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Waterfront Lyrics
On the banks of a sunset beach
Messages scratched in sand
Beneath a roaming home of stars
Young boys try their hand
A spanish harbouring of sorts
In Catalonian bars
They were pulled from a sinking ship
And saved for last
On the waterfront the rain
Is pouring in my heart
Here the memories come in waves
Raking in the lost and found of years
And though I'd like to laugh
At all the things that led me on
Somehow the stigma still remains
Watch the train steam full ahead
As it takes the bend
Empty carriages lose their tracks
And tumble to their end
So the world shrinks drop by drop
As the wine goes to your head
Swollen angels point and laugh
"This time your god is dead"
On the waterfront the rain
Is pouring in my heart
Here the memories come in waves
Raking in the lost and found of years
And though I'd like to laugh
At all the things that led me on
Somehow the stigma still remains
Is our love strong enough?
Messages scratched in sand
Beneath a roaming home of stars
Young boys try their hand
A spanish harbouring of sorts
In Catalonian bars
They were pulled from a sinking ship
And saved for last
Is pouring in my heart
Here the memories come in waves
Raking in the lost and found of years
And though I'd like to laugh
At all the things that led me on
Somehow the stigma still remains
As it takes the bend
Empty carriages lose their tracks
And tumble to their end
So the world shrinks drop by drop
As the wine goes to your head
Swollen angels point and laugh
"This time your god is dead"
Is pouring in my heart
Here the memories come in waves
Raking in the lost and found of years
And though I'd like to laugh
At all the things that led me on
Somehow the stigma still remains
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This song is so amazing. It was the first song I ever heard by Sylvian, and it is still my absolute favorite of his works. I really can't say for sure, but this song always makes me think of how sad humanity and its creations really are. Sad, as in how much we strive for happiness but end up drinking our sorrows away, and how highly we regard material things, but they really only have value because we give them value. Yeah, that was pretty much just a brainspill. Don't mind me.
Best Sylvian song for me too.
Best Sylvian song for me too.
I have heard this song a lot, and thought about the (mysterious) lyrics. A fair amount of wistfulness and vagueness is typical of a Sylvian song. This collects some images focusing on a waterfront. A setting sun, a sinking ship, a starry sky, people hanging around in bars. The singer walks along the beach, remembering things and feeling sad. Then, jarringly, comes the image of a train falling off a mountainside, but the carriages are empty, so no one has died. There is another reference to drinking alcohol and the statement that your god is dead this time. The singer wonders if "our love" is strong enough - but is he referring to a romantic relationship he is in, or is it more abstract, like human love, everyone's love? Beautiful, haunting music, and a fascinating song.
Thinking some more about these lyrics - they seem to me essentially spiritual in nature. The train falling off the track is another image of futility, of something ending in dissolution. The lines "So the world shrinks drop by drop / And the wine goes to your head" are key. I used to think this was something else - "So the world's dream string I draw" (lol). Here the singer is drinking up the world, and it is going to his head. He fell for the world's lies, it has led him on, and while he is aware of this it has still left a mark on him. I think the last line is the collective "our love" (not a reference to a romantic relationship) - is our love strong enough to do what? It is a little unclear, but perhaps overcome the world's illusions.
@Dreadnowt I like your interpretation and agree with a lot of it, but I do see it as a love song of the highest type. A great love song (and story) to me is one where all of the aspects you talk about are part of it, from this spiritual contemplation to the futility of existence, it all plays a part in the way we love and affects our romantic relatonships. And these relationships are also an expression of how we manage the dazzling chaos or stimula, from the beauty of the waterfront to the rain pouring in one's heart....
@Dreadnowt I like your interpretation and agree with a lot of it, but I do see it as a love song of the highest type. A great love song (and story) to me is one where all of the aspects you talk about are part of it, from this spiritual contemplation to the futility of existence, it all plays a part in the way we love and affects our romantic relatonships. And these relationships are also an expression of how we manage the dazzling chaos or stimula, from the beauty of the waterfront to the rain pouring in one's heart. To me the great power of this, one of the best love songs I've heard, is that it reveals itself in the final line, narrowing down the story as the theme explodes. Another strength of this revelation is that these troubled thoughts are occurring at great distance from the loved one (maybe on tour, typically difficult situation emotionally) but at any rate this physical distance works also as a metaphor for a growing emotional distance between the lovers. And as love dies, the world reveals itself in its wistful beauty and its cold-hearted cruelty. So can that love survive this crisis? And can this love survive this godless train crash of a world?
Hello, sns. Thanks for commenting on my comments. The song is certainly worthy of discussion and different interpretations! I just wish Sylvian would make some more music, and make what he has done more available. I check his website from time to time, but very little from his post-Virgin Records releases seems to be available. I did pick up "A Victim of Stars" recently and that had a bunch of things on it that I had not heard before. For me, his music is standing the test of time very well. Cheers...
Hello, sns. Thanks for commenting on my comments. The song is certainly worthy of discussion and different interpretations! I just wish Sylvian would make some more music, and make what he has done more available. I check his website from time to time, but very little from his post-Virgin Records releases seems to be available. I did pick up "A Victim of Stars" recently and that had a bunch of things on it that I had not heard before. For me, his music is standing the test of time very well. Cheers...