A few years prior to the Ocean Rain LP, the Bunnymen took a trip to Greenland, I think, if memory serves, or else someplace similarly frigid; some of which you can see in the Porcupine album photos. Mac had said in some interview I remember that the epic nature of the scenery informed his pen in the lyrics of both Porcupine and Ocean Rain.
It is a tribute to Ian and Will that the music and the lyrics evoke the epic feeling of such a place - listening to Ocean Rain, you know that you are in someplace bright, epic, and alternately both barren and inviting; another way of saying this is that most listeners certainly don't feel that they have escaped to a damp forest or a deep, encircling wood.
Can't you feel it? An ice-capped fire of burning wood, the "bigger themes" . . . ? And staring into that fire roiling upward, what did Mac remember thinking, penning the lyrics, about back when he was in such a beautiful frozen place; what would you THINK was on all their minds, on the minds of all red-blooded men in the same setting, from the Vikings before them and onward, completing the frozen arc to Mac and the Boonymen?
Yeah. Sex/Love/Passion, of course. I say the same as the prior comments, except less cynically, because I know they were singing to the Goddess of Passion as much as he/they were singing to any specific woman. This transcendent feeling is what inspired the Vikings to superhuman feats -- their next day -- of raping and pillaging, in a more barbaric time; and inspired Mac onward to rockstar super feats in a more civilized time. But all to fulfill their needs for their love goddess; yes, they want her to take them, wholly, internally, ignite them INTO the godhead of eros -- with the raw, passionate, physical kind of loving . . .
Notice also that, viscerally, this song is the flip side, the yang-to-the-yin of "Silver," which evokes the brightly lit glittering expanses experienced in daylight, with shining horizon. -philipK
@philipkindred This info about Ian McCulloch going to Greenland explains so much about this album and the aesthetic of the songs! I've always thought this album was supposed to be a conceptual album, and even though it's not the inspiration for the album promotes so many of the ideas I had when first listening to the album.
@philipkindred This info about Ian McCulloch going to Greenland explains so much about this album and the aesthetic of the songs! I've always thought this album was supposed to be a conceptual album, and even though it's not the inspiration for the album promotes so many of the ideas I had when first listening to the album.
A few years prior to the Ocean Rain LP, the Bunnymen took a trip to Greenland, I think, if memory serves, or else someplace similarly frigid; some of which you can see in the Porcupine album photos. Mac had said in some interview I remember that the epic nature of the scenery informed his pen in the lyrics of both Porcupine and Ocean Rain.
It is a tribute to Ian and Will that the music and the lyrics evoke the epic feeling of such a place - listening to Ocean Rain, you know that you are in someplace bright, epic, and alternately both barren and inviting; another way of saying this is that most listeners certainly don't feel that they have escaped to a damp forest or a deep, encircling wood.
Can't you feel it? An ice-capped fire of burning wood, the "bigger themes" . . . ? And staring into that fire roiling upward, what did Mac remember thinking, penning the lyrics, about back when he was in such a beautiful frozen place; what would you THINK was on all their minds, on the minds of all red-blooded men in the same setting, from the Vikings before them and onward, completing the frozen arc to Mac and the Boonymen?
Yeah. Sex/Love/Passion, of course. I say the same as the prior comments, except less cynically, because I know they were singing to the Goddess of Passion as much as he/they were singing to any specific woman. This transcendent feeling is what inspired the Vikings to superhuman feats -- their next day -- of raping and pillaging, in a more barbaric time; and inspired Mac onward to rockstar super feats in a more civilized time. But all to fulfill their needs for their love goddess; yes, they want her to take them, wholly, internally, ignite them INTO the godhead of eros -- with the raw, passionate, physical kind of loving . . .
Notice also that, viscerally, this song is the flip side, the yang-to-the-yin of "Silver," which evokes the brightly lit glittering expanses experienced in daylight, with shining horizon. -philipK
@philipkindred This info about Ian McCulloch going to Greenland explains so much about this album and the aesthetic of the songs! I've always thought this album was supposed to be a conceptual album, and even though it's not the inspiration for the album promotes so many of the ideas I had when first listening to the album.
@philipkindred This info about Ian McCulloch going to Greenland explains so much about this album and the aesthetic of the songs! I've always thought this album was supposed to be a conceptual album, and even though it's not the inspiration for the album promotes so many of the ideas I had when first listening to the album.