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[Stephen Thomas <spt1@ukc.ac.uk>]

To: rec-music-gaffa@kestrel
Path: harrier.ukc.ac.uk!spt1
From: spt1@ukc.ac.uk (Stephen Thomas)
Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Subject: Re: fog
Message-ID: <7150@harrier.ukc.ac.uk>
Date: 18 Mar 91 11:30:45 GMT
References: <9103180514.AA16558@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: spt1@ukc.ac.uk (Stephen Thomas)
Organization: Computing Lab, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK.
Lines: 56


In article <9103180514.AA16558@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> jtd18848@uxa.cso.uiuc.EDU (Julianne T Dunphy) writes:
>I'm new to the group (posting that is) and I have a question for you 
>love-hounds.
>
>It is:
>
>Does "The Morning Fog" have a super-powerful/magical effect on you or is it
>just me?
>
>I cannot get enough of this song.  It makes me want to laugh, cry and jump
>around all at the same time.  At times, it is inspirational, at other times,
>it makes me melancholy. But always, it fills me with an energy that is 
>difficult to channel.  

I recall that we had a discussion about a year ago concerning
The Ninth Wave, which was initiated by yours truly asking What It
Was All About.  I find that although individual parts of TNW do not
affect me greatly, the piece as a whole causes a very profound
response in me.  If I am in the right mood to start with, I can come
out of TNW feeling reborn, which is perfectly in keeping with what
the piece is about.

One of the most important factors in creating this effect, I feel, is
the careful juxtaposition of contrasting energies in the piece.  The
franticness of Waking The Witch gives way to the distance feelings of
Watching You Without Me - a distance that the person is desparately
trying reach across.  They seem to fail, but then we come to Jig of
Life, which in turn has a totally different feel to it, a kind of
exuberant urgency which negates the feelings of helplessness that
had gone before.  For me, this track is particularly moving, coming
where it does.

But then the distance returns, in a much more literal sense, as
the person finds themselves floating above the earth, in orbit,
watching all that has happened from a truly global, but still
helpless view.  Then, finally, in The Morning Fog, they come to
rest in the here and now, awake and recovering (IMHO - there is
some controversy about this :-) ).  They have been to edge of death
and back and on the way have learned to truly love life itself, where
beforehand they had perhaps taken it for granted a little.

Unless you know the story behind The Ninth Wave, the above discussion
may be a little confusing to you, so I shall try to mail you a
copy of an article in which Kate talks about Hounds Of Love, and
what all the tracks mean.  I've said this before, but when you
understand what Kate's songs mean, they stop being songs and start
being experiences.

>Julianne Dunphy

Stephen
-- 
| "You've been having a nightmare.  | Stephen Thomas -------------------------|
|  And it's not over yet."          | Email: spt1@ukc.ac.uk; Smail: Computing |
|   -- Roger Waters, "The Pros and  | Lab, University of Kent, CT2 7NZ, UK;   |
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