Introduction: Fish said: "When you watch kids doing jigsaws, they'll always take the eye of the koala bear or whatever and sit on it, just for the dominating factor of putting the last bit in. You get to the point where you lie about the last piece, you deny that you've got it. The other person is aware that you're lying and they hold back four or five pieces so that you can't put in the last piece. Eventually you tear up the jigsaw and say ' We'll do it another day'. That can grow into relationships - where no matter how important that piece is to the other person or the relationship. In general, the song is about the relationship that splits up and forever comes together again. It gets worse because each time it comes back together, more pieces of the jigsaw have got lost, and you can't get them back."In a response to a reader's enquiry about the lyric from - we think - Smash Hits , Fish said "The song reflects something I was going through myself. Basically, it's about two people in a relationship that keeps breaking up. The lyric includes references to mountains, ships, fountains - all regular things you'd find in a jigsaw set. And in this relationship, the couple are hiding crucial pieces from each other. Hence the break up." Thanks to Anton Vess for the clip, via Marko's Marillion Museum.
'Bridge of Sighs'
Brewer's: "Over the bridge, which connects the Doge's palace with the state prisons of Venice, prisoners were conveyed from the judgement hall to the place of execution. The passageway which used to connect the Tombs prison in New York with the criminal court was so dubbed for similar reasons. The bridge over the Cam at St John's College, Cambridge, which resembles the Venetian original is known by the same name. Waterloo Bridge, London was also called the Bridge of Sighs when suicides were frequent there."
'Trevi Moon...Cover your eyes'
Throwing a coin over the left shoulder into Rome's Trevi fountain is supposed to ensure that you return one day. Coins were placed over the eyes of the dead. This is related to the idea of giving the deceased the means of paying Charon the boatman to punt you across the river Styx to Elysium.
Songs with a link have explanations.
Thank you very much for all the work that has been put into this website. I enjoy it very much. JUst listened to Jigsaw again and the lurics came in as never before. Thanks for the comments by Fish. Greetings, Jan, Holland
ReplyDeleteThe problem with these lyrics by Fish is that you have to analyze each and every sentence. Questions within questions within questions. So, it's almost impossible to understand it completely.
ReplyDeleteThey are certainly very dense lyrics.
DeleteTo be clear though, The Explanations isn't attempting to explain what the lyric is about per se, it's about unpacking the phrases and images used, so an example like Jigsaw, I've not explained most of it, because it's not using obscure terms.
Yes, and that is why they are so beautiful. Sometime the image comes to you just form the lyric, sometimes you have to think on it a bit more. I'm still getting lyrics from Script for a jesters tear, fugazi, the web etc, 38 years after first hearing them. and thats what continues to keep my love for the songs strong, the fact that everytime you listen to them, something more becomes apparent
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