Moonlight Shadow

I love this song. It will always be one of my favourites.

When I was 11 I heard the song on the radio, and even though I knew I hadn't heard it before in my life, it sounded strangely familiar. I told my mom and she gave me this really funny look. I asked her why and she told me that when she was pregnant with me she played that song ALOT.

My first piece of music I ever heard. And I was in the womb. :)

There is a Celtic undertone to this song,Sad but sung in a Upbeat manner.

I found this song about a woman witnessing the death of her Lover and mourning his loss.(I see you in heaven one day)

"Caught in the middle of 105" just signified a crowd of people. The only reason 105 is the number is because it rhymes with the next line! I don't know if any of you have the extended version, but it makes a lot more sense if you have.

A lot of people think its a tribute to John Lennon. No one quite knows if thats true. I suppose its just whatever you make of it.

The video makes it seem like some sort of dual. However "he was caught in the middle of a desperate fight" seems to suggest he wasn't the one who was meant to die and I think that throws the John Lennon theory out the window as well!

I hereby ask everybody who's making theories about the 105 being people to listen to that specific part closely - use headphones if you want... it say "caught in the middle of -A- hundred-and-five". The "a" is the important part, since it immediately rules out 105 people, the 105th street or whatever. Instead, this is a prime example of a police code. (never watched Kojak?) "We have a 105 here." =) So it IS about a robbery.

"I hereby ask everybody who's making theories about the 105 being people to listen to that specific part closely - use headphones if you want... it say "caught in the middle of -A- hundred-and-five". The "a" is the important part, since it immediately rules out 105 people, the 105th street or whatever. Instead, this is a prime example of a police code. (never watched Kojak?) "We have a 105 here." =) So it IS about a robbery."

Er, while I'm happy to accept that it may well be a police code, I just wanted to point out that it DOESN'T rule out the "105 people" A hundred and five PEOPLE still makes perfect sense to me! :) And yes, that's what I always interpreted it as... a woman struggling to get through a crowd to reach her dying lover... who probably shouldn't have been caught up in the "desperate fight" anyway. So sad, but the Celtic undertone does make it so beautiful and so addictive!

Sorry, just found the interview: toucansolutions.com/oldfield/articles/randall.htm "As for Moonlight Shadow - well, it was a hundred and five people, just signifying a large amount of people, and presumably it was a hundred and five rather than a hundred and four or whatever because "five" rhymed with the next line!"

Is Moonlight Shadow really a reference to John Lennon's murder?

"Not really... well, perhaps, when I look back on it, maybe it was. I actually arrived in New York that awful evening when he was shot and I was staying at the Virgin Records house in Perry Street, which was just a few blocks down the road from the Dakota Building where it happened, so it probably sank into my subconscious. It was originally inspired by a film I loved - "Houdini", starring Tony Curtis, which was about attempts to contact Houdini after he'd died, through spiritualism... it was originally a song influenced by that, but a lot of other things must have crept in there without me realising it." So, that seems definitive.

Hi. To me this song was always about the emotions of losing a loved one. The "lost in a riddle" part describes the not knowing what happened to that person after he died. The "shot 6 times by a man on the run" line is just a way of describing how the woman was powerless to prevent what happened and how impossible to deal with it seems. The "desperate fight" part refers to an illness. Her being full of regret for things said or not said, not being able to forget or move on (push through) because of the manner of the death (he passed on worried and warning) and wishing to be able to be with that person again.

"The tree's that whisper in the evening/ sing a song of sorrow and grieving" part also refers to the woman constantly thinking about the man and how everything reminds her of him. People remember the details of the day someone so important to them dies, what they were doing at the time, things that were said etc. "The night was heavy but the air was alive" makes me think of a storm, which meant to me that the night was both heavy and charged in terms of emotions and the weather. Lastly, the "Carried away by a moonlight shadow" parts are describing the woman remembering that precise moment over and over again, and how that is more powerful than and interrupts whatever else she might be thinking or doing at that time. The lines "carried away by a moonlight shadow" interrupt the rest of the lyrics in a similar way.

I've always wanted to know what this means/what its about, especially the line 'caught in the middle of 105'. Love the song anyway :]

This is a wonderful song. I have so many versions of it... like 4 or 5... it's really really nice. When I first heard it, it was the very upbeat version, by Mike Oldfield, (Trance Remix), and I didn't hear the lyrics fully. When I finally read them, I realized how sad the song was, but it only made me like it more. I just can't get over how good this song is. Personally I think this song is about a woman who lost the one she loved most in her life, and she can't seem to go without him. Carried away by a moonlight shadow is referred to how he was killing under the moonlight, and taken away... It tells of how she wishes to be with him, and that she thinks about him all the time... though I am not sure about that one line... Caught in the middle of a hundred and five...

Still, a great song, everyone should have this... =)

I haven't heard this song for a while and don't know a great deal about it - I remember my mum always used to think it was about someone killed by the IRA or another terrorist group in Northern Ireland - maybe cos of the celtic undertone... I don't know though, just an idea.