This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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This Song is awesome and beautiful I can't believe only two people comment this song :( I like the differents instruments that Mike Oldfield used. COOL!!!!!!!
To XDanny TorrenceX: Think of you as insane? Do your thing. And here, read Kerouac: "and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved"
Tubular Bells is quite easily one of my favorite albums of all time. (Or songs...it's kind of the same, in this case.) It's also one of the few albums I like that my Mum likes (she's not too much into music, although she married my dad, a musician, who's into most of the music I am). I was into prog rock when I first listened to it, and I had heard this was officially a prog classic. Being the sort of person who likes extended pieces of music like this (I seriously collect albums that are basically one song, like Tubular Bells, Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick and A Passion Play, the Decemberists' The Tain, ect.), I thought it was amazing. The lack of lyrics struck me as rather unusual at first, because everything I listened to then had words. But then I realized that having no lyrics is part of the beauty of it. Music doesn't need to have words to be beautiful (just look at classical music, which Mike Oldfield has tried to emulate, by the way).
Most people seem to think the Caveman Song (as I call it) is creepy. I don't think it's creepy so much as funny. I think it's funny that Mike Oldfield put it in there. (Apparently, a record company he showed the song to said that they'd sell the album if he added lyrics. He didn't want to. As a result, he threw this in, deciding, "Well, here's the lyrics".)
I want to add that Mike Oldfield recorded this when he was just 19, and played almost all the instruments himself. (Vivian Stanshall is introducing the instruments, and all the vocal parts except the "Caveman Song" are other people. Someone else played bass and drums, I can't recall who.) I think that's incredible that someone does that (or rather, someone else - I am a musician, and I record all the music and singing exclusively on my own). Tubular Bells thusly struck me as quite inspiring.
Out of all the modern music pieces written and composed (modern meaning, it's too new to be classical), I think that Tubular Bells is one of the finest and greatest. It tells no real story and has no real meaning, but the beauty is that, especially since there are no lyrics, you could take the music as telling a story of some kind. (Part One somehow makes me think of dying and going to heaven, though I don't really know why.) Tubular Bells is the piece that Mike Oldfield will always be most remembered for, and it's good that he should, because it is truly a beautiful piece of art.
WOW. I can't believe this has no comments. It's not a song with a meaning, rather just a near-50-minute-instrumental. I just downloaded this though and it's fantastic. Although it's kinda weird, when the monsterish voice comes into it in the last 10 minutes. Oh well. Still pretty funny =)
I love the original Tubular Bells, and Tubular Bells 2003 wins because John Cleese announces the instruments. Tubular Bells III is quite good. The Orchestral Tubular Bells is outstanding, not as good as the original, but still has some great moments. Tubular Bells II, however, not so good. The little girl / mommy conversation in the second half is... yeah, I didn't like it. "What's that, Mommy?" "I don't know." It's avant garde to say the least, especially when the monster voice is groaning before and after the lines, but it just took me completely out of the song and made me aware that I was listening to a song again, whereas the other arrangements all kept me in a state of suspended belief for the entire time.
I have the "Tubular Bells" album, and I have to say the ending of side 1, with the Tubular Bells, is one of the best insturmental music I've ever heard.
This ending to side 1 is just absoultely great!
ok, anyone who reads this is probably gonna think im insane, but i have the tubular bells album, and i have it in my ipod, and i listen to it every night before i go to bed, and ive done it so many times that its gotten down to the fact that i know when every single "bang" (loud sound of a bunch of instruments) happens, like every single guitar riff, and ive memorized all the names of the instruments that he says and i know when he starts naming them. how sad is that? i need a life pretty bad >_
I don't think you're insane. I have similar habits myself, actually. It doesn't strike me as insane so much as it strikes me as that you have a routine. Which is really a neutral thing. And if you're going to listen to something before you go to bed at night, then you might as well listen to one of the best pieces of popular music there is. Memorizing every single "bang" and the names of the instruments actually strikes me as something very much like what I might do. That's not sad, and you don't necessarily need a life. There are other people out there like you, like me. You're in good company.
@XDanny_TorrenceX I did the same after buying the album not long after it came out, although I had to play it on my turntable. Wore my first album out through my teens. Good times.
lol. I can almost remember every part. I listen to this at night. On Side 2 with the cavemen noises, just creepy. lol
You all may think Im crazy, but I think Tubular Bells II (1992) is just as good or even better than Oldfield's original from 1972. The opening "Sentinel" is fresh update of the original. The sound and instrumentals throughout the album are more focused and exotic. Some of the best highlights are "Clear Light", "The Bell", "Weightless", and "The Great Plain".
such a great song, i've put the 1973 album on my itunes, and from there its found its onto my phone as my alarm tone, waking up to the theme of the exorcist my seems a tad freaky, but oh well lol, i love this song, i only really like the first part though, i think the second part is kinda crap to be honest, for me theres just something about the first part, its just seems to flow so much more smoothly, i think the section with the pipe organ is the best part, and guitar riff just before builds it up to the pipe organ, brilliant