Marian

He's drowning under the pressures of the world, and reaching out to Marian for comfort. I think a lot of people can relate to this. Music-wise, this is one of the most depressive songs I've ever heard. I love it.

Maybe he is singing about depression and he fears that he will commit a suicide if he is not helped by this Marian.

The first verse seems like it could refer to some of Eldritch's many problems at the time, including tension between band members ("ship of fools"?) and general disdain for many elements of their audience - "sea of faces"?

Is Marian a specific person or does she represent the idealised notion we all secretly have that, there is someone out there who will save us from the world and ultimately ourselves? Is it referring to the need to find them, thus freeing ourselves from personal responsibility for our own happiness?

What ever the truth is, it's one of the greatest songs ever written...

This song creates such a dark and depressing atmosphere, matching the lyrics so well.

I have no clue what it's really about, but judging by the mood of the song, it sounds like it's about a man on the verge of suicide. He's searching for someone to pull him out of a deep depression, I'm not sure if he actually knows Marian, or he's just calling out to someone in general.

Very dark song indeed, one of my all time favorites.

I agree with Herrog, I don't think Marian is an actual person, but just a representation of anyone who can help this lonely man. I'm just coming out of high school now, and I'm at that point in my life where I have to decide what I'm gonna do ya know, and it's depressing to think about sometimes. I listen to this song and find myself crying out for my own Marian to come save me sniffle

Love this song, but had not thought about its meaning other than it being imagistic. That it's primarily about a real woman makes sense.

A second layer of interpretation is more tenuous. Marian is an anagram (version) of Marina, which is a TS Eliot poem. In turn, Marina is an imagining of a scene in the myth of Pericles who finds his lost daughter. In the poem, Eliot contrasts the fate of Pericles with Heracles, who killed his children in a fit.

Worth looking up the Eliot poem, which has a similarly dreamlike atmosphere to the Sisters track.

One of the best goth songs ever composed!!!

The part in german goes saying: what i can do and what i could do, I dont know anymore give me something beautiful again, pull me from the sea i hear you calling, Marian, you can hear me crying, i am here alone... I hear you calling, Marian, without your help i’m losing myslef in this place

I always believed the song is about someone who is desperate and full of trouble, and without exit, and is calling out to his last good beacon, Marian... the only person he can relate to in the troubled times, someone who probably represents something pure for him and that is what he needs to be safe. It's how i've always looked at it.

Its just me, or the difference between the two german lyrics is that the 1st one has some orthographical errors? In my opinion Marian should've been a real person therefore the (otherwise strange, unexplainable) german "plugin".