Although I am not really in a position to judge this, it seems to me that there has been a trend in modern music to have vague lyrics. On more than one occasion my friends and I have discussed the lyrics of certain Josh Groban songs in which meaning is particularly elusive, and I have often wondered why the lyricists have done this to us. Is it as my sister has hypothesized, that in this way you can decide for yourself what the song means? I’m still clueless, but nevertheless I still grasp for meaning in some of these songs.
Just recently I got a tape of a certain Irish band called Clannad (they’re kinfolk of Enya, so I hear), and I ended up digitizing about half of the songs, the rest sounding too much like pop for my liking. I do enjoy the songs they sing in Irish Gaelic (which I can’t understand anyway), but there is one song called “Sunset Dreams” that sounds really cool. The only problem: I can’t figure out what it means! Here, you give it a shot:
Covered in darkness, a time that is past
Waiting adrift they cannot hold back, cannot hold back.
Tear-misted eyes standing alone,
A broken will over all that they’ve known.Chorus:
Out in the distance, far is the calling
Shadows still steal through the place that they knew.
A vision that’s empty is what they see,
The eyes of tomorrow on sunset dreams.Sorrow deepens, only to tell
Silence speaks where words cannot mend, words cannot mend.
A vision that’s empty is what they see,
The eyes of tomorrow look to sunset dreams.
Any ideas? If so, please let me know; I’d be glad to hear them. Meanwhile, I’ll just keep enjoying the song and pondering the lyrics…
Sounds like the future is bleak, but the past is irretreivable, so they’re stuck in between with nowhere to go.
Hmm… maybe so. I guess the real question is, who are they? Anyway, thanks for visiting my blog!
Clannad could easily make a come-back, they’re European household names. It just depends on what they make of the opportunity they’ve created for themselves after this year’s touring. It’d be a bad idea to mix Moya Brennan with Norland Wind with Pól Brennan with Trísan with the Duggans – all of the solo projects are much too different.
And cool blog, it’s very interesting!! =)
Thanks, Robbi! I do hope Clannad will continue their activity now, whether it be more touring or a new album. I just love their music and would like to hear more songs like the ones on “Lore” and “Landmarks.”
By the way, Clannad has grown on me immensely since I wrote this post, and now I realize that what seemed like pop to me was not nearly as much so as I thought. So I listen to all of “Banba” now, and I also got “Macalla” recently. I think the only major album of theirs that I lack is “Anam.”