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Theatre Of Pain Lyrics
The giant's lost
And all around him
Destructed for what?
They all knew what it meant
But they couldn't change it
Lord they had gone too far
Leave them alone
It's all gone
What is left behind
On a desert we called earth
When the last whale went away
Did they ever see the tears?
Don't fear your last step
From the theatre of pain
And the children will love your singing
From the sea
The sea is calling
Now we've to leave it
The sea was clear
On the day I was stranded
Answers I'd known
To keep this all alive
But I can't change it
Forever
Now I'm gone
And it seems that life had never existed
So we left the dark and cold
All I left behind were my tears
Don't fear your last step
From the theatre of pain
And the children will love your singing
From the sea
The sea is calling
I hear them calling
And all around him
Destructed for what?
They all knew what it meant
But they couldn't change it
Lord they had gone too far
Leave them alone
What is left behind
On a desert we called earth
When the last whale went away
Did they ever see the tears?
From the theatre of pain
And the children will love your singing
From the sea
The sea is calling
Now we've to leave it
On the day I was stranded
Answers I'd known
To keep this all alive
But I can't change it
Forever
And it seems that life had never existed
So we left the dark and cold
All I left behind were my tears
From the theatre of pain
And the children will love your singing
From the sea
The sea is calling
I hear them calling
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In the booklet for Somewhere Far Beyond Revisited album, it says that "This time Hansi gathered inspiration from the Star Trek movie IV: The Voyage Home (1986) in Theatre of Pain, where the bard can only stand by and experience the final minute of horror and tragedy before a species and later a planet goes extinct." In the movie, a probe arrives from outer space in year 2286 causing chaos on Earth. The probe emits a signal which matches the song of extinct humpback whales, and will continue to wreak havoc until its call is answered. So the crew goes back in time to the year 1986 to retrieve some humpback whales and save the planet. In the song's version of the story, however, it seems this never happened (or has not happened yet) and the bard who sings this song is witnessing the final moments of life on Earth, doomed since the time the last whale disappeared.
[Edit: Edited to fix a typo]
I don't really think you can say that this song is about anything but whales, unless its your subjective interpretation. There is nothing mentioned but whales, the ocean and death. No references, nothing to go off of. Just ambiguous song writing.
Why can't a song just be about whales, instead of some complex moral duality?
It's based on the fantasy story by Poul Anderson called "The Merman's Children"
thats the only interpretation that actually make sense of the ones mentioned. From what i have heard blind guardian are quite fond of using fantasy books as reference material.
thats the only interpretation that actually make sense of the ones mentioned. From what i have heard blind guardian are quite fond of using fantasy books as reference material.
I don't think this song has much to do with wales. I don't know for sure. Well, anyway blind guardian is not a simple band and so the song is not that simple. The main message of this song is anit-nuclear war. Fom the beginning you can see the pattern of verses: They all knew what it meant But they couldn't change it Lord they had gone too far It means here that humans knew the results of the war, but they could't really change it becasue of the crisis. Therefore they gone too far by destructing the Earth. It's all gone What is left behind On a desert we called earth These lines mean that earth is destructed and there just desert left, that we used to call Earth. The whale here reffers to last object alive. Since the life was only left at sea. Of course few things suspecious here, but i think that theater of pain is reffers to as the war bunker and children will love the singing because the humans will be gone and the lives forms will remain by itself wihout interference of humans. Pherhaps I made mistake somewere, but it is a good try. If someone has better ideas please reply. Thanks.
Yes, its a complex song but to put a twist in the tail what dose "and the children will love youre singing" mean? have fun debatin /wave
Although I think "The Merman's children" being probably the best base for this song it always reminded me of "Elric of Melniboné" - or rather of the last part of the story, where the Chaos is about to take over the world (something that was foreseen by a lot of people, but they couldn't change it). There is even a giant in this part, who falls (= "is lost"), the earth is lifeless and dead ("the desert we called earth") and I don't think there are still whales left in the oceans at that time. Elric has to take the last step from his theater of pain - finally fulfilling his destiny, every step he took before only led him to this final one.
At the end of the book the protagonist is the only living being on the new world which looks like "life had never existed". The world "left the dark and cold", and since he saw all people dying which meant something to him and finally is released by death itself he leaves "his tears behind".
To put it simply, this is a "Save the whales" song. This is pretty easy interpret with lines such as: Verse 1 line 7 "Leave them alone", and Verse 2 line 4 "when the last whale went away".
Are you guys serious? Honestly, I don't think its either or those things, whale love or nukes... Blind Guardian usually doesn't write songs about very modern things. I think it might have some sort of biblical reference. With the giant (David and Goliath), the desert (location of part of the bible), and whale (Jonah and the whale). I don't think the song has anything to do specifically with these, but it reminded me of a typical story in the bible.