I looked up 'lindesfarne' to find that 'lindisfarne' (slightly different spelling) is an island off of England. I took this to mean 'isolation' for Blake's context to the song. My interpretation is that someone is leaving Blake's life, and he is fearing becoming 'isolated' again because of it. The person is of 'kestrels breed' with huge ambition and vision. He thinks she is rushing into getting somewhere, and without proper thought or time to analyse ('tact to read') she'd take a liking towards him. He then repeats 'beacon don't fly too high' throughout this and the next song, as a plea - don't get too popular/successful that you have no need for me. The next stanza is dubious. I read it as '[thank you] for all your time,' spending time with him is nothing more than a 'playful crime' and 'a lesson lost again' refers to his poor social skills, and lack of getting better. This line reminds me a bit of Blake frequently referring to the fact he was an only child ('I never learned to share') and as such doesn't have the capacity to share feelings. The next stanza I takes a turn, in that she has left now. He feels pedestrian and anonymous - 'cute but I'll take the bus' just to be close to strangers. I find 'and a white that sometimes shone' a reference to the afterlife, and the speakers contemplation of suicide (mordbid yeah but I cant unread that haha). The song is beautifully come full circle with the first stanza being repeated again, encapsulating and containing everything that is said in the song. It's like he is going in circles, which would mirror reality - you meet someone, they leave at some point, you meet someone else.
@romano21 I'm a few years to late here, but I mostly agree with your interpretation. However, I think instead of someone leaving Blake's life, he's referring to a part of himself ambiguously. As the period when this song was released coincided when he was properly announced to the public as an artist in the mainstream sense given the song is from his debut self titled album. So he may have felt he was loosing touch with his personal self as he was giving it to us "She'd take a shine to me" --> which possibly refers to a representation of...
@romano21 I'm a few years to late here, but I mostly agree with your interpretation. However, I think instead of someone leaving Blake's life, he's referring to a part of himself ambiguously. As the period when this song was released coincided when he was properly announced to the public as an artist in the mainstream sense given the song is from his debut self titled album. So he may have felt he was loosing touch with his personal self as he was giving it to us "She'd take a shine to me" --> which possibly refers to a representation of mother nature, as an embodiment of the world's reaction to his music.
I looked up 'lindesfarne' to find that 'lindisfarne' (slightly different spelling) is an island off of England. I took this to mean 'isolation' for Blake's context to the song. My interpretation is that someone is leaving Blake's life, and he is fearing becoming 'isolated' again because of it. The person is of 'kestrels breed' with huge ambition and vision. He thinks she is rushing into getting somewhere, and without proper thought or time to analyse ('tact to read') she'd take a liking towards him. He then repeats 'beacon don't fly too high' throughout this and the next song, as a plea - don't get too popular/successful that you have no need for me. The next stanza is dubious. I read it as '[thank you] for all your time,' spending time with him is nothing more than a 'playful crime' and 'a lesson lost again' refers to his poor social skills, and lack of getting better. This line reminds me a bit of Blake frequently referring to the fact he was an only child ('I never learned to share') and as such doesn't have the capacity to share feelings. The next stanza I takes a turn, in that she has left now. He feels pedestrian and anonymous - 'cute but I'll take the bus' just to be close to strangers. I find 'and a white that sometimes shone' a reference to the afterlife, and the speakers contemplation of suicide (mordbid yeah but I cant unread that haha). The song is beautifully come full circle with the first stanza being repeated again, encapsulating and containing everything that is said in the song. It's like he is going in circles, which would mirror reality - you meet someone, they leave at some point, you meet someone else.
@romano21 I'm a few years to late here, but I mostly agree with your interpretation. However, I think instead of someone leaving Blake's life, he's referring to a part of himself ambiguously. As the period when this song was released coincided when he was properly announced to the public as an artist in the mainstream sense given the song is from his debut self titled album. So he may have felt he was loosing touch with his personal self as he was giving it to us "She'd take a shine to me" --> which possibly refers to a representation of...
@romano21 I'm a few years to late here, but I mostly agree with your interpretation. However, I think instead of someone leaving Blake's life, he's referring to a part of himself ambiguously. As the period when this song was released coincided when he was properly announced to the public as an artist in the mainstream sense given the song is from his debut self titled album. So he may have felt he was loosing touch with his personal self as he was giving it to us "She'd take a shine to me" --> which possibly refers to a representation of mother nature, as an embodiment of the world's reaction to his music.