"She'll be the witness to the repose of Evelyn
Push the needle in
to the canticles of ecstasy.
Turn to page 43 and you'll know how I feel."
The now infamous "page 43" is the clue Ville put into the song and was reluctant to give it away. It refers to a 1947 issue of "Life Magazine", on the page 43 of which was a photograph of Evelyn McHale in death. Evelyn leaped from the top of the Empire State building shortly after having met with her fiance one day. She fell on top of a limousine and moments after had a picture of her dead body immortalized by a photography student. The picture was later featured on page 43 of Life Magazine.
It was later reported that Miss McHale had a scribbled note in her pocket - which said that her fiance was "better off without her" and she'd "never make a good wife to anyone".
This also pretty much reveals how Ville himself is feeling when instructing us to turn to page 43 - that try as he might, he would make the one he loved unhappy. In a sense unworthy of love. It could also be referring to the emotions the picture itself stirs: love and tragedy combined (a frequent leitmotif in Ville's music) as well as the grace and the sadness it invokes on first sight.
It's actually:
"She'll be the witness to the repose of Evelyn Push the needle in to the canticles of ecstasy. Turn to page 43 and you'll know how I feel."
The now infamous "page 43" is the clue Ville put into the song and was reluctant to give it away. It refers to a 1947 issue of "Life Magazine", on the page 43 of which was a photograph of Evelyn McHale in death. Evelyn leaped from the top of the Empire State building shortly after having met with her fiance one day. She fell on top of a limousine and moments after had a picture of her dead body immortalized by a photography student. The picture was later featured on page 43 of Life Magazine. It was later reported that Miss McHale had a scribbled note in her pocket - which said that her fiance was "better off without her" and she'd "never make a good wife to anyone".
This also pretty much reveals how Ville himself is feeling when instructing us to turn to page 43 - that try as he might, he would make the one he loved unhappy. In a sense unworthy of love. It could also be referring to the emotions the picture itself stirs: love and tragedy combined (a frequent leitmotif in Ville's music) as well as the grace and the sadness it invokes on first sight.