Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean (feat. Tapio Wilska)

i think i finally figured out the meaning of this great song!! its like all of you are saying: it is the birth of a bad evil cruel creature, mankind. mother nature vs evil man. Mother nature always tried to give birth to better creatures, finally creating a creature that can love "I wished for pleasure, wished for love...", that can think, man. But she was wrong about us... She just forgot about our cruelty, about all the pain we can create : wars, pollution, murders... Its like planet hell in a way... anyway, in the end, and like all tuomas songs, hope finally finds its way through: "we shall wash....": innocence will be reborn again, innocence of man, innocence of the oceanborn, innocence of nature... of the whole world...

Well after sitting and listening through these lyrics 4 time in a row I think I have some interesting ideas, just tell me what you think of my lyrical breakdown.

A snowy owl above the haunted waters poet of ancient gods Cries to tell the neverending story prophecy of becoming floods

(This is Tuomas, the snowy owl before his birth, the poet of ancient gods. He wished to become a man to tell his stories, to shout out his prophecies. But in doing so he became exactly what he hates about this world)

An aura of mystery surrounds her the lady in brightest white Soon the incarnate shall be born The Creater of the night

(this is yet another hint toward himself but as a human. The lady dressed in white, the innocence...his innocence will soon be lost to the man. The incarnate shall be born and his innocence will be gone)

Deep dark is his Majesty's kingdom A portent of tomorrow's world There shall the liquid give Him power The red-eyed unborn lord

(This is the ocean, with which Tuomas has always had a lifelong love affair. The ocean being deep and dark and unexplainable, the liquid shall give him power)

Fatal embrace of the bloodred waters The cradle of infinite gloom The spell to master this Earth Carven on an infant's tomb

(this is Tuomas now fully grown, harkening back to the time of his innocence. The bloodred waters being the ocean, but not the ocean that he is of, but instead the ocean of this world and the depravity of men.)

"I will die for the love of the mermaid Her seduction, beauty and scorn Welcome to the end of your life -Hail the Oceanborn!"

(He would die to gain back the love of the ocean, now fully a man and cast in the image of a man. Welcome to the end of his life as he is now mortal and will one day die. Hail the oceanborn!)

"Disgraced is my virginity Death has woven my wedding dress Oh, Great Blue, breathe the morning dew For you are the cradle for the image of god"

(virginity again being innocence here, death is all around him and he cannot fight it. He visits the sea often to try and reconnect with it like he once was, but he is a man not the image of god like he once felt.

"Brave now, long rest is sweet With me here in the deep

(the ocean telling him he will rejoin him one day, upon his death)

"I Prayed for pleasure, wished for love Prayed for your..."

"Never pray for me!"

(Tuomas begging the sea, the ocean for things that he once had, but when he tries to pray for the ocean itself the ocean rejects him as he is only a man)

"Who the hell are you for me But a mortal dream to see"

(Tuomas questioning his faith in the ocean, as he has been a man far too long)

"This apathetic life must drown Forever just for me"

(The ocean waits to reclaim him as he will die one day)

"Leave me be Leave me be Leave me be..ee eeee... e"

(Tuomas hating the ocean for rejecting him, but still wishing to return to his position of innocence from so long ago)

"From cradle to coffin shall my wickedness be your passion

(Simply the truth, men cannot help but be passionate for wickedness, the ocean being the progenitor of both)

We shall come to set the dolphins free We shall wash the darkened bloodred sea Our songs will echo over the mountains and seas The eternity will begin once again in peace

(Resolution, Tuomas will one day prove the ocean wrong and regain his innocence, even as a man)

In the end the story is of tuomas before he was birthed being a blamless soul and after his birth into the oceans of the world, his innocence is darkened. The ocean represents the evils of the world but also what used to be the goods of the world, more like "Tainted Innocence" and this is what I get from the term "Ocean Soul."

A soul that represents the oceans, and the in turn represents the world. At one time so clean and untainted, but now is darkened and black...stained with the wickedness of mankind. Tuomas wanted to become a man to tell his stories and his poetry but in doing so he lost the innocence. Unable to get it back to the position that it once was he has resigned himself to spend time with the sea and plans to one day return to it and hopes to regain his innocence once more before he dies so that he may return to the position he once held.

Just my opinion, probably not right...just kinda what I get after cross referencing some of his other songs that deal with similar subjects.

This is my favorite Nightwish song. I don't quite understand the lyrics yet, but I get the impression that it's about an anti-religious event. Yes, broad interpretation, I know.

I havent quiet interpeted this song yet but I dont think it has to do with religion at all. Gimme time and I shall decipher it

Hmm... Well, not really religion or anti-religion, but more a creature-of-the-dark type thing. I can't wait to see an interpretation ;).

Obviously, this is where the inspiration for the name of the CD came in. I also get the feeling that the cover picture is based on this song by the line "the lady in brightest white", but that's extremely taboo. I've thought of the song and come to the conclusion (very widely based) that the song is sort of describing the plans for domination between a Siren and an "evil" creature, such as a vampire, or maybe just a very evil person. Somehow "world domination" sounds like a cliched phrase, but that's about what I'd say they're discussing.

not the brightest crayon in the box Not that you've received an in-depth interpretation of my view of this song, you are free to chuck blunt objects at my head...

it sounds to me like an innocent woman is in love with some sort of evil being. she says "i prayed for pleasure, wished for love, prayed for your-" and is cut off by the male voice saying "never pray for me".

maybe its about a woman with stolkholm syndrome lol

It always gives me a sense of the antichrist sort of thing being born... Or something to do with sacrifice...

...anyways the the heck is this "Oceanborn" kid neways? They keep sticking that in their lyrics...

The Oceanborn.... he born from the Ocean (the Oceanborn) is the one destined to be an Ocean Soul (how Tuomas describes himself)

To me, it sounds very theatrical - I can almost picture it as an opera onstage. There were quite a few references to the cover art - "a lady in the brightest white" and "a snowy owl above the haunted waters." The cover art hit the feel of this song right on the mark. There's sort of a Phantom of the Opera thing going on with a woman falling for some sort of demonic-type being and then realizing how terrible he is. I really don't get the last verse though, it doesn't seem to have much to do with the song, unless the demon and the woman both died and everyone else is rebuilding or something...maybe I've just seen too much theatre.