Re: A Weird View of The Ninth Wave

[R.EISERMANN@LINK-M.de (Ralph Eisermann)]

> Hi all.
>
> I have been amazed by the detail that this newsgroup goes into Kate's
> songs, and I have been somewhat embarrassed about my misconceptions
> about certain of them.
>
> The most striking is the meanings behind The Ninth Wave that I had
> shortly after it came out.
>
> I thought it was about a probable (at the time) disaster with the space
> shuttle. (please don't laugh)
no it is not ! The Challenger Disaster took place in 1987, I think.
Its main cause was that NASA ignored warnings on the booster technology as  
well they reduced the sensors !

>
> Right in the beginning of 'Hello Earth', I could have sworn that it the
> background NASA voices talking of a Columbia SS launch ended with the
> repeating of the word "Malfunction". I even wrote it down as I heard it
?
> then.
> "Columbia now nine times the speed of sound."
> "Roger that, and I've got a solid TACAN lock on, uhh, TACANs two and
> three"
obviously not on TACAN one ;)
I

> "Our tracking data, NAV data, and pre-planned trajectory are all
This is taken from a landing of Columbia !
That shows that calculated route, NASA navigational systems and normal  
navigational systems ( NAV ) do fit together and work well.


> one..(garbled):"
> KT: Hello Earth...
> 	BGV: "Malfunction."
> KT: Hello Earth,
> 	BGV: "Malfunction"
>
> I took the rest of the song to be about the view of a
> spectator/supporter of the space program, whose view of the adventure of
> space travel is very personal and romantic.
 It is ! It is the old story of man fighting nature !
 A lot of romantic literature deals with this.

> After the intro and the
> second 'Just look at it go..' the song descends into a dirge, as though
> the rising and building song of the anticipation of a launch is suddenly
> and unexpectedly ruined by disaster.
No it is not.
It is the final track. As TNW is a conceptual work, it ends with a typical  
Finale that releases the tension generated by other tracks ( as "jig of  
live")



-------------------------------

Ralph Eisermann
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D - 85757

r.eisermann@link-m.de
a2c0193@sunmail.lrz-muenchen.de

ISDN: 49-8131-505338
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