Ascension Day

It's a shame there isn't more discussion on Talk Talk. Mark Hollis is one of my favorite singers and an absolutely fascinating lyricist. I think ripelivejam is on the right track saying this song deals with fate. I also feel, though, that it deals with redemption, which seems to be a common theme on this album. It essentially challenges fate, which is assuring damnation. Hence the line "Kill the bet I'll burn on judgment day". It's a resolution, and a prayer for good will, placing faith in love, I feel.

this song is so climatic, the spindly guitar just gets more ferocious and building, like the crash of waves and disaster. lyrically and thematically it sounds like someone trying to escape their fate again and again, only to have it crashing down upon them in the end. it's amazing how this band can conjure up impossible space and tightly wound fierceness in the same song.

I can identify with his abstract lyrics, such a hopeful desperation

I think the song is about redeeming oneself for their past sins and ascending to heaven, hence the title "Ascension day."

Bet I'll be damned Built the debt I turned 2's up today Bet I'll be damned Gets harder to sense to sail Farewell fare well Mother numb to & devout to Reckon luck sees us the same

Weighted my hand Kill the bet I'll burn on judgement day Weighted my hand Get hard hit to sin to sail

"Bet I'll be damned today, built the debt." Is an example right here. The character believes that he is an evil person who can only keep doing evil, that they can't find peace in their lives, and surely enough by the end, he finally does.