It's really great to have Howard Hughes remembered and acknowledged. He was the Elon Musk of his day. But you'd never guess it was Hughes just from the lyrics. And even when you look at the lyrics through that lens, it's hard to make sense of all of it, and this site is supposed to be about explaining the lyrics, right?
So, except for the line about 42nd floor (which as best I can tell is not literally the case for Hughes' life, but just a rhythmically fitting line indicating someplace lofty and high up), try listening to the song as if it is about Pontius Pilate.
The first four verses, thought of as Hughes or Pilate, are straightforward enough. And then a narrator steps in to remark about how in the next three there'd be trouble to find when he ventured into his mind. Musically this change of perspective is signaled also. The crying children recalls Jesus' "suffer the little children."
With the verse that starts "Allow me to forget this life," who is talking here? Someone who has held the nation in their hand. If this is supposed to be Hughes talking (or Pilate), then how does the question about why this refugee of the family of man must die make sense? Why is the narrator claiming to hold the nation in his hands (that should be Hughes or Pilate holding the nation), but that means the narrator isn't the
refugee. This is one of the spots where it really seems that the narrator is Pilate (talking about Jesus). Want a tasty pun while we're here? Hughes was famous as a pilot.
The next verse ("Daydreams filled his night-times") is again straightforwardly the narrator (talking about Hughes or Pilate), but the last verse gets tantalizing and strange again: "I heard the king was dying, I heard the king was dead. And with him died the chronicles that no one ever read. The closet's fully empty now, it's occupied by none
I'll draw the drapes, now destiny is done."
This brings up the question that no one answers. Why is this song called Closet Chronicles. Hughes never lived in a closet and what secret chronicles would he have written anyway. Also, no one ever called Hughes a "king" even as the richest man in the world; maybe a "king" of Las Vegas. It's worth remembering that Point of Know Return came out in 1977 and Hughes died in 1976. I'll admit it is a stretch, but no one heard that Hughes was doing, only that Hughes was dead. His death was sudden and he'd been living in obscurity for a very long time. Pilate would definitely heard that the king was dying and that the king was dead. And with his closet chronicles (secret gospel) that no one ever read (because it was not written down yet). Why the closet's fully emptied and occupied by none, I can't say. And I know I'm out on a limb here.
But "I'll draw the drapes, now destiny is done" reminds me of the tearing of the veil at the death of Jesus. Also, ironically, after Hughes left the Desert Inn, it was discovered that the drapes in his penthouse had never been opened.
So, there. An out on a limb idea, but it goes along with the fact that "Portrait (He Knew)" is definitely about Jesus.
@Talastra
It isn't biblical and neither was "Portrait". Livgren never said anything about the Christ when the song ("Portrait") came out. After his full-on conversion to an evangelical form of Christianity, he couldn't very well explain that the song was his and Steve Walsh's musings on Nostradamus, a figure that many religious people across many a deist and theist devotion believe was occultist. Evangelicals also take a dim view of Catholicism, the one Christian denomination identified with Michel de Nostredame.
@Talastra
It isn't biblical and neither was "Portrait". Livgren never said anything about the Christ when the song ("Portrait") came out. After his full-on conversion to an evangelical form of Christianity, he couldn't very well explain that the song was his and Steve Walsh's musings on Nostradamus, a figure that many religious people across many a deist and theist devotion believe was occultist. Evangelicals also take a dim view of Catholicism, the one Christian denomination identified with Michel de Nostredame.
@Talastra
Livgren's true conversion to Christianity was in July 1979, Closet Chronicles was 1977. Before 1979 Kerry was a spiritualist who was really into the book Urantia which supposedly was a cosmic vision from celestial beings detailing the structure of the universe, spiritual evolution, and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Closet Chronicles is in fact a Howard Hughes allegory about a powerful figure who retreats into isolation, symbolizing a loss of touch with the world and regret over past actions. The song uses the metaphor of a king in his closet to represent someone burdened by their choices, disconnected...
@Talastra
Livgren's true conversion to Christianity was in July 1979, Closet Chronicles was 1977. Before 1979 Kerry was a spiritualist who was really into the book Urantia which supposedly was a cosmic vision from celestial beings detailing the structure of the universe, spiritual evolution, and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Closet Chronicles is in fact a Howard Hughes allegory about a powerful figure who retreats into isolation, symbolizing a loss of touch with the world and regret over past actions. The song uses the metaphor of a king in his closet to represent someone burdened by their choices, disconnected from humanity, and confronting the lonely consequences of their isolation. Steve Walsh and Kerry Livgren wrote Closet Chronicles with Steve listed as primary writer.
