The Tower, Momentum, and Gravity

[Reileen]

I don't know if this was ever noticed elsewhere on this board, but while practicing the sheet music for "The Tower" (finally getting around to really learning it, lol), it occurred to me that the first three songs off Waking Hour kind of accidentally(?) constitute a complete storyline in a way.

THE TOWER - Speaker/song subject is "coming apart" under the weight of the "services she renders to those who come knocking", and she's looking for "the one who can change/save me".

MOMENTUM - Speaker actually DOES find someone, and after some tentative waffling around, the speaker finally gets together with that person.

GRAVITY - Is a song about the tumultuous relationship between the speaker and their beloved someone, ending with...acceptance(?) of the situation.

[tanthalas]

then they have a daughter, which for awhile is the third one between who consumes both their attention... the couple then has to split up for a little while as one goes off to somewhere far away. during this time, an uncle in the family passes away, wrapping life in the brilliance of death to humble them all. after a few seasons of dried up hopes for the one who was left behind, the one who went off returns with the earth of a hundred nations in his feet, barely recognizable. but the couple, reunited, realizes that their love for each other is enough to go by, so they forgive each other, having each seen how the other lives. and together, they work to face some of the larger problems of the world and its people, and together they raise their daughter as well, singing her lullabyes on stormy nights. then, a decade and one later...

(i know i skipped unwritten letter #1, but it just wouldn't quite fit, unless you talk about the daughter growing up and having a crush on someone.

it's also 2am, so i'm not really thinking very straight as i write all of this...)

[Reileen]

(i know i skipped unwritten letter #1, but it just wouldn't quite fit, unless you talk about the daughter growing up and having a crush on someone.

Well, if the couple splits up after Between and get back together again after Enough to Go By, then you could interpret Unwritten Letter #1 as a retrospective/reflection on a crush or infatuation that occurred in the interval between Between and Enough to Go By. The speaker knows that they can be "only your friend", because by Enough to Go By, their other half has returned. So now the speaker is just reflecting on a dizzying infatuation and perhaps making fun of themselves a little bit for it, but in the end it's a secret they'll take with them to their grave. And then, with Eric's Song, the couple's love for each other is rediscovered...

[Fred]

I can't wait to hear your narrative for Inland Territory.

[aaparallel]

I can't wait to hear your narrative for Inland Territory.

Oh, Inland Territory's about an old person (The Last Snowfall) who starts remembering and regretting the mistakes she made in the past (White Light) including a relationship that evaporated (Antebellum) and moving on after that (Kansas). Then the person gets all philosophical and starts reflecting on past lives (In Another Life) and what she could have been if Grandma had her way (G'ma Song). More regret about not taking in a new love (Stray Italian Greyhound). Some reflection about lost and found faith (Augustine) and hallucination about the end of the world (No Gringo, Watershed - which could also be just what's happening outside of her mind - and Radio). Then a final dream/flashback/hallucination about finding her lover again (St. Stephen's Cross).

If any of you have seen Wild Strawberries (brilliant little film), this would make total sense. Basically, Inland Territory is an old person's dreams, memories, and hallucinations dancing around in the person's head...

[Reileen]

In honor of the WS sheet music being released, I figured I might as well try my hand at interpreting the album's songs into a coherent storyline.

FEATHER MOON is someone's meditation to calm and compose themselves before they see a loved one off in HARBOR. Said loved one is the narrator of HOPE ON FIRE, having left home inspired to actively make a difference in the world and hoping she can get others in on it. SHINE is like if the narrator's aspirations towards revolutionizing the world had matured a bit from her firebrand days, perhaps refined by revelations gained as a result of living in a place like MISSION STREET. Then the narrator hits a super dark time in her life in MY MEDEA, to the point where she decides she needs to kill her unborn child. Then here we get into some familiar territory: SHASTA is the narrator traveling to get an abortion but deciding not to after talking to the nice Christian lady outside of the clinic, HOMECOMING is the from the narrator's boyfriend's POV, and ANNA ROSE is the child that the narrator (Carrie) has. PASSAGE is sung from the POV of an older (deceased) Anna Rose (I know, depressing, right?), and THE ATHEIST CHRISTMAS CAROL is sort of a multi-generational song, encompassing the narrator of FEATHER MOON/HARBOR, Carrie, and Anna Rose, along with all of their loved ones. GREEN ISLAND SERENADE, however, kind of casts a shadow on the feel-good holiday atmosphere, because it's about Carrie suddenly finding herself still grieving the loss of Anna Rose, even after all this time. Perhaps it even happens during THE ATHEIST CHRISTMAS CAROL, but Carrie just didn't want to let her feelings overshadow the joyous celebration, so instead the song is a hidden track on the album, kind of a postscript.