Heroine death at end of TNW

[keving@gaffa.wpd.sgi.com (Kevin Gurney)]

Mark Anderson writes:

> No! No! No!  She does NOT die (IMHO)!

> But to my surprise, I found that after only a couple of listenings, I
> definitely had the feeling she survives.  Not, perhaps, because of what
> the lyrics say (as we have already seen, the lyrics are ambiguous) but
> because of the feelings and emotions the music evoked.  In particular,
> _The_Morning_Fog_ seems to be about, well, the morning fog.  That is,
> making it through the night.

Gee thanks Mark. If only I had actually listened to the album before
posting my opinions. :) (I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you 
didn't mean to imply that I hadn't actually listened to it.)

Why do we assume that since TMF is "cheerful" music that she couldn't have
died?  Why assume that the physical experience of death is a dark, morbid,
scary, painful thing? I've never actually talked to anyone who's died, but
I've heard about so-called "near death" experience, where people
are technically dead and then come back. The majority of these people talk
about being bathed in a bright, hazy light. Sort of like when the sun is
out of a foggy day (I went to school in California's Central Valley and 
we had lots of days like this). 

Here are the words to "The Morning Fog", as printed on my cassette version
of Hounds of Love:

	The light
	Begin (sic) to bleed,
	Begin to breathe,
	Begin to speak
	D'you know what?
	I love you better now.

	I am falling
	Like a stone,
	Like a storm
	Being born again
	Into the sweet morning fog.
	D'you know what?
	I love you better now.

	I am falling
	And I'd love to hold you now.
	I'll kiss the ground
	I'll tell my mother
	I'll tell my father
	I'll tell my loved one
	I'll tell my brothers
	How much I love them.

Here are the "hints" I see in this song:

1. Is she physically "falling like a stone"?  Couldn't have been a very 
successful rescue if she is. How about emotionally "falling like a stone"? 
Doesn't really fit with the rest of the song, does it?  What if she's
"falling" through this world into another?  That makes sense to me.

2. Why does she sing "I'd (I _would_) love to hold you now."?  Why not simply 
"I'll hold you now."? Unless she can't BECAUSE SHE'S DEAD!

3. The couplet "Being born again/Into the sweet morning fog" just sounds
too much like she's passed on to the next world. I can't think of any other
_plausible_ interpretation. Oh she could be saying, "Now that I'm out of
the water, I feel so young again. My, look how foggy it is this morning. What's
that smell? Does someone have candy?", but that's just way to clumsy for me 
to believe.

If you can get past the cliche that "happy music means happy things are 
happening", then it's not too hard to see that the heroine could have died.

BTW - I agree with Mark Anderson that WYw/oM is a halucination, and not a
"spiritual visit". I don't think that defeats my theory though. I have 
always claimed that she dies at the end of "Hello Earth", at the spoken line
(in German) "Deeper, deeper, somewhere in the deep there is a light". God,
it just all fits! Can't you see it! (I feel like a frustated poet who can't
find the right words.)

Go ahead, hack away.

--
Pres. Bush's biggest fear about a burning flag is that he won't be able
to unwrap himself from it in time.

keving@gaffa.wpd.sgi.com