The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Blue girls come in every size
Some are wise and some otherwise
They got pretty blue eyes
For an hour a man may change
For an hour her face looks strange
Looks strange, looks strange
Marching to the promised land
Where the honey flows and takes you by the hand
Pulls you down on your knees
While you're down a pool appears
The face in the water looks up
And she shakes her head as if to say
That it's the last time you'll look like today
Sail away, away
Ripples never come back
Gone to the other side
Sail away, sail away
The face that launched a thousand ships
Is sinking fast, that happens you know
The water gets below
Seems not very long ago
Lovelier she was than any that I know
Angels never know it's time
To close the book and gracefully decline
The song has found a tale
My, what a jealous pool she is
The face in the water looks up
She shakes her head as if to say
That the blue girls have all gone away
Sail away, away
Ripples never come back
They've gone to the other side
Look into the pool
Ripples never come back
Dive to the bottom and go to the top
To see where they have gone
Oh, they've gone to the other side
Some are wise and some otherwise
They got pretty blue eyes
For an hour a man may change
For an hour her face looks strange
Looks strange, looks strange
Marching to the promised land
Where the honey flows and takes you by the hand
Pulls you down on your knees
While you're down a pool appears
The face in the water looks up
And she shakes her head as if to say
That it's the last time you'll look like today
Sail away, away
Ripples never come back
Gone to the other side
Sail away, sail away
The face that launched a thousand ships
Is sinking fast, that happens you know
The water gets below
Seems not very long ago
Lovelier she was than any that I know
Angels never know it's time
To close the book and gracefully decline
The song has found a tale
My, what a jealous pool she is
The face in the water looks up
She shakes her head as if to say
That the blue girls have all gone away
Sail away, away
Ripples never come back
They've gone to the other side
Look into the pool
Ripples never come back
Dive to the bottom and go to the top
To see where they have gone
Oh, they've gone to the other side
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
Ripples Lyrics as written by Mike Rutherford Anthony George Banks
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, O/B/O DistroKid
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Indeed, this is a great song. It is also one of the less known Genesis songs because it was from the late 70's, and it preceded the slew of mainstream songs they would produce later. A lot of the songs from this timeframe were written by Tony Banks and are AMAZING.
I believe that BlueGirls are derived from a poem by John Crowe Ransom ... and refers to adolescent school girls for whom beauty is the focus of their lives
(snip)"In this poem, Ransom offers the girls three main lessons, which, although they seem contradictory, are really closely related:
He describes beauty as delicate and rare, unable to be established. He focuses on the lightheartedness of young girls, how they are caught up in beauty, and he warns them to be conscientious of the fact that their beauty will fade and that they cannot put all their hope on their beauty. At the same time, he encourages them to "practice" their beauty until it is gone, and he promises to celebrate that beauty as best he can, with all its value and frailty."(snip)
from titan.iwu.edu/~wchapman/americanpoetryweb/ranbluan.html
IMHO, 'Ripples' is absolutely the finest musical creation ever produced by Genesis. The imagery and message of the lyrics are also piercing, if not altogether an original concept.
@meloniec Ripples makes us feel free to be as we were intended....
@meloniec Without question, Ripples is directly inspired by John Crowe Ransom's poem "Blue Girls." Ransom writes, "it is not long since she was lovelier than any of you." Tony Banks writes, "seems not very long ago, lovelier she was than any that I know." Banks starts his lyrics with the words "Blue girls", the title of the Ransom poem. The "promised land where the honey flows" may mean life's ease to a girl when she is young. I think the opening verse of the song is from the point of view of a rock musician's encounters with young groupies, which starts him thinking about the theme of Ransom's "Blue Girls" poem.
@meloniec I see that you posted this some time ago. My hope is that you still view this account so I could properly thank you. I have loved this song for 40 odd years and did not make the connection to the poem. Thank you!!
@meloniec I see that you posted this some time ago. My hope is that you still view this account so I could properly thank you. I have loved this song for 40 odd years and did not make the connection to the poem. Thank you!!
I don't think this song is about relationships at all - it's just about growing old and losing one's looks. It is perfectly illustrated on the album cover for "Trick of the Tail" with an old hag looking into a pool of water and seeing her young, beautiful face looking back.
8 Mins. of Beauty. Reminds me of my Best Friend, Robin.
Not difficult to figure out, ripples never come back means we cannot get our youth back, and the attractiveness of youth is fleeting and should not be taken for granted. The reflection in the water is our self awareness, and also can be a memory of what we used to be like or how we looked years ago.
@MMM88 - I agree, this is in the top 3 songs on the album.
@Voodoo Tattoo - I don't believe Genesis were into referencing prostitution, but overall I think you're spot-on. Each ripple is another day/week/year of a life passed, and each look into the pool (e.g. mirror) relects back to a person the fact of their mortality. BTW, thank you for noting the beauty of the orchestration - I think that those of us (including you, the person right now) reading this page are honestly among a relatively small breed who truly appreciate sophisticated musical beauty.
Ironically, the one thing I take away from this song, being on this album, is that while Genesis would have a number of excellent songs to come afterward, in a sense each album hereafter was a ripple for them, slightly less beautiful then the one before.
Magnificent!! This is my favorite Genesis song. I bought "A Trick of the Tail" just for Ripples. It turned out to be a masterpiece album--still one of my favorites. I love the analogy of ripples of water with time and how you can never get back what has already flowed by. A refreshing change of theme from traditional love songs.
vids.myspace.com/index.cfm
Graham - those holes were there to prevent the records as being sold as new, they did that to albums given away to DJs, etc.
And I think Voodoo is spot on, the only thing that I would add is the historical reference to the "face that launched a thousand ships", Helen of Troy, with the "sail away" being those sailors who used to come visit (or fight wars for her) were all leaving, creating ripples as they left, never to return.
@princetonplayer brilliant, yes.
I think many of the previous interpretations are to a point correct, though I suspect some closer than others. However I personaly think there are analogies here in this song that are perhaps more closely associated with sex than any of the other interpretations get to. "for an hour a man may change" is this not refering to during the act of sex and the same for "for an hour her face looks strange" This seems to be the case in my own sexual adventures though sometimes longer and sometime less than an hour. I wonder what pools may realy be refering to while you are on your knees. I think what I am saying is like all art, unless and to some extent even if, you do have the creators first hand interpretation, it is still the case that we draw from art that which is most pertinent to ourselves. Whatever it is that you see in the lyrics and music of this masterpiece it is without doubt amazing both in the musical construction and lyrical content. I believe that Genesis has musicaly always been true to their name which meens "The coming into being of something; the origin" and you cant be a succesfull band over 4 decades without haveing many Genesis. All of which I might add has been relative to the time of production. Never have they been lame just gifted talented musicians producing music that would reflect their own current thoughts and trends of the times.