Higher And Higher Lyrics
Awesome song written and mostly sung by the drummer. In 2005 when they played Radio City he came onstage with the Rockettes and did the kick with them during this song.
Man takes to the heavens. Less poetically said, the first shuttle launch.
The Real Question Mr. Edge (the drummer) is asking here is: "Will landing on the moon just be the first of many revalutions that lead to a better world?", and "Will this change the way we think?" The answer is up for your interpritation...
This song (and the album, To Our Childrens Children) was recorded in 1969...WAY before the shuttle, Mindhuntress! However, you are close. At a concert several years ago I heard Graham Edge state that this song was written immediately after Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon. The lines "Blasting, billowing, bursting forth" and "Man with his flaming pyre" refer to the Saturn V rocket that took Apollo to the moon. Of course, one might also give this song double meaning, as the Moodies (and Mike Pinder in particular) had done their fair share of experimenting with LSD and other hallucinogens, so "Higher and Higher" might also be referring to the use of drugs to achieve higher consciousness. The line "now we've learned to play with fire" can refer BOTH to rockets (and the astronauts OR nukes they carry) and hallucinogens. That is just my opinion, of course, perhaps the Moodies never conceived of this song being related to LSD. (And perhaps the Beatles really had no idea "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" might be interpreted as referring to LSD. Yeah, right.)
The ROCKETTES!?!?! Oh lord, I love the Moodies but that is just pathetic. I've heard them do this song, but I'm really glad I missed that. It just doesn't fit!
imagodoc Your correct as far as Saturn V but the rest no. Not denying that they expermented with drugs. Just that space program of the 60s and it's implications was all the rush needed to inspire this song and the album. I know I grow during that time.
The whole album was inspired by Apollo 11. "Climbing to Tranquility"--should be written with a capital T--is a reference to the Sea of Tranquility, site of the first manned moon landing.