tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38491915245601675562024-03-15T12:03:14.609+00:00Marillion - Explanations of Song ElementsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger197125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-42719977679880136252023-11-22T12:07:00.001+00:002023-11-22T12:07:32.803+00:00Latest NewsNov 2023 - Updated links to Don Allum's biog and log in the Ocean Cloud explanations.Click to access album
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-89910042168346985142022-03-02T12:00:00.007+00:002022-03-04T13:02:12.291+00:00An Hour Before It's Dark - IntroductionIntroduction: An Hour Before It's Dark is Marillion's twentieth studio album (including Less = More and With Friends from the Orchestra) and the sixteenth with Steve Hogarth.The album was recorded during
the COVID-19 pandemic. Steve Rothery, believing himself to be
vulnerable, was not comfortable in being in the studio with the rest of
the band for much of the period and contributed his parts Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-72265574890161901412022-03-02T11:45:00.002+00:002022-03-02T13:50:49.131+00:00An Hour Before It's Dark Pre-release RoundupNote: This page contains the information originally published on the An Hour Before It's Dark introduction page. When the album was released, this was replaced with the more conventional Explanations' intro page, but I wanted to retain the info.Introduction: An Hour Before It's Dark is Marillion's twentieth studio album (including Less = More and With Friends from the Orchestra) and the sixteenthUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-72411094710583498062022-03-02T11:30:00.001+00:002022-03-02T13:50:54.847+00:00Be Hard On YourselfIntroduction: The song was initially released to fans that had pre-ordered the album on 29th October 2021 (it had originally been planned for Nov 1st) with artwork by Simon Ward.
'Less can be more'
A reference to the Marillion album Less is More, as well as the well-known expression?'Consumption'In the context of the song, it is pretty obvious that the literal meaning of the word is in the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-48517019282210050562022-03-02T11:00:00.006+00:002022-03-11T16:06:46.007+00:00Reprogram The Gene
'Reprogram the gene'DNA can be edited through genetic engineering. The most common way of achieving this is via the CRISPR gene editing technique. This uses a modified version of an antiviral defence system known as CRISPR-Cas9 together with a synthetic RNA guide into a living cell. This enables a gene to be cut at desired locations and new sequences to be inserted, or old ones removed.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-62900304613654160192022-03-02T10:30:00.004+00:002022-03-04T16:07:54.783+00:00Murder Machines
Introduction: Murder Machines was released as a streaming-only track on 4th February 2022. h said, "I tried not to write about the virus. But it's been so much a part of life for the past two years that it kept creeping in. The terrifying reality that to wrap my arms around a father or mother could ultimately kill them, gave birth to this song. The lyric was then developed to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-52932734126003538812022-03-02T10:00:00.040+00:002022-03-29T08:31:32.265+01:00The Crow and the Nightingale
The Crow and the NightingaleSteve Gutteridge remarked that the song title was strongly reminiscent of the way that Aesop's Fables are titled in the format 'the X and the Y'. Fables are stories containing anthropomorphised animals, creatures, plants or other inanimate objects and which have a moral. Some 720 tales are attributed to the ancient Greek Aesop, but scholars are agreed that many Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-60552736150279053852022-03-02T09:30:00.004+00:002022-03-04T16:12:52.127+00:00Sierra Leone
Introduction: In an interview for Smashing Interviews Magazine entitled Marillion's Masterpiece of Waning Moments, h was asked how Sierra Leone fit into the theme of the album. He said, "It kinda doesn't in the sense that it's not a song
about the environment or the pandemic. But on the other hand, it is a
song which questions consumerism and is more about human dignity. This
poor man Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-63982668446194476082022-03-02T09:00:00.004+00:002022-03-07T08:14:51.005+00:00Care
In an interview for Smashing Interviews Magazine entitled Marillion's Masterpiece of Waning Moments, h said, "Section one, Maintenance Drugs, was inspired directly by my friend, Conrado, in Mexico City, who discovered he had inoperable tumours along his spine. He underwent many sessions of chemotherapy, and whenever he was having the treatment, he would send me a WhatsApp message with a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-29926647379111470852019-09-16T09:52:00.021+01:002022-02-07T10:19:18.047+00:00This Strange Engine (WFftO version)
Introduction: For the version of This Strange Engine on the With Friends from the Orchestra album, an additional line was added. The line had long been included on the lyric sheets, but wasn't actually in the song.
According to h on the Corona Diaries podcast, the musical section was felt to be too long, and therefore the line had been excised.
'Chase the moon between the buildingsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-22512580223993657692019-09-16T09:44:00.011+01:002022-02-07T10:19:24.281+00:00With Friends from the Orchestra - Introduction
Introduction: With Friends from the Orchestra is the nineteenth Marillion album, the fifteenth with Steve Hogarth.
It was announced on 30th September 2019 in a news article titled We have a confession to make that the band had secretly recorded an album that would come out in mid October, followed by a short European tour.
The album contained rearrangements of Marillion songs, most of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-30183250138390160252016-09-09T14:14:00.013+01:002022-02-07T10:19:30.341+00:00Fuck Everyone And Run - Introduction
Introduction: Fuck Everyone And Run (F.E.A.R.) is the eighteenth Marillion album, the fourteenth with Steve Hogarth. The album title and promotional artwork was revealed on the 7th April 2016.
The word 'Fuck' is rendered as 'F***', but Lucy Jordache confirmed the correct title of the album is Fuck Everyone And Run.
It was originally planned that FEAR should be released on the 09th Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-82664367484114840942016-09-09T11:30:00.006+01:002022-02-07T10:19:36.840+00:00El Dorado
Introduction: In a pre-release PR piece from label earMUSIC, the song was described as follows, "El Dorado examines the notions of political entitlement and the modern challenges for the UK".
