Ocean Gypsy Lyrics
Learn her freedom just inside a day,
And find her soul
And find their fears allayed...
They took her love, they left her there,
They gave her nothing back
That she would want to own.
Dances slowly of the moon,
No-one else can know -
She stands alone.
She cannot say the words they need,
She knows she's alone,
And she is free...
Ocean gypsy of the moon,
The sun has made a thousand nights
For you to hold...
Ocean gypsy, where are you?
The shadows followed by the stars
Have turned to gold, turned to gold.
Filled him with her light
And was consoled - she was the moon
And he, the sun was gold.
The sun she gave
Reflected back the night -
The moon was waning
Almost out of sight...
Silence holds the stars awhile.
They smile sadly
For her where she falls...
The sea is hushed,
The ocean calls her -
Day has taken her and now she's gone.
Ocean gypsy shackled to the tide,
The ebbing waves were turning,
Spreading wide.
Her fingers lifeless stroke the sand,
Her battered soul was lost -
She was abandoned.
Winds take pleasure still make patterns
In her lovely hair,
So dark and fine.
Cries no more,
Her tears have dried,
Oceans weep for her - the ocean sighs...
To me, this song tells the tale of someone who gives so much of her self to another that her own essence is eventually lost.
The story starts by describing previous relationships in which her partners seem to have been abusive and coercive, and/or tried to win her love with material things. She feels no deep connection to any of these people, and her relationship with each of them fails.
She does, however, meet someone at last that she feels is worthy of her love and devotion. Without realizing it, she comes to exist only for and through this person-- blind to his flaws, and so completely and unquestioningly committed to helping him "shine" that she loses all sense of her own identity.. her value as an individual. And so, when this person ends up leaving her, she is merely an empty husk with no purpose; no energy left to sustain her.
Incidentally, it reminds me a bit of poet Shel Silverstein's story of The Giving Tree. So very, very sad...
I really like your interpretation of this song. I heard it ever since I was a kid and didn't think much about the lyrics. Now it is making me think of how people usually either have someone fall in love with them, or fall in love with someone, and how rarely it's reciprocal.
I really like your interpretation of this song. I heard it ever since I was a kid and didn't think much about the lyrics. Now it is making me think of how people usually either have someone fall in love with them, or fall in love with someone, and how rarely it's reciprocal.
And The Giving Tree. It always bothered me that people thought it was a happy story, when it's about someone who takes and takes and doesn't even really think of the one who gives them so much.
And The Giving Tree. It always bothered me that people thought it was a happy story, when it's about someone who takes and takes and doesn't even really think of the one who gives them so much.
@Waffles McCoy so true re. The Giving Tree which everyone loves. My mother (May she rest in peace) was a nursery school director and she felt that the Giving Tree taught the wrong message when one is trying to teach children self-esteem and valuing themselves. I think this tale is a very sad story, and Renaissance does a masterful job at expressing why in the end, there isn't that much happiness or positivity that comes from giving everything away. But I don't think that that's really the meaning of this song, it is a component of the song. I need...
@Waffles McCoy so true re. The Giving Tree which everyone loves. My mother (May she rest in peace) was a nursery school director and she felt that the Giving Tree taught the wrong message when one is trying to teach children self-esteem and valuing themselves. I think this tale is a very sad story, and Renaissance does a masterful job at expressing why in the end, there isn't that much happiness or positivity that comes from giving everything away. But I don't think that that's really the meaning of this song, it is a component of the song. I need to keep listening. I love this band!
this is one of my favourites! a bit like 'shadow of the moon', but more sad.. maybe because it is shure the 'gypsy' is dying.
she has been left by her love, by everybody actually, she gave them everything she had. opened herself 100% to them and they gave her materalistic stuff she did not wish. and left by her love. the one she turned to 'the sun'. I especially like the chorus: the sun has made a thousend nights, for you to hold. she is doomed to be in the dark/night forever.
a least yhis is how I see it, not shure at all. what du you think?
@cherry-blossom I don't usually speak of sexism, but it does seem that her endless giving is consistent with what our culture has told women time immemorial. One's heart breaks one thinks about all the people who have given everything they can to their loves, only to be ignored or even injured by them. Gosh, why am I so sentimental right now?
@cherry-blossom I don't usually speak of sexism, but it does seem that her endless giving is consistent with what our culture has told women time immemorial. One's heart breaks one thinks about all the people who have given everything they can to their loves, only to be ignored or even injured by them. Gosh, why am I so sentimental right now?
This is a very good song.
This has so many beautiful visual images in it. You really get to go a journey of imagination.
One interpretation that comes to me as I hear it, is what if it's simply a story about the love affair between the Sun and the Moon. Odd but I sort of like it. Imagine if they aren't just metaphors, try to listen to it literally.
Just the time before the Dawn, the Sea is hushed, the Ocean calls her, Day (the Sun) has taken her. As the night ends the Ocean, another suitor, tries to get her to come to safety with him rather die under the bright light of her lover, the Sun.
No one noticed when she died - like when the light of every new day from the sun drowns out the light of the moon and no one notices. She never shines in his presence.
Ocean Gypsy shackled to the tide - think how from her perspective she, the Moon, is shackled to the Tide. Yet from ours the Tide is what is shackled to the Moon.
Stands on high beneath the seas - her reflection in the water makes it appear as if she is beneath the seas.
And of course how she gives all of herself to let her true love, the Sun, shine to his truest glory - and that by giving all of herself she wanes out of sight.
So, for her love, she gives all of herself.
Could this be the saddest love story of all? That of the Sun and the Moon. A story that has been repeated every night since the beginning of Time.
No matter how you interpret it, it's still a beautiful song - and perfectly performed..