Some are wise and some otherwise,
They got pretty blue eyes.
For an hour a man may change
For an hour her face looks strange -
Looks strange, looks strange.
Where the honey flows and takes you by the hand,
Pulls you down on your knees,
While you're down a pool appears.
The face in the water looks up,
And she shakes her head as if to say
That it's the last time you'll look like today.
Ripples never come back.
Gone to the other side.
Sail away, away.
Is sinking fast, that happens you know,
The water gets below.
Seems not very long ago
Lovelier she was than any that I know.
To close the book and gracefully decline,
The song has found a tale.
My, what a jealous pool is she.
The face in the water looks up
She shakes her head as if to say
That the bluegirls have all gone away.
Ripples never come back.
They've gone to the other side.
Look into the pool,
Ripples never come back,
Dive to the bottom and go to the top
To see where they have gone
Oh, they've gone to the other side...
Ripples never come back.
Gone to the other side.
Look into the pool,
The ripples never come back, come back,
Dive to the bottom and go to the top
To see where they have gone
They've gone to the other side
Ripples never come back
Sail away, away...
I believe that BlueGirls are derived from a poem by John Crowe Ransom ... and refers to adolescent school girls for whom beauty is the focus of their lives
(snip)"In this poem, Ransom offers the girls three main lessons, which, although they seem contradictory, are really closely related:
(1) Beauty does fade.
(2) Use your beauty as much as you can before it fades.
(3) Have something in your life besides beauty, so that when it fades, you are not left with nothing.He describes beauty as delicate and rare, unable to be established. He focuses on the lightheartedness of young girls, how they are caught up in beauty, and he warns them to be conscientious of the fact that their beauty will fade and that they cannot put all their hope on their beauty. At the same time, he encourages them to "practice" their beauty until it is gone, and he promises to celebrate that beauty as best he can, with all its value and frailty."(snip)
from http://titan.iwu.edu/~wchapman/americanpoetryweb/ranbluan.html
IMHO, 'Ripples' is absolutely the finest musical creation ever produced by Genesis. The imagery and message of the lyrics are also piercing, if not altogether an original concept.
@meloniec Without question, Ripples is directly inspired by John Crowe Ransom's poem "Blue Girls." Ransom writes, "it is not long since she was lovelier than any of you." Tony Banks writes, "seems not very long ago, lovelier she was than any that I know." Banks starts his lyrics with the words "Blue girls", the title of the Ransom poem. The "promised land where the honey flows" may mean life's ease to a girl when she is young. I think the opening verse of the song is from the point of view of a rock musician's encounters with young groupies, which...
@meloniec Without question, Ripples is directly inspired by John Crowe Ransom's poem "Blue Girls." Ransom writes, "it is not long since she was lovelier than any of you." Tony Banks writes, "seems not very long ago, lovelier she was than any that I know." Banks starts his lyrics with the words "Blue girls", the title of the Ransom poem. The "promised land where the honey flows" may mean life's ease to a girl when she is young. I think the opening verse of the song is from the point of view of a rock musician's encounters with young groupies, which starts him thinking about the theme of Ransom's "Blue Girls" poem.
@meloniec I see that you posted this some time ago. My hope is that you still view this account so I could properly thank you. I have loved this song for 40 odd years and did not make the connection to the poem. Thank you!!
@meloniec I see that you posted this some time ago. My hope is that you still view this account so I could properly thank you. I have loved this song for 40 odd years and did not make the connection to the poem. Thank you!!
Indeed, this is a great song. It is also one of the less known Genesis songs because it was from the late 70's, and it preceded the slew of mainstream songs they would produce later. A lot of the songs from this timeframe were written by Tony Banks and are AMAZING.
I don't think this song is about relationships at all - it's just about growing old and losing one's looks. It is perfectly illustrated on the album cover for "Trick of the Tail" with an old hag looking into a pool of water and seeing her young, beautiful face looking back.
Graham - those holes were there to prevent the records as being sold as new, they did that to albums given away to DJs, etc.
And I think Voodoo is spot on, the only thing that I would add is the historical reference to the "face that launched a thousand ships", Helen of Troy, with the "sail away" being those sailors who used to come visit (or fight wars for her) were all leaving, creating ripples as they left, never to return.
@princetonplayer brilliant, yes.
@princetonplayer brilliant, yes.
Not difficult to figure out, ripples never come back means we cannot get our youth back, and the attractiveness of youth is fleeting and should not be taken for granted. The reflection in the water is our self awareness, and also can be a memory of what we used to be like or how we looked years ago.
@MMM88 - I agree, this is in the top 3 songs on the album.
@Voodoo Tattoo - I don't believe Genesis were into referencing prostitution, but overall I think you're spot-on. Each ripple is another day/week/year of a life passed, and each look into the pool (e.g. mirror) relects back to a person the fact of their mortality. BTW, thank you for noting the beauty of the orchestration - I think that those of us (including you, the person right now) reading this page are honestly among a relatively small breed who truly appreciate sophisticated musical beauty.
Ironically, the one thing I take away from this song, being on this album, is that while Genesis would have a number of excellent songs to come afterward, in a sense each album hereafter was a ripple for them, slightly less beautiful then the one before.
Magnificent!! This is my favorite Genesis song. I bought "A Trick of the Tail" just for Ripples. It turned out to be a masterpiece album--still one of my favorites. I love the analogy of ripples of water with time and how you can never get back what has already flowed by. A refreshing change of theme from traditional love songs.
8 Mins. of Beauty. Reminds me of my Best Friend, Robin.
I think many of the previous interpretations are to a point correct, though I suspect some closer than others. However I personaly think there are analogies here in this song that are perhaps more closely associated with sex than any of the other interpretations get to. "for an hour a man may change" is this not refering to during the act of sex and the same for "for an hour her face looks strange" This seems to be the case in my own sexual adventures though sometimes longer and sometime less than an hour. I wonder what pools may realy be refering to while you are on your knees. I think what I am saying is like all art, unless and to some extent even if, you do have the creators first hand interpretation, it is still the case that we draw from art that which is most pertinent to ourselves. Whatever it is that you see in the lyrics and music of this masterpiece it is without doubt amazing both in the musical construction and lyrical content. I believe that Genesis has musicaly always been true to their name which meens "The coming into being of something; the origin" and you cant be a succesfull band over 4 decades without haveing many Genesis. All of which I might add has been relative to the time of production. Never have they been lame just gifted talented musicians producing music that would reflect their own current thoughts and trends of the times.