Moon over Bourbon Street - Opening that Message in a Bottle
Long winded titles aside, it was quite a humbling and interesting little moment from my day that lead to this post. I am not sure if I need to engage the tag at this point, but I've decided to blog this without getting all my thoughts in order. A little brainstorm is in order as I really don't think I should spend any more time thinking about this without committing some of my thoughts to the web.
Probably about 23 years ago, by my reckoning, Sting released his second solo album "Nothing like the Sun". An evolution of his previous "Dream of the Blue Turtles" and an album I thoroughly enjoyed listening to many times over. Some of the songs had really interesting lyrics and easily had me reading them over and over trying to "get" the message behind them. Songs about Pinochet & Noah & human emotion were easily decoded and understood while some you just appreciated them because you enjoyed listening and singing along. I mean really. Can't you just listen to a song and not worry about the meaning?
At some point Sting's music got more and more polished and crafted and I stopped listening and caring. I don't know when it really happened, but at some point I just didn't care to buy or listen to dvd's or new cd's. When the Police toured again, I got excited and every now and then I would here a Sting song in a movie soundtrack and fondly remember owning the cd. Eventually bought a greatest hits cd and dvd which I played occasionally.
Today at work, with my trusty Poweramp app on my Cyanogen modded HTC Desire, I decided to play the greatest hits compilation after MANY years. As the songs played, I skipped some and listened to others until I got to "Moon over Bourbon Street" (and the point of this long winded post with a rambling intro).
I am 43 years old now. How the hell did I not realise that the song is about a vampire? I'm not that stupid. I read a lot, especially back then. I'm into fantasy / scifi / mythology, etc. How could I blindly hum/ sing along with this song and NOT make the connection. Its not hidden or subtle. Its blatantly obvious. I'm absolutely baffled at my incomprehension.
I spoke to a long time friend who also enjoyed the cd back in the day and he remembers the song well. I mentioned the vampire thing and he just stared at me blankly and disbelievingly. I quoted a few lines and he just burst out laughing. We laughed uncontrollably at each other's stupidity and we just couldn't figure it out. He is an experienced Oracle DBA so brain cells are alive, well and plentiful, yet he too, didn't make the connection.
My only explanation, or my prevailing theory, is that 23 years ago, I didn't have the maturity to appreciate the song in its entirety. Maybe I enjoyed the sounds, and sang the words blindly whereas today I appreciate the lyrics more? Is that really experience vs innocence? I shudder to think of hidden meanings in Rick Astley songs that I didn't notice, but thankfully, I'm not tempted to go back and listen to them again.
So yep. I'm owning up to my stupidity and hoping to learn a vague lesson about listening & understanding when people talk or when I'm reading. Its another reminding that you should never think you know enough. There's always an opportunity for learning and improving one's self. I'm sure I spelled that wrong. Oneself?Another thing to learn. *sigh*
Lastly. Massive Kudo's to the Amarok, FooBar & Songbird plugin developers for providing excellent lyrics plugins to allow our music collections to be rediscovered and re-appreciated. Boo's to the idiots at Gracenote for issuing lyrics takedown notices. Institutions like you have no place in the new collaborative society that we demand and will build without your help.
Probably about 23 years ago, by my reckoning, Sting released his second solo album "Nothing like the Sun". An evolution of his previous "Dream of the Blue Turtles" and an album I thoroughly enjoyed listening to many times over. Some of the songs had really interesting lyrics and easily had me reading them over and over trying to "get" the message behind them. Songs about Pinochet & Noah & human emotion were easily decoded and understood while some you just appreciated them because you enjoyed listening and singing along. I mean really. Can't you just listen to a song and not worry about the meaning?
At some point Sting's music got more and more polished and crafted and I stopped listening and caring. I don't know when it really happened, but at some point I just didn't care to buy or listen to dvd's or new cd's. When the Police toured again, I got excited and every now and then I would here a Sting song in a movie soundtrack and fondly remember owning the cd. Eventually bought a greatest hits cd and dvd which I played occasionally.
Today at work, with my trusty Poweramp app on my Cyanogen modded HTC Desire, I decided to play the greatest hits compilation after MANY years. As the songs played, I skipped some and listened to others until I got to "Moon over Bourbon Street" (and the point of this long winded post with a rambling intro).
I am 43 years old now. How the hell did I not realise that the song is about a vampire? I'm not that stupid. I read a lot, especially back then. I'm into fantasy / scifi / mythology, etc. How could I blindly hum/ sing along with this song and NOT make the connection. Its not hidden or subtle. Its blatantly obvious. I'm absolutely baffled at my incomprehension.
I spoke to a long time friend who also enjoyed the cd back in the day and he remembers the song well. I mentioned the vampire thing and he just stared at me blankly and disbelievingly. I quoted a few lines and he just burst out laughing. We laughed uncontrollably at each other's stupidity and we just couldn't figure it out. He is an experienced Oracle DBA so brain cells are alive, well and plentiful, yet he too, didn't make the connection.
My only explanation, or my prevailing theory, is that 23 years ago, I didn't have the maturity to appreciate the song in its entirety. Maybe I enjoyed the sounds, and sang the words blindly whereas today I appreciate the lyrics more? Is that really experience vs innocence? I shudder to think of hidden meanings in Rick Astley songs that I didn't notice, but thankfully, I'm not tempted to go back and listen to them again.
So yep. I'm owning up to my stupidity and hoping to learn a vague lesson about listening & understanding when people talk or when I'm reading. Its another reminding that you should never think you know enough. There's always an opportunity for learning and improving one's self. I'm sure I spelled that wrong. Oneself?Another thing to learn. *sigh*
Lastly. Massive Kudo's to the Amarok, FooBar & Songbird plugin developers for providing excellent lyrics plugins to allow our music collections to be rediscovered and re-appreciated. Boo's to the idiots at Gracenote for issuing lyrics takedown notices. Institutions like you have no place in the new collaborative society that we demand and will build without your help.
Comments
I don't know how you didn't make that connection. I'm not trying to be a smart-ass..much, lol, but New Orleans, Bourbon Street, really famous vamp references abound in popular songs and literature, okay, maybe not so much songs but definitely literature. This REALLY surprised me.
In saying that, I will also say that I made that connection late. I had just seen Wynton and Branford Marsalis discussing their musical journeys and in it, Branford mentioned that Sting was a bit shocked to win some Jazz/Blues award. He thought that Wynton would have gotten the award for sure. He said the Grammy nomination also surprised him as he thought Wynton would get that nomination as well.