Siren's Call, Now in iTunes Options

[Old Man Withers]

SirensCall is now available on iTunes. I have to say, very solid song!

[PhoenixDecay]

why do you think it's definitely a break-up song

I am with you in questioning that. In my post I want to give a possible explanation and close it with my own view of the song.

I think the breakup situation is the easiest thing you could think of when you read the lyrics, but it's not the only interpretation of them.
Of course the Sirens are something tempting, you have to withstand, because it would be your downfall. You have to take measures like tying on a mast of the ship, because you would be too weak to resist on your own.
It's obvious to say that this is about someone you love and you had to break up and it's just so so hard to not call. Because with that interpretation it's so so easy to downclass the lyrics. Now they sound much more like the usual Chart Pop Music where there is actually someone singing about breaking up and it's being so so hard. In fact this interpretation is built by listening mainly to those kind of songs? Maybe ...
But to just deny that you can interpret SC in many ways, just because the essential content of the lyrics is very simple is a bold statement. The suspicion, that the person offering those views is doing this intentionally to downgrade the song is actually not less appropriate than his statement itself. And if so, it's a dead discussion right from the start. A discussion like this is left for dead when there is no honesty in the argumentation and everyone just wants his point to be made, regardless of what the other side has to offer.

I like Siren's Call because the lyrics build a setting shown in the story of the greek mythology. In Taylor's guitar riff I hear the staggering waves beating the ship, the dynamics of the song reflects the inner struggle the person has to fight against the temptation the beautiful song of the Siren's offer him. The euphoric state he is in, when he is giving in and he can hear the Siren's Calling. But in reality he's still tied to the mast and his outer world is going mad.
Topic and setting is, of course subjectively, perfectly captured in a consistent atmosphere. When I listen to SC, I am on this ship fighting against the waves and almost giving in to the easy way out, dying to silence it all.
This is what a song should do. And to compare this to a charts song in which the character is sad about a breaking up so we write a song in minor is a very vulnerable attitude.
If you want to discuss the sonical quality of the production of the song, that is a different story ...

Anyway Live's lyrics around TDTH were not that different. On surface they were about "her" when in fact it could be about anything in the universal "love" spirit, just in different tints and shades.

This post has been edited by PhoenixDecay: Sep 25 2014, 5:11 am

[WaiterAtCliftons]

Anyway Live's lyrics around TDTH were not that different. On surface they were about "her" when in fact it could be about anything in the universal "love" spirit, just in different tints and shades.

I have been fascinated by the lyrics on TDTH for years. To me this was the album where Ed started turning from the Eastern religions to more western Christian beliefs.

Look at a song like Sparkle

I'm gatherin' up my friends today
and those who recognize the face
as the vision that changed my mind
from hate to faith
was as simple as grapes to wine and sweet as
I'm gatherin' up my friends today
all these hookers and soldiers and swine
and would-be saints
all alone in their rooms that sparkle in their eye
play a song that they'll come outside
to see if

love will overcome
if this love will make us men
love will draw us in
to wipe our tears away

The first part of the song to me is a strong reference to the story of Jesus Christ. Jesus was a man who hung out with all these types of sinners. Love was his message, he wanted to see if love could overcome their sins. The grapes to wine reference as well is very obviously Christian.

the day that I was so sweetly sung
by the wind and the thunder moved by "someone"
the feelin' of being lived was so strong
the giver became the gift, all one
the day that I was so sweetly sung
the wind seemed to whisper softly, "oh son,
don't wait for the seas to part or messiahs to come
don't sit around and waste this chance, to see it!"

love will overcome
if this love will make us men
love will draw us in
to take our fear away

In this verse I feel like Ed is writing from the view of the sinners. Just the line with "someone" in quotes makes me feel like he was starting to question his personal spirituality. The wind in the last part of the verse gives me an interpretation of God speaking to him.


and Where Fishes Go

yeah I found God
and he was absolutely nothin' like me
he showed me up like some dime-store hooker
who was plain to see
I couldn't take it anymore so I went back to the sea
cuz' that's where fishes go
when fishes get the sense to flee

where you goin' now?
what's your plan?

yeah I found God
and he was absolutely just like me
he opened my mouth, looked down my throat
told me I was thirsty
he said, I been, I been, I been
been in this water all my life
never took the time to breathe, breathe,
BREATHE!

to me, there is no way around the interpretation that Ed was having a spiritual battle while writing this song. God had let him down so many times before that he would take refuge by hiding. Then when he found what was in his mind the beauty of God he realized that he could come out of that hiding and as he exclaims, just BREATHE!


There are other lyrics on the album that seem to convey a spiritual battle that he was going through at the time. I love it, because I think a lot of people can relate to it.

A great songwriter will rarely ever give their own interpretation of the song, because they want to give the power to each person listening to have their own interpretations.

Just my 2 cents.

This post has been edited by WaiterAtCliftons: Sep 25 2014, 9:25 am

[PhoenixDecay]

I have been fascinated by the lyrics on TDTH for years. To me this was the album where Ed started turning from the Eastern religions to more western Christian beliefs.

From your quotes and your explanations it seems so. I'll have to look at the lyrics more in detail, as it has been some time I listened to the album.
I have to admit, I have generalized that it's all about love, but I haven't meant it in a relationship way anyway.

There are other lyrics on the album that seem to convey a spiritual battle that he was going through at the time. I love it, because I think a lot of people can relate to it.

A great songwriter will rarely ever give their own interpretation of the song, because they want to give the power to each person listening to have their own interpretations.

Just my 2 cents.

Exactly, that's why I don't understand, why someone here gets away with saying SC is about a break-up, although the concept of letting go could be interpreted in many more ways. But it's not given in the song, it's just a topic packed into a fitting mythical theme and brought into musical life and everyone who understands the concept can go through these motions and feel it.