The Land Of Make-Believe

I've always loved this song and found it inspiring, but now that I listen to it carefully, it becomes distinctly fragmented, and the fragments each seem to tell a different story.

First, there are the "we" sections. Either the singer is singing to the loved one, or the singer is telling the audience about how he and the loved one feels. In both cases, he's not very sure; love has fooled him / them so many times before. It is a kind of faith that maybe this time it will work out, even considering all the failures before. It's better to not let it show, since it is so fragile. Even calling it love or showing that it is love might be enough to break it.

Then there's the section where the singer is singing to a bird, telling it to fly etc. This is also quite beautiful, but it reminds me of 2 related stories. One is from the Bible, where each day a bird is released by Noah. If I recall that story correctly, it was the return of the bird that gave the true message - whether the waters had receded. The other bird story is more of an image: birds released to symbolize a hero's death.

Finally, there are the "you" sections of the song. There is no mystery to these: the singer is directly advising us, the audience, to open ourselves up to love, and to clean out the cobwebs in our daydreams, for instance. He reminds us that we know the benefits of this, and that it is the only way. He wants us to explicitly agree.

Altogether, the song should seem somewhat fragmented, but it all holds together remarkably well, I suppose due to the fantastic artistry of the Moodies.