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 railing against is very beautiful and natural.
There's a line in the song of 'I used to be centre stage, time I should act my age', and that really is what this song is about. It's about at one time feeling you were the most important person in the equation, and having to come to terms with the fact that you'd better stand at the side and watch something beautiful going on, rather than try and occupy that space yourself, with your own ego."
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 division between rich and poor is widening all the time. [...] There’s also a healthy sprinkling of tax evasion and a kind of overall loss of faith in what this country represents to me."
Introduction: 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 period of serious illness for Steve Hogarth's partner and son, meaning the vocalist was unable to contribute. After some time off from writing, they recommenced at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios where the writing was unforced, and the songs started to flow. However, the delay to recording eventually resulting in the band compiling the later additions while on their US tour for the album – hardly ideal.
Introduction:
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 account whilst writing the lyric.
"It is not my/our intention to smear the Jewish faith or people - we know many Jews are deeply critical of the current situation - and nothing here is intended to show sympathy for acts of violence, whatever the motivation, but simply to ponder upon where desperation inevitably leads.
'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.
'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 an image with particular resonance and associations for h.
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 frequently called the most influential singer-songwriter ever. Steve Rothery, Mark Kelly and Steve Hogarth are
all known to be fans, as was Fish, who evoked Joni's album The Hissing Of Summer Lawns in Lavender.
'Some are quite happy in the cage'A call back to an image h has used on Cage (Ice Cream Genius) and These Chains.
Introduction: 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 feel it is overworked and rarely successful. Personally, I feel the songs are, at worse, perfectly ok taken individually, but I don't feel it works well as an album. However, the versions of Wrapped Up In Time and Interior Lulu are both excellent.
'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 that part of the soul was trapped in the mirror, and breaking the glass thus distorted or damaged the soul.