It's really great to have Howard Hughes remembered and acknowledged. He was the Elon Musk of his day. But you'd never guess it was Hughes just from the lyrics. And even when you look at the lyrics through that lens, it's hard to make sense of all of it, and this site is supposed to be about explaining the lyrics, right?
So, except for the line about 42nd floor (which as best I can tell is not literally the case for Hughes' life, but just a rhythmically fitting line indicating someplace lofty and high up), try listening to the song as if it is about Pontius Pilate.
The first four verses, thought of as Hughes or Pilate, are straightforward enough. And then a narrator steps in to remark about how in the next three there'd be trouble to find when he ventured into his mind. Musically this change of perspective is signaled also. The crying children recalls Jesus' "suffer the little children."
With the verse that starts "Allow me to forget this life," who is talking here? Someone who has held the nation in their hand. If this is supposed to be Hughes talking (or Pilate), then how does the question about why this refugee of the family of man must die make sense? Why is the narrator claiming to hold the nation in his hands (that should be Hughes or Pilate holding the nation), but that means the narrator isn't the refugee. This is one of the spots where it really seems that the narrator is Pilate (talking about Jesus). Want a tasty pun while we're here? Hughes was famous as a pilot.
The next verse ("Daydreams filled his night-times") is again straightforwardly the narrator (talking about Hughes or Pilate), but the last verse gets tantalizing and strange again: "I heard the king was dying, I heard the king was dead. And with him died the chronicles that no one ever read. The closet's fully empty now, it's occupied by none I'll draw the drapes, now destiny is done."
This brings up the question that no one answers. Why is this song called Closet Chronicles. Hughes never lived in a closet and what secret chronicles would he have written anyway. Also, no one ever called Hughes a "king" even as the richest man in the world; maybe a "king" of Las Vegas. It's worth remembering that Point of Know Return came out in 1977 and Hughes died in 1976. I'll admit it is a stretch, but no one heard that Hughes was doing, only that Hughes was dead. His death was sudden and he'd been living in obscurity for a very long time. Pilate would definitely heard that the king was dying and that the king was dead. And with his closet chronicles (secret gospel) that no one ever read (because it was not written down yet). Why the closet's fully emptied and occupied by none, I can't say. And I know I'm out on a limb here.
But "I'll draw the drapes, now destiny is done" reminds me of the tearing of the veil at the death of Jesus. Also, ironically, after Hughes left the Desert Inn, it was discovered that the drapes in his penthouse had never been opened.
So, there. An out on a limb idea, but it goes along with the fact that "Portrait (He Knew)" is definitely about Jesus.
@Talastra It isn't biblical and neither was "Portrait". Livgren never said anything about the Christ when the song ("Portrait") came out. After his full-on conversion to an evangelical form of Christianity, he couldn't very well explain that the song was his and Steve Walsh's musings on Nostradamus, a figure that many religious people across many a deist and theist devotion believe was occultist. Evangelicals also take a dim view of Catholicism, the one Christian denomination identified with Michel de Nostredame.
@Talastra It isn't biblical and neither was "Portrait". Livgren never said anything about the Christ when the song ("Portrait") came out. After his full-on conversion to an evangelical form of Christianity, he couldn't very well explain that the song was his and Steve Walsh's musings on Nostradamus, a figure that many religious people across many a deist and theist devotion believe was occultist. Evangelicals also take a dim view of Catholicism, the one Christian denomination identified with Michel de Nostredame.
@Talastra Livgren's true conversion to Christianity was in July 1979, Closet Chronicles was 1977. Before 1979 Kerry was a spiritualist who was really into the book Urantia which supposedly was a cosmic vision from celestial beings detailing the structure of the universe, spiritual evolution, and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Closet Chronicles is in fact a Howard Hughes allegory about a powerful figure who retreats into isolation, symbolizing a loss of touch with the world and regret over past actions. The song uses the metaphor of a king in his closet to represent someone burdened by their choices, disconnected...
@Talastra Livgren's true conversion to Christianity was in July 1979, Closet Chronicles was 1977. Before 1979 Kerry was a spiritualist who was really into the book Urantia which supposedly was a cosmic vision from celestial beings detailing the structure of the universe, spiritual evolution, and the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Closet Chronicles is in fact a Howard Hughes allegory about a powerful figure who retreats into isolation, symbolizing a loss of touch with the world and regret over past actions. The song uses the metaphor of a king in his closet to represent someone burdened by their choices, disconnected from humanity, and confronting the lonely consequences of their isolation. Steve Walsh and Kerry Livgren wrote Closet Chronicles with Steve listed as primary writer.