Marquee Moon

General CommentI think that this song is about coming to that crossroads in your life, or at least when you come to question where you are going in your life. In the first part, he's talking about a dark time in his life, when he remembers that strange things were happening, but he was paying attention to looking for something else. In the chorus he is talking about how just being one of the hive made him get laid, but he still thinks of where it all started and where it all ends. And he's underneath this Marquee Moon, which I'm taking to be just a metaphor for the changes you must take in life. In the man verse, it's pretty straight-forward, and then the Cadillac lines are about how he tries to take a stab at getting away, but instead is dropped back out in the graveyard. Maybe the message is that "As hard as you try to change, you're always going to end up back in that graveyard." Wow. Cool.

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General CommentTelevison are possibly one of the greatest overlooked bands from the 70s...They were called the "Grateful Dead of punk bands" because of their long 10 minute jam stlye songs, but these guys were no hippies.. The bass line in this song is incredible, and the guitar parts (both Verlaine and Lloyd) are layered beautifully. This band knew how to lay out a song correctly without it sounding like it is going on too long. An absolute masterpiece!

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General Commenti agree with most of myeh man except for the actual marquee moon
marquee would mean as those letters that move showing announcements and stuff.
with a marquee moon it would mean standing under time as the moon moves across the sky throughout the nightime
the song continues to say "just waiting"
all marquee moon means is time.

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General CommentI see this song as life summarized. Going through the darkness (hard times) and sometimes bringing them upon yourself hence "lighting struck itself". "Listening to the rain, hearing something else" being all of the small things that act as reminders of your past and inevitably interpreting things differently than others.
Any life choices you make changing you as a person whether that be for better or worse is what I get out of "the kiss of death, the embrace of life" and the marquee moon is a metaphor for the passing of time although sometimes you get impatient. I believe the third verse to be about living your life cautiously under apathetic terms and the fourth to be about being in with the wrong crowd and going nowhere or always ending up back where you started.

Marquee Moon always gets credit for being a masterpiece as it rightfully deserves, but Adventure is a masterpiece in it's own right however many dismiss it as not living up to Marquee Moon's standards. Those people are missing out big time.

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My InterpretationSomehow, Tom Verlaine wrote this song before the blackout of New York City which happened on July 14, 1977. Marquee Moon was released in February of that year. But the lyrics hauntingly recount the night when the city went black. "I remember, when the darkness doubled, lightning had struck itself." A major lightning storm the night before is what caused the blackout as major power lines were knocked out, increasing loads to others, until finally the system went out. "Listening to the rain, I heard something else." That something else he heard was civil unrest and the madness that ensued once the lights went dark.

In the midst of a financial crisis, the dog days of summer and the city living among a rampant serial killer, NYC was at the brink of cracking. And once the lights went out that night, in many neighborhoods, the city did just that. Violence, looting, arson and insanity were uncontrolled. Urban civilization became unglued that night, and mayhem ensued, resulting in the most arrests in the city's history. The city at that time was bankrupt and many public services had been cut as a result. "When there is an internal decay of a social structure (that's) important in a city, it just takes on little spark, one little thing to hit it, to set it off."

'Waiting', 'hesitating', 'I ain't waiting nuh uh', all seem to hint at phases of herd mentality.

"Life in the hive puckered up my night, A kiss of death, the embrace of life."
When relating this line to the Blackout of '77, I take it to mean NYC may have hit it's darkest moment that night, the blackout being its kiss of death. But once you hit bottom, there's only one way to go, the embrace of life. New York obviously rebounded from this night in 1977, undergoing many changes leading to what the city has become today.

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My InterpretationMarquee Moon – Explained

Here is how I interpreted the song. I list the lyrics below with explanations interspersed.

I remember
Ooo how the darkness doubled (dissatisfaction with his life)
I recall
Lightning struck itself (He had an epiphany)

I was listening
Listening to the rain (he is sad, forlorn, and despairing)
I was hearing
Hearing something else (the embrace of life)

Brief musical interlude. The interlude is surprisingly uplifting given the depressing metaphors (darkness doubled, rain). I believe the musical interlude is the “something else he was hearing”. The musical phrase represents hope, the embrace of life.

Life in the hive puckered up my night,
A kiss of death, the embrace of life
Ooo there I stand neath the Marquee Moon,
Just waiting

Life in the hive (the rat race, a teeming swarm of people with a hive mentality)
Puckered up my night (made my soul uneasy)
Kiss of death (staying in the hive will ruin his life, it is the kiss of death)
The embrace of life (he is choosing to embrace life, carpe dium, living life to the fullest, he will not continue with this living death. This is what he means when he says previously he is hearing something else. Life does not have to be about tedium and despair.)
There I stand neath the Marquee Moon (I take this to mean it was a big bright moon, it’s lit up like a marquee)
Just waiting (waiting for what? He is waiting for the courage to change his life)

I spoke to a man
Down at the tracks
And I ask him
How he don't go mad
He said 'Look here junior, don't you be so happy
And for Heaven's sake, don't you be so sad'

The above verse is the hive coaxing him back in. The hive is neither happy or sad. They just are.
Again we hear the uplifting musical interlude that represents hope. He is not lost yet.

