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Anywhere out of the World Lyrics
We scale the face of reason
To find at least one sign
That could reveal the true dimension
Of life, lest we forget.
And maybe it's easier to withdraw from life
With all of its misery and wretched lies
Away from harm
We lay by cool, still waters
And gazed into the sun
And like the moth's great imperfection
Succumbed to her fatal charms
And maybe it's me who dreams of requited love
The victim of fools who watch and stand in line
Away from harm.
In our vain pursuit of life for ones own end
Will this crooked path ever cease to end?
To find at least one sign
That could reveal the true dimension
Of life, lest we forget.
And maybe it's easier to withdraw from life
With all of its misery and wretched lies
Away from harm
And gazed into the sun
And like the moth's great imperfection
Succumbed to her fatal charms
And maybe it's me who dreams of requited love
The victim of fools who watch and stand in line
Away from harm.
Will this crooked path ever cease to end?
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Baudelaire 'Anywhere Out Out of the World'
This life is a hospital where every patient is possessed with the desire to change beds; one man would like to suffer in front of the stove, and another believes that he would recover his health beside the window. It always seems to me that I should feel well in the place where I am not, and this question of removal is one which I discuss incessantly with my soul. 'Tell me, my soul, poor chilled soul, what do you think of going to live in Lisbon? It must be warm there, and there you would invigorate yourself like a lizard. This city is on the sea-shore; they say that it is built of marble and that the people there have such a hatred of vegetation that they uproot all the trees. There you have a landscape that corresponds to your taste! a landscape made of light and mineral, and liquid to reflect them!' My soul does not reply. 'Since you are so fond of stillness, coupled with the show of movement, would you like to settle in Holland, that beatifying country? Perhaps you would find some diversion in that land whose image you have so often admired in the art galleries. What do you think of Rotterdam, you who love forests of masts, and ships moored at the foot of houses?' My soul remains silent. 'Perhaps Batavia attracts you more? There we should find, amongst other things, the spirit of Europe married to tropical beauty.' Not a word. Could my soul be dead? 'Is it then that you have reached such a degree of lethargy that you acquiesce in your sickness? If so, let us flee to lands that are analogues of death. I see how it is, poor soul! We shall pack our trunks for Tornio. Let us go farther still to the extreme end of the Baltic; or farther still from life, if that is possible; let us settle at the Pole. There the sun only grazes the earth obliquely, and the slow alternation of light and darkness suppresses variety and increases monotony, that half-nothingness. There we shall be able to take long baths of darkness, while for our amusement the aurora borealis shall send us its rose-coloured rays that are like the reflection of Hell's own fireworks!' At last my soul explodes, and wisely cries out to me: 'No matter where! No matter where! As long as it's out of the world!'
I believe the line
"Any maybe it's me who dreams unrequited love"
should be
"Any maybe it's me who dreams of requited love"
While "unrequited love" may be a more romantic and familiar term, I suspect Brendan Perry has a pretty sharp eye for language and "requited love" (or love that is reciprocated) is something one would be more likely to "dream" of.
! Many, many thanks to Songmeaningsuser for posting the Baudelaire poem.
I thought the same thing. It just makes more sense.
I thought the same thing. It just makes more sense.
I think it is "unrequited love". "requited love" is what a person, who loves the concept of life wants. Unrequited love is the love for death. It is a one-way affection and you cannot get hurt as your path is under your control while you wait for your time to expire. He uses "away from harm" twice, once saying it is easier to commit suicide then to endure the lies and harm of life and the other is to embrace natural death, as for the unrequited love of death, not being fooled by the life of the sun....
I think it is "unrequited love". "requited love" is what a person, who loves the concept of life wants. Unrequited love is the love for death. It is a one-way affection and you cannot get hurt as your path is under your control while you wait for your time to expire. He uses "away from harm" twice, once saying it is easier to commit suicide then to endure the lies and harm of life and the other is to embrace natural death, as for the unrequited love of death, not being fooled by the life of the sun.
Very powerful song.
The title is taken from a poem by Baudelaire (he wrote the poem in french, of course, yet the title is in english, a language he spoke quite well, as he translated Poe into french).
This one really hit home with me when I was studying philosophy, and truth seemed up for grabs.
Reminds me of Nietzsche, when Zarathustra meets a disillusioned scholar worn out with the questions of life and the apparent futility of seeking truth: "I trust myself no longer since I strove upwards. What seek I in the heights? My contempt and my longing wax together; the higher I climb the more I scorn him that climbeth."
"Fools who watch and stand in line, away from harm" could certainly be academics - people who speculate all day but seem removed from the real world. The moth analogy is apt - philosophy as a temptress, dangerous but impossible to turn away from.
Stanza 2, to me, is about the temptation to abandon the pursuit and resort to mere cynicism towards everything. Or like that ancient Greek chap (real or fictional? can't remember) who was so terrified by the fact that nothing is certain, that he lived inside a barrel or something for years, afraid to venture out into a world he couldn't pin down.
I love this song. Great meaning. It makes me want to go to sleep.
....forever.
"Mad from life's history, glad to death's mystery, swift to be hurl'd -- Anywhere, anywhere out of the world!" ― Thomas Hood, The Bridge of Sighs.