Sleeping Satellite

Back in 2004 I wrote Miss Archer and asked her if she could tell me something about the meaning of this beautiful song. This is what she wrote back:

"....Sleeping Satellite is about mans adventures to the moon and was written in the summer of 1989 at the time of 20th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon. The song is intended as a comment on how in the 20 years since the first landing little progress appeared to have been made in space travel/exploration. It's not intended as anti space travel, it's just the opposite and it bemoans the fact that at the time of the anniversary the initiative had not been progressed from the original achievement. Hope this helps. Love and peace, Tasmin...."

I believe that Mr. Repupilli has captured some of the aspects of the meaning(s) behind these lyrics.

To build upon his "Apollo" theme, I feel that Ms. Archer is blaming a higher power, be that God, a spirit or some other form of Supreme Being, for inspiring man to journey to the moon. An alternative source of this blame could be the late President, Mr. John F. Kennedy; who many argue inspired the Apollo mission to the moon.

It occurs to me that her blame is drawn from a deep sense of frustration that mankind appears more focused on adventure and exploration than on what she feels are more immediate social, environmental and political concerns.

She also questions mankind's ability to sustain itself and deliver a utopian society that is truly free to explore the universe. This is drawn out when she sings: "If the world is so great, then why does it scream under a blue moon?" and also when she sings: "Have we got what it takes, to carry the weight of this concept?" She develops her own pessimism on this question by asking if mankind will destroy the earth for the sake of its “greatest treasure”, which I feel could be either creativity or freedom.

In the final line of the chorus, Ms. Archer suggests that we shouldn't blame the world ("sleeping satellite": the earth; a satellite of the sun) for our own problems.

Perhaps the final beauty of this song is its inherent ambiguity that allows listeners to develop their own meaning(s) to the lyrics. This is just my own interpretation of these lyrics.

It's possible that "Sleeping Satellite" is code for something else, as well as a description of herself, just a creature observing the events on earth but not feeling as though she's actually experiencing anything. I agree with a few others. I think she's basically blaming "you" (everyone hearing the song) for not being better, for not ASPIRING to more. Western civilization went through an incredible shift in thought pretty much from the time it learned the earth was round and has another continent, to the middle of the last century which culminated with us reaching the moon... The possibilities are amazing, but we (humanity, collectively) just can't seem to get our act together and stop f#$king each other over long enough to stop and consider where we are capable of going, together, and what we are capable of doing. She's basically describing a once-great civilization in its thoughtless decline, all its big dreams and goals abandoned.

I think she's kinda' offering up a self-referential faux socialist message or solution, I think the initials of "Sleeping Satellite" could also be a refernce to the S.S., of Nazi, Germany, who obliterated all who stood in the way of progress to actually achieve some pretty incredible things in its short lifespan. Both the United States' and the former Soviet Union's space programs are originally based on the work of Nazi scientists who the both governments later hired on in a classified operation. Also, the socialist/fascist state had what is still considered to be the most efficient economy, and therefor the most efficient society, in history just a few years after it was completely broke from the first World War.

I think she's just asking if we have what it takes to keep going. Beautiful song.

Surely considering the short sighted move made by the US government not to re-visit the "sleeping satellite" and abandon the space shuttle, the lyrics of this great song are even more poignant. We are in the process of traveling backwards. At no time in man's history has he traveled backwards and slowed things down, that is until now. We are abandoning our future, and the future of the race by trying to run back to the caves and hide.

Sorry if this sounds depressing, but I grew up during the space race and Ms Archer has captured the feel of that time with her wonderful song with its synths and on the mark lyrics. We did peak to soon, and we have lost our sense of adventure. She ought to consider re-releasing it as an anthem for a new decade, a rallying sound for those of us who would like to see humanity's spark of adventure re-kindled.

@NorthernThunder, cool name btw, I think u aren't reading all of the comments. In 2010 "N" posted that Tasmin Archer herself claimed the song was, in fact, about the American space program, inspired in 1989 by the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. In light of this, all the posts suggesting the song lyrics were really metaphors for things like sexuality, inspiration, humankind's place in the universe, etc. were quite imaginative.

I always thought "I blame you sleeping satellite" meant, whimsically, "I blame you Moon for inspiring mankind to reach to stars, only to have mankind then stop short by just going to the moon." I guess I was pretty much on target all these years. Archer seemed disappointed with the lack of progress with the space program following the moon landing. This is reinforced again and again in the song with the lines "Did we fly to the moon to soon? Did we squander the chance?", "Have we got what it takes to advance? Have we peaked to soon?" and "Have we got what it takes to carry the weight of this concept? Or pass it by?" Seems likes she's saying we lost our motivation to "shoot for the stars" after the moon landing, in part, because we lost that desire for "man's greatest adventure."

@fleetman I see you get it and I agree completely with you and Ms Archer. To me everything else concerning the meaning of this song and its potential metaphors is just pure supposition. But I guess that's what this forum is all about.

If there is ONE song that really deserves to be discussed here it would be this amazing song! It's difficult to decipher and I don't know much about astronomy!

The "I blame you" is what stands out and draws me in to this song.

Great song that brings back great memories... too bad I don't have a clue of what she's talking about. I can't relate the lyrics to any metaphor, in fact I can't even see what she means in the first place.

"..the dream that died with the eagles flight" If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say that by "eagles" here she is referring to some astronauts, maybe failing their mission? That would explain "the dream that died" part. The Apollo 10 mission comes to mind..

"when i wonder why are the seas still dry" The dry-seas (mare area of the moon).. If I recall correctly, in the Apollo 10 mission, one of the first descriptions of the moon from the astronauts was actually about the dry-seas area... well, it's also possible that I have far too much sense of imagination. I'd be happy to hear someone else's comments about the meaning of rthis song.

I agree regarding the beauty of the song and your references to the Apollo missions.

I think it is simply about mankind's having dropped the ball on space exploration, especially lunar development, after we went to the moon.

In the chorus she "blames" mankind for the lost potential, which the moonlight reminds her of (but she doesn't blame the moon itself - the sleeping satellite). She wonders why the seas are still dry there (when presumably they could be filled with man's development).

In the first verse, she believes we rushed to the moon for the adventure and the race, but have missed the long term possibilities to build upon that for the future.

In the second verse she alludes to problems here on Earth. Because mankind does not understand the importance of expansion into space, the price we may pay will be our own demise (the loss of earth's "greatest treasure").

In the final verse, she asks whether man can step up to the plate, or whether we will miss the opportunity altogether.

I realize I have a fairly nuts and bolts interpretation of what is a beautiful and mysterious sounding song. For me though, this interpretation only adds to its beauty.

I agree with your interpretation but i think that the line when she asks herself in the seas are still dry means actually the so called lunar maria (latin for seas) and that because of the exploration she has no more the possibility to fancy about what the moon is because now she can get exact photos of what it is thanks to Apollo missions. sorry for bad english but it is not my main language ^^