Life in the hive puckered up my night,
The kiss of death, the embrace of life
Ooo there I stand neath the Marquee Moon,
Hesitating

The important part in this verse is the last line, “Hesitating”. He is no longer just waiting for something to change his life. He is building up the courage to take charge and live the life he wants. But he is not quite ready yet.

Well a Cadillac
It pulled out of the graveyard
Pulled up to me
All they said 'get in', get in
Then the Cadillac
It puttered back into the graveyard
Me, I got out again

Again, the hive is dragging him back to the living death, a life of tedium and despair. The graveyard is a metaphor for an unfullfilled life, a living death. When he says “I got out again”, he doesn’t mean he just got out of the car, he got out of the graveyard, he means he left the hive again. But this final escape is his salvation.

Life in the hive puckered up my night,
A kiss of death, the embrace of life
Ooo there I stand neath the Marquee Moon,
I ain't waiting nuh ah

“I ain’t waiting nuh ah”. I think nuh ah means no more. I ain’t waiting no more. He has gathered his courage and is moving on, escaping the hive, becoming his own man.

It is important to remember the last words before the musical interlude begins, “I ain’t waiting no more.” The music, rather than the lyrics tell the remainder of the story. The music beautifully describes his journey, the challenges he must overcome, and ultimately, his triumph.

The guitar solo plays against the bass line. The bass line is monotonous and repetitive and it represents the hive. The thing he wishes to escape. If you notice, the beginning of the guitar solo starts timidly, like a child taking his first steps, but then grows more and more powerful and complex and confident. In my mind I visualize him climbing a mountain, keeping in mind that the mountain is a metaphor for whatever challenges he is facing and trying to overcome. The tone continues to rise, struggling to reach the pinnacle and with a thundering climax it is triumphant. He has overcome, he has reached the top! And then the music softens and in my mind, he has reached the top of the mountain and is looking into the star filled sky. The world is full of wonder. He has escaped, he has succeeded. He is free.

Then near silence. Here I believe we hear the light tapping of a cymbal, like the ticking of a clock. This tapping represents the passage of time. It is followed by drums and bass and then the familiar beginning riffs. But tonally, this is more powerful, more certain, more lively than the similar riff that opened the song. In the beginning, he was living the darkness. In the final movement, many years have passed and he is remembering, with pride, how he turned his life around.


I remember
How the darkness doubled
I recall
Lightning struck itself

I was listening
Listening to the rain
I was hearing
Hearing something else

After the lyrics end, we hear the musical interlude that represents hope. Followed by a final musical passage that represents peace.

In summary, this song tells the inspirational story about a person’s journey from the darkness to the light and how he finds peace in a crazy world. The thing that makes this a masterpiece is the way it uses both words and music to tell the story.

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Song MeaningThis song is about following your calling.

The marquee moon is literally a marquee (probably a location where there was an opportunity to perform). The singer notes that they are there from choosing one opportunity over another. However, the opportunity falls through (“puckered up my night”) do to his inaction "the darkness doubled" – both opportunities appear to be lost, "lighting struck itself" the opportunity he chose made him loose both opportunities.

The Cadillac and the graveyard are metaphors for ignoring his dream and to live and work in the expected manner, what people are telling him he should do. This is not something the singer is interested in, he driven by his dream. He hears something else when listening to the rain (he hears his dream, not the advice to abandon it).

The man down at the tracks tells him to navigate life, don’t over rate success and don’t dwell on failure.

The loss of tonight’s opportunity won’t deter him.
He isn’t going to wait for another opportunity to come to him, he will pursue the opportunity.

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General CommentClassic Epic! Put the Album up there with Pink Floyd. This is where the Strokes got that fabulous rhythm! That enduring interlude is Top Notch stuff! The Cadillac verse is so bloody cool, yet very haunting. It seems like a very life-affirming song. "Lightning struck itself" - what a lyric! I can't get over the rhythm - guitar, then bass going on the off-chord, then Fricca's astonishing drums, and, of course, that great guitar lick - dadadadada! This is Television's defining moment!

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General CommentClassic Epic! Put the Album up there with Pink Floyd. This is where the Strokes got that fabulous rhythm! That enduring interlude is Top Notch stuff! The Cadillac verse is so bloody cool, yet very haunting. It seems like a very life-affirming song. "Lightning struck itself" - what a lyric! I can't get over the rhythm - guitar, then bass going on the off-chord, then Fricca's astonishing drums, and, of course, that great guitar lick - dadadadada! This is Television's defining moment!

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General Commentpure poetry.and i agree with bkat004, that lyric "lightning struck itself". oh love. i think we all can recall that.

oh i took the phrase marquee moon as night after night. isnt marquee like sort of .. well one of the definitions says its a "permanent canopy often of metal and glass..." or like those signs at the entrance of some arena that displays the performers.
Or a title given to a headliner.like at a concert.a really popular person.
i thought it had meant recurring moon .. as in the moon just seems to be constantly passing by as in its always nighttime.
=/

Well!

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