In an interview for Prog magazine, h described the track as follows, "It's really about a sense of foreboding and a feeling that everything is going to change in this country. I was trying to paint a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-12322845783264890842016-09-09T11:00:00.006+01:002022-02-07T10:19:42.671+00:00Living in F E A R
Introduction: In an interview for the Web UK magazine, h said, "I heard all these statistics about how people in Canada don't really bother locking their door but if you go over the border into the USA, everyone's got a gun by their bed, they're so terrified of crime. They're all shooting each other by mistake with these guns they've got by their beds, or shooting their children by mistake. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-76701287930882201232016-09-09T10:30:00.006+01:002022-02-07T10:19:48.316+00:00The Leavers
Introduction: In an interview for Prog magazine, h said, "The Leavers is a totally different animal. I wrote it really as a response to the corrosive effect that travel has on you. When you're in a touring band, or even more so in a touring band's crew, you’re hardly ever home, you wake up in a new city every day. There's a repetitive thing of the process of putting a show together, perform a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-65920385014546063262016-09-09T10:00:00.005+01:002022-02-07T10:19:52.869+00:00White Paper
Introduction: In an interview for Prog magazine, h said, "It's about several things. It's a sort of sister story to The Leavers in some respects. It's about trying to settle into domestic life, about wanting to live passionately and in the moment. There's also the thing about slowly coming to terms with the fact that you're getting old, and you better get used to the fact that what you are Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-87364905246355720522016-07-14T08:18:00.013+01:002022-02-07T10:19:59.183+00:00The New Kings
Introduction: In a pre-release PR piece from label earMUSIC, the song was described as follows, "The New Kings looks at the ravening beast that modern capitalism seems to have evolved into."
In an interview for Prog magazine, h said, "This is really a song about how the old systems of democracy have become overwhelmed and compromised by money and corporations. Along with the fact that the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-23057161238345008442012-09-17T12:00:00.009+01:002022-02-07T10:20:18.822+00:00Sounds That Can't Be Made - IntroductionIntroduction: 2012's Sounds That Can’t Be Made was the seventeenth Marillion album, the thirteenth with Steve Hogarth. A CD and DVD version of the album is available in luxurious hard slipcase form, featuring a book containing the names of pre-ordering fans.
The album had a difficult conception, with the band reportedly nearly splitting when a writing session in Portugal coincided with a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-82063306261112078722012-09-17T11:30:00.017+01:002022-02-23T15:30:17.400+00:00GazaIntroduction:
Steve Hogarth's note in the Sounds That Can't Be Made booklet:
"This is a song for the people - especially the children - of Gaza. It was written after many conversations with ordinary Palestinians living in the refugee camps of Gaza and the West Bank. I spoke also to Israelis, to N.G.O workers, to a diplomat unofficially working in Jerusalem, and took their perspectives into Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-52917266762597842542012-09-17T11:00:00.010+01:002022-02-07T10:30:52.207+00:00Sounds That Can't Be Made'Aurora borealis'
Also known as the Northern Lights, the aurora borealis is a meteorological condition with spectacular visual components, usually green, blue or red associated with high Arctic latitudes caused solar winds interacting with the Earth's magnetosphere.A similar phenomena occurs in Antarctic latitudes.
Song Listing:
The entire album listing is included for completeness, but onlyUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-48093509988109579452012-09-17T10:30:00.007+01:002022-02-07T10:31:00.654+00:00Power
'Saturn 5'
The Saturn V rocket was a three-stage liquid-fuelled launch rocket used by NASA for the Apollo Program and also for launching Skylab, the first US space station. The band have been friends with Rick Armstrong, son of the first man on the moon for many years, with Rick playing guitar during Swap the Band in 2011 and appearing on Pete Trewavas's Edison's Children project, so this is anUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-67526350858087757722012-09-17T10:00:00.005+01:002022-02-07T10:34:26.865+00:00Montreal
With special thanks to Andy Wright and Annick Gauthier for their assistance with the explanations for this song.
'I heard Joni Mitchell singin' her poems of isolation'
Joni Mitchell is a critically-lauded Canadian singer-songwriter. She rose to prominence during the 1970s and was primarily known for her use of open tunings, embracing of jazz and her intimate, often confessional lyrics. She is Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-15460691072483389342012-09-17T09:30:00.005+01:002022-02-07T10:34:34.794+00:00Lucky Man'Some are quite happy in the cage'A call back to an image h has used on Cage (Ice Cream Genius) and These Chains.
Song Listing:
The entire album listing is included for completeness, but only song with a link have explanations.
GazaSounds That Can't Be MadePour My LovePowerMontréalInvisible InkLucky ManThe Sky Above the Rain
Click to access album
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-12337140956835168402009-10-02T12:00:00.009+01:002022-02-07T10:35:07.923+00:00Less Is More - IntroductionIntroduction: Less Is More is classed as Marillion's 16th studio album, the twelfth of the Hogarth-era.
With the exception of It's Not Your Fault, Less Is More is an album of reworked material from previous albums, and consequently, only that one song has an explanation.
It would be fair to say that Less Is More is generally regarded somewhat disdainfully by a large section of the fanbase, who Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3849191524560167556.post-33873384065693286472009-10-02T11:30:00.007+01:002022-02-07T10:35:03.767+00:00It's Not Your Fault
'Secrets and lies'
Secrets and Lies is a film by Mike Leigh. A woman decides to trace her birth family and contact her mother. The film is about the effects of concealment and untruths on the people concerned.
'I broke a mirror'
The breaking of a mirror supposedly condemns the breaker to seven years of bad luck. This superstition goes back to the Romans, who first made mirrors. They believed Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0