And Dream of Sheep

Kate: [On “And Dream of Sheep,” the line that says 'Come here with me now.'] “When I was little, and I'd had a bad dream… [my mother would] say something like "Come here with me now." It's my mother saying this line in the track…” (http://gaffa.org/garden/kate23.html).

-- The Ninth Wave opens with the Girl in the Water: terrified, exhausted, scared; wanting/fighting sleep; trying to still herself with the patience of sheep lost in snow... By the end of “And Dream of Sheep,” she is unconscious… sinking into that intermediate state between life-death and rebirth... -- What follows is a series of 5 dreams/nightmares, rising from her ‘unconscious’ state. (Maybe she becomes semi-conscious at some point; maybe she does not.) -- During the final Chorus of “Hello, Earth” she drowns. Note the philosophic, mournful ending of the song. -- The whispering/comforting “Come here with me now” (at the beginning/Alpha) has become the whispering/comforting “Go to sleep little earth” (at the end/Omega). -- The ocean = dark, deep, unconscious, id, life, grave, womb… etc, etc.

But the Wheel of Life is a continuous wonder, thus the rebirthing “The Morning Fog.” …

In Mahayana Buddhist soteriology the Bardo is the intermediate state between lives, when the mind experiences a series of hallucinations culminating in its next birth... To the Buddhist it is impossible to envisage 'no mind'. The state of a disembodied mind is active, hallucinatory and, depending on its karmic imprints, sometimes nightmarish.

'To die, to sleep ... To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay there's the rub, for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause...' - Hamlet.

Hamlet realised that 'Not to be' is not an option, there is only 'To Be' - in some state or other, pleasant or unpleasant… The Buddhist agrees with Shakespeare, rather than with the materialists, in believing that mental imprints caused by actions in previous lifetimes (karma) cause phenomenal manifestations. And those manifestations continue to be experienced as dreams or nightmares throughout the intermediate state from tomb to womb… (http://website.lineone.net/~kwelos/Bardo.htm).

Whilst this woman is in danger of drowning she has two conflicting thoughts. One is trying to stay awake - hence wishing she had a radio - otherwise if she falls asleep she might drown. The other voice actually welcomes death as she is so exhausted and afraid that a peaceful death in her sleep is preferable to the long struggle for survival in the cold harsh sea. If she sleeps and dies then she believes she will be taken somewhere more comforting.

A fragile song, heavy and exhausted. ‘If they find me racing white horses, They'll not take me for a buoy.’

The girl has already been in the water for hours, text-book ‘racing white horses’, desperately trying to attract attention so not be mistaken for a buoy. She has confused sea gulls with search parties. She is now exhausted…

Too tired to keep struggling, she places all her faith and hope in the little torchlight on her life-jacket… She prays, Little light will guide them to me… Without energy, she can do no more than fix the torch to keep her face lit up (with hope)… She tries to enliven, to keep racing… but is fighting sleep, wanting to shut down thinking, imagination and struggle… Don’t worry, I’ll wake up if I hear boats, engines, rescuers…

Against losing the struggle, she wishes she had her radio… The ‘friendly voices Talking 'bout stupid things’ would now be so appreciated… keeping her awake and distracted…

She might be using ‘stupid’ affectionately, or she might be referring to the weather reports. “Weather services tracked the formation of these storms, but failed to appreciate their rapid development in time to warn either fleet of the impending gale winds…” (Hinz, The Fastnet Race disaster of August 1979; and see http://gaffa.org/dreaming/tnw_ff10.html)

But she is slipping fast… Let me be weak, Let me sleep And dream of sheep…

little light=both the life-jacket torch and the hope/faith/prayer she feels. they say they take me home=home=death. poppies=opium=heroin=morphine=Morpheus (the god of dreams in Greek mythology; Morpheus sleeps surrounded by poppy flowers). deeper and deeper=deeper=into subconscious dream state… (leading into dream recall ‘Under Ice’).

A sad and beautiful song, about people struggling against the odds.

I get from this song that feeling of drifting off: you ought to fight it but it feels good. It feels like you should drift off. And then you start getting the surreal thoughts which suggest that you're drifting in and out of consciousness. Your imagination has some enticing images and tempts you towards oblivion. It tries to trick you; it tells you that you can visit sleep and bypass this whole ordeal: you will wake to the sound of engines. As you are lulled deeper and deeper into it, your better judgement slowly fades out and you peacefully submit. It's so beautifully written.

This song begins the second half of the Hounds of Love album, which is subtitled "The 9th Wave." It turns out this a very complex song:

The whole 9th Wave suite is about a woman, maybe Kate, maybe not, drowning out in an ocean and the hallucinations, experiences, and emotions that ensue. Apparently, the little light shining reference refers to the type of lifejacket with lights on them. A rescue crew finally comes to save the woman (why this is the opening track to the suite has always puzzled me, when this seems to be the end of the journey when she is rescued). The rescuers are in the water, their lifejackets shining on her face in the dark night, the woman utterly exhausted; she just wants to be weak and go to sleep.

"If they find me racing white horses - They'll not take me for a buoy."

This refers to the woman trying desperately to let herself be seen by racing white horses (or thrashing against the white-encrusted waves) so that the rescue crew won't "mistake me for a buoy."

The rest is her just wanting to sleep forever as she is placed in the aircraft (plane? helicopter?).

Like I said, this is the opener, but it's really the end of the 9th suite story. This song is followed by Under Ice, which appears to be when the woman first gets trapped in the water.

I see this song as a chic being lost at sea with just a torch or something (little light shining, guiding them to me). I always thought the ending bit, rather than being a rescue, was her finally falling asleep from hypothermia, and being led deeper and deeper by 'them'. Still, whatever you think it means, it's a great song, and despite being quite dark, it's very soothing and relaxing.

This was one of my friend, Colleen's, favorite Kate songs. RIP, Colleen.

On the Fastnet Race disaster of August 1979:

• Winds were reported at Force 6, with gusts of Force 7. Forecasters were predicting winds of Force 8.
• In the event, competitors were caught in Force 11 hurricane strength gusts midway between Land's End and Fastnet.
• The rescue effort included: Royal Navy ships, RAF Nimrod jets, helicopters, lifeboats, a Dutch warship, tugs, trawlers and tankers.
• Many of the smaller yachts taking part in the competition were not equipped with a radio and were therefore not able to report their positions.
• By the time the winds subsided, 15 people were dead, 24 crews had abandoned their yachts and five craft had sunk. 136 sailors were rescued.

'Ev'ry gull a seeking craft...' - The gulls can fly to safety, but she must wait to be rescued...

‘And dream of sheep./Ooh, their breath is warm/And they smell like sleep…’

• see THE SHEEP UNDER THE SNOW (William Kennish, W.H. Gill, etc.)
• Shepherds searching for sheep lost in snow use probing-poles; "round breathing-holes" are formed by the heat of the sheep’s breath in the snow, which afford them partial ventilation and also attract the scent of the dog/rescuer/The Good Shepherd.

What does she mean by Like poppies, heavy with seed - They take me deeper and deeper. Oh I'll wake up to any sound of engines I can't be left to my imagination? i understand the rest. I love this song and until i saw these comments i thought it was about being sleepy but now i understand it!