I've always thought this song refers to a comet or asteroid. A comet is of course an insentient object, but in the song takes on human emotions. The writer imagines a mythological creature streaming across the universe, 'traveling in a panic all direction blind' and 'aching for the warmth of a distant sun'. Stars and planets are relatively fixed in position, but a comet, like a gypsy, is not fixed, but roams free across the galaxy.
@munderwood30, I agree. This has always been my interpretation. A comet seems the perfect analog of a gypsy in outer space. And, yes, the "aching for the warmth of a distant sun" fits right in with that, as comets are so clearly affected by their proximity to a star. Other interpretations focusing on a manufactured space probe is something I hadn\'t considered. But I still see a comet as a better fit.
@munderwood30, I agree. This has always been my interpretation. A comet seems the perfect analog of a gypsy in outer space. And, yes, the "aching for the warmth of a distant sun" fits right in with that, as comets are so clearly affected by their proximity to a star. Other interpretations focusing on a manufactured space probe is something I hadn\'t considered. But I still see a comet as a better fit.
I've always thought this song refers to a comet or asteroid. A comet is of course an insentient object, but in the song takes on human emotions. The writer imagines a mythological creature streaming across the universe, 'traveling in a panic all direction blind' and 'aching for the warmth of a distant sun'. Stars and planets are relatively fixed in position, but a comet, like a gypsy, is not fixed, but roams free across the galaxy.
@munderwood30, I agree. This has always been my interpretation. A comet seems the perfect analog of a gypsy in outer space. And, yes, the "aching for the warmth of a distant sun" fits right in with that, as comets are so clearly affected by their proximity to a star. Other interpretations focusing on a manufactured space probe is something I hadn\'t considered. But I still see a comet as a better fit.
@munderwood30, I agree. This has always been my interpretation. A comet seems the perfect analog of a gypsy in outer space. And, yes, the "aching for the warmth of a distant sun" fits right in with that, as comets are so clearly affected by their proximity to a star. Other interpretations focusing on a manufactured space probe is something I hadn\'t considered. But I still see a comet as a better fit.
@munderwood30 Yet why do you want to depersonalize the very human emotions he's writing about here?
@munderwood30 Yet why do you want to depersonalize the very human emotions he's writing about here?