the threads keep staying. Who knows? In ten years we get the decisive hint and the songs become clearer. Then we've a good documentation about our way of thinking and the way it was supposed to be. Could be funny and interesting.
I agree with you yontwocrows that the exchange of ideas here may lead us to a clearer understanding of his songs..but I don't think that there will ever be a 'decisive hint'..I think Mark will keep that one to himself. The only person that will ever understand Mark's songs completely is Mark himself. Yes..we can discern where his inspiration came from..whether it was a person, work of art...or an event. But we will never know the underlying meaning behind the song..that's his to keep.
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I totally agree with dmg and Foma.
I pay far much more attention to melody/music than lyrics, mostly when it's a song not in my native language.
of course, when I listen to french songs, lyrics are important....but even in this case, I think that a nice melody with subtle arrangements, a good "groove", "swing", "feeling", "flavour", or whatever you name it, would catch my mind at first, more than lyrics.
And I can say like Foma that I listen songs for decades, that I don't understand a word, sometimes, even not the title ! ;D :smack :o
Like most people I think, the first thing Iremember from a song is the melody.
I was listeing to Let it be and past masters just now with my daughter, and I said to her : Macca is one of the finest composer. He composed tones of gorgeous melodies, and that's why so many of his songs are well known, not for the lyrics.
On the other hand, Dylan wrote fabulous lyrics, far more developped than Beatles (well I only guess, because I don't understand all), but sometimes the melody is...well where is it ?
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Haha,
no guys, I'm not against you, my dear tune, melody and music-lovers! ;D
There must be space to discuss the lyrics and the music. And for me a dream would be to combine it!
dmg, blocking out the words is as wrong as blocking out the music. They both belong together. Didn't - by the way - Mark refers to the way Bob Dylan uses lyrics as a rhythm-element and how he adopted that in his songs? Please don't block them out! But what i miss now in the Back to Tupelo thread is a music-analyses of the song, because the lyrics are now well discussed. I can't do it, but would be interested, what is going on there from a musical point of view. I'm - by the way - also reading fomas tab sheets, and try them out on my guitar. But, dmg, you're right, i can give better input about the lyrics.
(if there will be a song section it would be cool to have a lyric thread and a music thread to each song, but i don't know, if it too complicate) So everbody could go very deep into the songs!
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Ah, by the way, when we're going to discuss lyrics and music in general, i think, it would be better to start a new thread, so that the about "In the sky thread" is not interrupted. :think
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As far as the music and song goes - I have always thought that MK puts as much thought into combining the two elements as he does into the lyrics themselves. I always think of him as singing a duet with his guitar. Sometimes the guitar emphasizes what is said in the lyrics, and sometimes the guitar works like a "greek chorus" - in other words, the character in the song may say one thing that may or may not be the truth, but the guitar always speaks the truth. Like in "Boom Like That", Ray Kroc is being a smooth talker, acting charming, but the aggressive guitar gives away his true nature. To get back to "In the Sky", the music almost sounds like a lullaby, very soothing and full of love, which is at the heart of the lyrics.
My thoughts on that troublesome verse about the "hard bitten stranger, deaf as a post" - it seems to me that he is talking about critics who will say negative things about his loved ones' creative work, but he wants her to know that he will always support her efforts and to not let the jerks stop her from continuing with her passion.
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Death to the author and all that, but it's likely that the lyric was composed in a steam-of-conscious, Astral Weeks-esque style, with a communication of feeling being its' primary concern rather than the conveying of thematic meaning.
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it's certainly about feelings! at the moment i can't contribute to the thread much, although i keep thinking about the song. My last thought was:
"If it is a love song, it's a beautiful love song!" :wave
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I put aside some of my initial thoughts about the lyrics and, reading again all your opinions, I got to a conclusion, with some possibilities.
Nababo, What have been your initial thoughts? Just curious?
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I put aside some of my initial thoughts about the lyrics and, reading again all your opinions, I got to a conclusion, with some possibilities.
Nababo, What have been your initial thoughts? Just curious?
Well, I didn't wrote because I thought I could confuse myself more when my aim as I was writing was to clarify my ideas... Sometimes it's hard not being a English-speaker. Words don't come easy...
I had two contradictory thoughts about the song, and a third, "neutral" one. Or it was Mark talking about himself or he was putting himself in the place of a woman waiting for his "soul baladeer". The third is that he was thinking about his own brother. That was it, weak theories.
I discharged the first one because it came to my mind that MK is humble and shy enough not to put himself in such a high position. As someone wrote afterwards, he doesn't consider himself a poet, despite we know he truly is.
The second theory is gone because, paying closer attention to the lyrics, the words doesn't seem to me "too feminine", (can I say this?). To my senses, the lyrics lack sensibility...
And the third doesn't cope in because yet the brothers are not in good terms. But this meaning came to mind because I always felt a Van Morrison feel in the song, but I also think the "In the sky" could be easily written by David or at leas twould perfectly fit in his latest albuns.
And about what I DO think the lyrics are about, a poet, I still think he wrote it to his wife. A love declaration from a man to a woman, with not ordinary "love words" but still strong ones, words of respect and recognition, written by someone who don't just love his lover, but also admires her and acknowledges the importance or her presence to help him to stand in the course.
Anyway, thanks for asking. And you and in this forum all have a good weekend!
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And about what I DO think the lyrics are about, a poet, I still think he wrote it to his wife. A love declaration from a man to a woman, with not ordinary "love words" but still strong ones, words of respect and recognition, written by someone who don't just love his lover, but also admires her and acknowledges the importance or her presence to help him to stand in the course.
Thinking about all the last posts i get the impression that we all "feel" this meaning you summarize now, or am i wrong? I mean, even I - who was initially against it - admit that it's a love song!
