I've never heard the Sugar Ray version, but here's my comments on the original Eno version:
As i was listening to this song for the billionth time, it suddenly dawned on me what the hell Eno is singing about: what it must have felt like to Vincent van Gogh as he painted his stunning “The Starry Night”. If you don’t know the painting, google it--you won’t be disappointed. The stars in the night sky are swirling in such a stylized manner they end up resembling the yin/yang symbol. It was painted shortly before he offed himself, while living in an insane asylum. Clearly, he had lost all interest in rendering reality in any kind of objective sense, but his ability to manifest his inner reality reached its peak in this painting. My fav part of the song is that Eno captures the passage of time within the song: in the first verse, the sun is setting, leaving the sky violet; in the second verse, the stars appear one by one; by the third verse, Vincent now is reflecting on his finished painting, as he stands under a black (raven-colored) sky. Eno’s biggest clue to this song’s meaning is that it takes place in Arles, where Vincent lived his final years. For me, Eno’s choice of subject matter is especially fitting since his lyrics tend to be Impressionistic, like Vincent’s paintings. An extraordinary painting, an extraordinary song.
I've never heard the Sugar Ray version, but here's my comments on the original Eno version:
As i was listening to this song for the billionth time, it suddenly dawned on me what the hell Eno is singing about: what it must have felt like to Vincent van Gogh as he painted his stunning “The Starry Night”. If you don’t know the painting, google it--you won’t be disappointed. The stars in the night sky are swirling in such a stylized manner they end up resembling the yin/yang symbol. It was painted shortly before he offed himself, while living in an insane asylum. Clearly, he had lost all interest in rendering reality in any kind of objective sense, but his ability to manifest his inner reality reached its peak in this painting. My fav part of the song is that Eno captures the passage of time within the song: in the first verse, the sun is setting, leaving the sky violet; in the second verse, the stars appear one by one; by the third verse, Vincent now is reflecting on his finished painting, as he stands under a black (raven-colored) sky. Eno’s biggest clue to this song’s meaning is that it takes place in Arles, where Vincent lived his final years. For me, Eno’s choice of subject matter is especially fitting since his lyrics tend to be Impressionistic, like Vincent’s paintings. An extraordinary painting, an extraordinary song.
@evolved1 The Sugar Ray version oddly drops the reference to Arles.
@evolved1 The Sugar Ray version oddly drops the reference to Arles.