Spider Web

I used to hear this song a LOT growing up, as my mother had bought the album it was on after hearing "One of Us" on the radio (egad that dates me). In any case, I've obviously had a lot of time and repetitions to think on the possible meaning.

When I listen to this song, I picture the pattern of threads of the spider web representing a rather precise confluence of circumstances that when taken together in specific patterns, make each of us who we are. In essence when Ray is saying "when you gain you just might loose", he's saying that changing one little thing (like say his eyesight or lack thereof) changes the entire pattern of a person's life and personality in rather drastic ways. The gifts we have in life are often at the expense of something else, and hence the song is saying if Ray Charles had never been blind he would have never been interested in music enough to become such a skilled musician, and he's passing on that fact as a warning so that people appreciate that their talents are often the result of sometimes negative aspects of their lives.

When looked at from that perspective, I find it to be a rather deep song. It has certainly inspired me a great deal for a song that tends to get overlooked compared to others on that album, but I love it. :)

Dang I had wished someone would have commented on this song by now.

I don't really understand but as far as I can see is that the spider webs are what clouds Rays mind now that he can see and doesn't sing anymore. He wished for sight but the spider webs took away his ability to write and sings songs. Now that he can see he spends all his time on the couch (watching MTV).

I just don't understand what exactly the spider webs represent.

Anybody else with some helpful input please?

I think it's a stupid song. I'm not sure I understand it, but I think it's about a trade off. Sometimes you get something you think you want, and in the process you lose something. I don't know if the web is a safe secure gilded environment or your own identity or something else. I wonder what Ms. Osborne in mind? I think spiders are creepy.

This song confounds me. She wrote it and recorded it while he was still very much alive. I do believe he died blind, so it's not really a circumstance that was going to play out, but it seemed like she was kinda zeroing in on the guy for some reason. Now the man did struggle with drugs, but I don't think that's what the song is about. She doesn't say specifically what her beef is, other than that when he re-gained his sight he lost touch with the music. For the rest of us, we might listen to this and see Ray as an extraordinary talent with an affliction that may have helped him develop that talent, so we might hear this song and think hard about what we might have to sacrifice in order to have the level of musical soul in Ray Charles.

But I can't ignore the persistent slight that it appears to be against the man. Like when she says "C'mon, Ray." It could be she just ran with the image in her head. But the fact that he was still alive when she recorded it just seems like she thought he was already gone.

I'd really like to hear Osborne herself explain what was up when she released this monumental pop album. I've listened to the entire album, very loud, many times. A lot of is absolutely unforgettable.