What do you think about my new theory, which is an old theory but slightly modified? Today i read an interview with Mark - can't find it now - where he again expressed that he feels like beeing a captain on a boat crossing the oceans when he is touring. (That statement was not in connection with privateering but years before).
Verse 1 - 3: I can't get this out of my head when listening to the first three verses. I think they are said by the waiting person to the one who comes home. They describe the high feeling, the proud, the freedom the travelling person has. It's like a hero (a viking) coming home. But i think there is also a lot of criticism shining through.
Verse 4: The perspective is changing: The hard-bitten stranger is the person coming home. (LE said that she can imagine MK talking about himself as deaf stranger, and i agree. Have the same feeling) This are the feelings this person has. Beeing away for a long time and somehow a kind of a stranger. Coming home to the fire-place where the poet's dreams (the dreams of the person who stayed at home) roast. All of the sudden he is confronted with something else. With the story of the other person, he doesn't know what happened all the time, he doesn't know about the sorrows, sometimes pain, because he had adventure and so on. And so all the glory (of touring etc) is falling off like rain. It's not a true value.
Verse 5: Are spoken by the person coming home to the other person. You're as strong as a sea boat. You're my beacon, without you I can't do it. And all of the sudden all the songs, and the good mood and laughters of the tour are not so important as they were, they are carried away in the sky.
What do you think about this theory?
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And about what I DO think the lyrics are about, a poet, I still think he wrote it to his wife. A love declaration from a man to a woman, with not ordinary "love words" but still strong ones, words of respect and recognition, written by someone who don't just love his lover, but also admires her and acknowledges the importance or her presence to help him to stand in the course.
Thinking about all the last posts i get the impression that we all "feel" this meaning you summarize now, or am i wrong? I mean, even I - who was initially against it - admit that it's a love song!
What do you think about my new theory, which is an old theory but slightly modified? Today i read an interview with Mark - can't find it now - where he again expressed that he feels like beeing a captain on a boat crossing the oceans when he is touring. (That statement was not in connection with privateering but years before).
Verse 1 - 3: I can't get this out of my head when listening to the first three verses. I think they are said by the waiting person to the one who comes home. They describe the high feeling, the proud, the freedom the travelling person has. It's like a hero (a viking) coming home. But i think there is also a lot of criticism shining through.
Verse 4: The perspective is changing: The hard-bitten stranger is the person coming home. (LE said that she can imagine MK talking about himself as deaf stranger, and i agree. Have the same feeling) This are the feelings this person has. Beeing away for a long time and somehow a kind of a stranger. Coming home to the fire-place where the poet's dreams (the dreams of the person who stayed at home) roast. All of the sudden he is confronted with something else. With the story of the other person, he doesn't know what happened all the time, he doesn't know about the sorrows, sometimes pain, because he had adventure and so on. And so all the glory (of touring etc) is falling off like rain. It's not a true value.
Verse 5: Are spoken by the person coming home to the other person. You're as strong as a sea boat. You're my beacon, without you I can't do it. And all of the sudden all the songs, and the good mood and laughters of the tour are not so important as they were, they are carried away in the sky.
What do you think about this theory?
Well, my much aprreciated forum fellow, you have added so many rich inputs I don't know even where to start from.
But one think you wrote back in page 2 summarized not only what can be said about "In the sky", but more or less about Mark's entire catalogue: his lyrics are metaphors for the struggle of life. In this case is more obvious, but MK sees life as a journey, and creates beautiful imageries around it. "Telegraph road", in my opinion, is perfect in this aspect. Some writers do this talking about time - Tom Waits, some Gilmour. Some, like Sting, one of my favourite lyricists, do by using snapshots of places. Some, like MK, uses the idea of the eternal return, the journey wya and back home - himself.
My opinion itself about the song had become clearer when I read Love Expresso ideas, so I just wrote in order to put myself in the line of agreement with the general consensus of the forum.
Back to the track, I agree that MK may see himself as a captain, but I don't think it's the case here. In "In the sky", the main character is not him, but the subject of his description.
I also second you regarding to the first parts of the song. But I go in another direction from the middle on. I think that the "hard-bitten stranger" is someone else, who had criticized Kitty. He's "deaf as a post" because he doesn't understand the words that she had produced. "He can't know the story" of the struggle Kitty had done to reach where she is. Then he finishes with words of affection, in a way that tries to make her don't mind about criticisms. And shows her how strong, bright, she is.
Um grande abra
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Thank you for your kind words. I hug you back, fellow :wave
And a lot of hugs to all of you, i like every idea and way of thinking that was posted. I've listened to the song now really really often. At least i've the feeling to understand it better. I tried to understand every reading that was comunicated. This was very successful, because I now understand why a few are of the opinion he is talking to a kid, others he is talking to his wife, and so on - which i didn't before. I don't know which version is "right", listening to the song every version touches me somehow. I think this is the power of this song - it can be used for so many situations where two human beings love each other. (I think this is consense: It's a song about two persons who care for each other / Some kind of problem shines through and irritates the situation / one tries to console the other).
A few questions, fellows:
Who stands at the fire where a poet's dreams roast
Do you really think that this has a negative meaning? Because for me it can be positive!
Do you think that the stranger roasts the dreams?
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I was driving along today and "Into the Sky" came on my car system. It has always been one of my fav songs by MK, but I never took time to analyze it. All of the interpretations that you have posted have been fasinating to me. It's like a literature course - MK 101! At any rate as I listened to the song, I reflected on all of your thoughts and it brought bountiful meaning and pleasure to me with the added bonus of letting me forget for a few minutes about the environmental threats I am currently fighting in my backyard so Thank You Everyone!