Orpheus

I'm gonna take a guess at this beautiful song, as nobody seems to have tried to look for the meaning.

I think this song is about a search for inspiration, the need to create music and the pressures associated with the expectations put on you. Orpheus being the greatest poet and musician of Ancient Greece, which Sylvian will have known having an interest in this myth (Eurydice, Orpheus's wife, was also in the title of a Sylvian track). I think Orpheus represents his inspiration as a musician.

In verse 1 he stands firm against the pressures though he has been tempted to "give up the ghost". He struggles with words (lyrics perhaps) while his Orpheus lays on his back, there is no inspiration.

In verse two he finds inspiration, the "sunlight falls" and his "wings open wide". Everything else has fallen to the wayside, like the people he knew never cared, but Orpheus has stayed by his side.

Verse 3 he talks of the obstacles in life being the fuel for the fire. He finds that the "voices" still have stories to tell, that he still has something to express.

The chorus is about his desire, he wants the inspiration, as the fire/desire never stops, and ultimately he knows when all is said and done, he will be inspired, as he hears the promise of his Orpheus sing.

i've only recently come across this song and, like others who have commented, love it. upon hearing, i thought the song was written from the perspective of eurydice. in it, she sings about her and orpheus's ultimately tragic journey back from hades to the living world.

the exquisite pathos of the song derives at least in part from it being sung during the journey, when eurydice still has hope that, once they reach the living world, she will be able to hear her orpheus sing. however, as the listener knows, orpheus will turn around a moment too soon, and eurydice will be whisked away back into the underworld, leaving orpheus alone again.

some lines that suggest, or at least are consistent with, this interpretation are:

• "I wrestle with an outlook on life...That shifts between darkness and shadowy light". eurydice was a shadow as she walked with orpheus to the living world;

• "But orpheus sleeps on his back still dead to the world" - there is a nice double entendre here: "dead to the world" indicates both "fast asleep" and that orpheus is in the realm of the dead; and

• "Please believe, when this joke is tired of laughing...I will hear the promise of my orpheus sing" - the joke is the condition placed by the gods on both orpheus and eurydice safely returning to the living world, namely, orpheus must not look at eurydice before both are back in the living world.

i love this song

i feel this song matches a part in my life when i had matured past being an egotistical child and i was pissed off with the person i used to be ('Please believe, when this joke is tired of laughing') but realised that i still had a lot that i wanted to learn ('Understand, these fires never stop'), and that one day maybe i'll be able to produce something beautiful with the knowledge i gain ('I will hear the promise of my Orpheus sing')

i feel this song matches a part in my life when i had matured past being an egotistical child and i was pissed off with the person i used to be ('Please believe, when this joke is tired of laughing') but realised that i still had a lot that i wanted to learn ('Understand, these fires never stop'), and that one day maybe i'll be able to produce something beautiful with the knowledge i gain ('I will hear the promise of my Orpheus sing').

Great song. Seems to be about having inspiration and finding inner guidance dispite what other people think. Trying to realize some inner light, guidance and inspiration that will fulfill kind of potential.

Reminds me a bit of the line "This light inside can never die" from Wave off Gone ot Earth. Only in this case he's sort of seeking the inspiration or light inside that he has sometimes and not at others.

Orpheus is one of the most beautiful of Sylvian's songs. To see why it is so special to me and others' views on many other Sylvian songs click here http://simplysylvian.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/orpheus/

I don't mean this flippantly, but this song would have great and accessible meaning if Orpheus was a dog. They day to day wrestle with life "As Orpheus keeps to his promise and stays by my side" would fit so perfectly. I admit the chorus becomes even more obscure in this context, but when I sing it to guitar on a hazy summer evening I just say it's about a dog, and the dog owners just get it and know the comfort that they bring to a life of turmoil. No disrespect intended David :)