"Melancholy Man" as written by and Mike Pinder....
I'm a melancholy man, that's what I am,
All the world surrounds me, and my feet are on the ground.
I'm a very lonely man, doing what I can,
All the world astounds me and I think I understand
That we're going to keep growing, wait and see.
When all the stars are falling down
Into the sea and on the ground,
And angry voices carry on the wind,
A beam of light will fill your head
And you'll remember what's been said
By all the good men this world's ever known.
Another man is what you'll see,
Who looks like you and looks like me,
And yet somehow he will not feel the same,
His life caught up in misery, he doesn't think like you and me,
'Cause he can't see what you and I can see.
All the world surrounds me, and my feet are on the ground.
I'm a very lonely man, doing what I can,
All the world astounds me and I think I understand
That we're going to keep growing, wait and see.
When all the stars are falling down
Into the sea and on the ground,
And angry voices carry on the wind,
A beam of light will fill your head
And you'll remember what's been said
By all the good men this world's ever known.
Another man is what you'll see,
Who looks like you and looks like me,
And yet somehow he will not feel the same,
His life caught up in misery, he doesn't think like you and me,
'Cause he can't see what you and I can see.
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
"Melancholy Man" as written by Mike Pinder
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
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"That we're going to keep growing, wait and see."
Hopefully mankind will learn peace and end war, or they will develop new weapons.
"When all the stars are falling down
Into the sea and on the ground, "
Stars = bombs. It's talking about a plane dropping a payload of bombs on innocent targets.
"And angry voices carry on the wind,"
When all negotiations fail...
"A beam of light will fill your head"
You'll see the flash of a nuclear explosion.
"And you'll remember what's been said"
By all the good men this world's ever known. "
Possibly a reference to Oppenheimer's quotes after reading *Hindu* (In Search of the Lost Chord? Om is a sacred text in Hindu) verses.
"Another man is what you'll see,
Who looks like you and looks like me,
And yet somehow he will not feel the same,
His life caught up in misery, he doesn't think like you and me, "
The victims of Hiroshima/Nagasaki who won't ever recover.
"'Cause he can't see what you and I can see. "
Because of what man did to him, he has became angry and bitter.
Okay, I don't have a clue what the words mean. I know the author was fairly religious, so it definitely has those overtones to it.
I like that it sets a 'mood' and paints a picture with the words. I can 'see' the stars falling down and I can 'see' the angry voices on the wind. I also love the dual acoustic guitars (that's Hayward AND Pinder playing guitars) and how the song builds with the keyboards.
"I'm a very lonely man, doing what I can, "
I never really had any real friends when I was depressed, and I struggled throught life, not being able to see the positive aspects of things at all, always seeing the negative, always punishing myself & beating myself down, becoming so emotionally dead that I only felt pain and sorrow, and emptiness.
Following lines also describe this
"Another man is what you'll see,
Who looks like you and looks like me,
And yet somehow he will not feel the same,
His life caught up in misery, he doesn't think like you and me,
'Cause he can't see what you and I can see. "
Being depressed, I also wondered what made other people so different, so happy? What did they have that I didn't? I figured I was just meant to be this way, that in the game of life there were winners and losers, and I had lost somehow.
At least, there is hope (just like when one realises what he's feeling is depression, and he might be able to get healthier somehow) :
"That we're going to keep growing, wait and see. "
"When all the stars are falling down
Into the sea and on the ground,
And angry voices carry on the wind,"
When everything goes wrong...
"A beam of light will fill your head
And you'll remember what's been said
By all the good men this world's ever known. "
...There's still some hope
Food for thought...
"A beam of light will fill your head" (enlightenment)
"And you'll remember whats been said by all the good men this worlds ever known" (egregore)
"cause he can't see what you and i can see." (ORDO AB CHAO)
what you and i can see or are seeing, is described in the next track balance.
This entire album is filled with the worlds most weighty themes :)
The easy answer about any of the stranger Moody Blues songs is that they are about drugs. But this one. . . I don't know.
It starts easy enough, sure, the guy is lonely, and why not?
Then it goes onto one of the Moody Blues regular trips. Beam of light? Stars falling down?
I cannot help wondering if there is an intentional change of perspective mid-song - that the Melancholy Man he is at the start is the same person he is talking about a little later. That's fine - but why the switch?
It is just possible that I have way over-analysed this song. . .
It is one of those tunes left up to the interpretation of the listener. For me, I don't think the melancholy man is God or Jesus (neither would be melancholy even at the end of the world - also, they *would* see what you and I see).
But, rather, he is one of the "good men this world's ever known", one, in particular, that has had a lot to say.
To me, this would be a classic author or songwriter, one who comments on the state of humanity (Twain, Dickens, John Lennon, etc.) Often these are truly good men, but not particularly happy since they see and write about the state of human affairs.
What I cannot reconcile with this interpretation is "he can't see what you and I can see". Usually a wise old commentator on the state of humanity *can* see what you and I see. My best guess is if you and I are blissfully ignorant, happy people, and the melancholy man cannot see the little things that make us happy.
I've always felt the lyrics can be as deep or as face-value as the listener prefers.
"He can't see, what you and I can see" could mean several things. Perhaps the M-Man can't see the importance of the things everyone else sees. Perhaps he is in fact melancholy because he doesn't see hope or opportunity as others do.
Perhaps he sees on a different level than the rest of us: He sees face value as we look deeper, or the other way around perhaps.