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The end
The songwriter?s dead
The blade fell upon him
Taking him to the white lands
Of Empathica,
Of Innocence
Empathica
Innocence
The dreamer and the wine
Poet without a rhyme
A widowed writer, torn apart by chains of Hell
One last perfect verse
Yet still the same old song
Oh Christ, how I hate what I have become
Take me home
Get away, run away, fly away
Lead me astray, to dreamer?s hideaway
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, the whore for the cold world
Forgive me, I have but two faces
One for the world,
One for God save me
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
My home was there and then
These meadows of heaven
Adventure-filled days
One with every smiling face
Please, no more words
Thoughts from a severed head
No more praise
Tell me once my heart goes right
Take me home
Get away, run away, fly away
Lead me astray, to dreamer?s hideaway
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, the whore for the cold world
Forgive me, I have but two faces
One for the world,
One for God save me
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
Whore for the cold world
Whore for the cold world
Sparkle my scenery
With turquoise waterfall
With beauty underneath
The Ever Free
Tuck me in
Beneath the blue
Beneath the pain
Beneath the rain
Goodnight kiss for a child in time
Swaying blade my lullaby
On the shore we sat and hoped
Under the same pale moon
Whose guiding light chose you
Chose you all
I?m afraid, so afraid, of being raped
Again and again and again
I know I will die alone, but loved
You live long enough to hear the sound of guns
Long enough to find yourself screaming every night
And if you want
Live long enough to see your friends betray you
Years have I been strapped unto this altar
Now I only have three minutes and counting
I just wish the tide would catch me first
And give me a death
I always longed for
Second robber to the right of Christ
Cut in half - infacticide
The world will rejoice today
As the crows feast on the rotting poet
Everyone must bury their own
No pack to bury the heart of stone
Now he's home in Hell, serves him well
Slain by the bell, tolling for his farewell
The morning dawned upon this altar
Remains of the dark passion play
Performed by his friends without shame
Spitting on his grave as they came
Get away, run away, fly away
Lead me astray, to dreamer?s hideaway
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, the whore for the cold world
Forgive me, I have but two faces
One for the world,
One for God save me
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
A whore for the cold world
A whore for the cold world
Today, in the year of our Lord, 2005
Thomas was called from the cares of the world
He stopped crying at the end of each beautiful day
The music he wrote had too long been without silence
He was found naked and dead
With a smile in his face, a pen and 1000 pages of erased text
Save me!
Be still, my son
You're home
Oh when did you become so cold?
The blade will keep on descending
All you need is to feel my love
Search for beauty, find your shore
Try to save them all, bleed no more
You have such ocean's within
In the end
I will always love you
The beginning
The songwriter?s dead
The blade fell upon him
Taking him to the white lands
Of Empathica,
Of Innocence
Empathica
Innocence
The dreamer and the wine
Poet without a rhyme
A widowed writer, torn apart by chains of Hell
One last perfect verse
Yet still the same old song
Oh Christ, how I hate what I have become
Take me home
Get away, run away, fly away
Lead me astray, to dreamer?s hideaway
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, the whore for the cold world
Forgive me, I have but two faces
One for the world,
One for God save me
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
My home was there and then
These meadows of heaven
Adventure-filled days
One with every smiling face
Please, no more words
Thoughts from a severed head
No more praise
Tell me once my heart goes right
Take me home
Get away, run away, fly away
Lead me astray, to dreamer?s hideaway
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, the whore for the cold world
Forgive me, I have but two faces
One for the world,
One for God save me
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
Whore for the cold world
Whore for the cold world
Sparkle my scenery
With turquoise waterfall
With beauty underneath
The Ever Free
Tuck me in
Beneath the blue
Beneath the pain
Beneath the rain
Goodnight kiss for a child in time
Swaying blade my lullaby
On the shore we sat and hoped
Under the same pale moon
Whose guiding light chose you
Chose you all
I?m afraid, so afraid, of being raped
Again and again and again
I know I will die alone, but loved
You live long enough to hear the sound of guns
Long enough to find yourself screaming every night
And if you want
Live long enough to see your friends betray you
Years have I been strapped unto this altar
Now I only have three minutes and counting
I just wish the tide would catch me first
And give me a death
I always longed for
Second robber to the right of Christ
Cut in half - infacticide
The world will rejoice today
As the crows feast on the rotting poet
Everyone must bury their own
No pack to bury the heart of stone
Now he's home in Hell, serves him well
Slain by the bell, tolling for his farewell
The morning dawned upon this altar
Remains of the dark passion play
Performed by his friends without shame
Spitting on his grave as they came
Get away, run away, fly away
Lead me astray, to dreamer?s hideaway
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, the whore for the cold world
Forgive me, I have but two faces
One for the world,
One for God save me
I cannot cry ?cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
A whore for the cold world
A whore for the cold world
Today, in the year of our Lord, 2005
Thomas was called from the cares of the world
He stopped crying at the end of each beautiful day
The music he wrote had too long been without silence
He was found naked and dead
With a smile in his face, a pen and 1000 pages of erased text
Save me!
Be still, my son
You're home
Oh when did you become so cold?
The blade will keep on descending
All you need is to feel my love
Search for beauty, find your shore
Try to save them all, bleed no more
You have such ocean's within
In the end
I will always love you
The beginning
Lyrics submitted by The_howling
Track duration: 13:54
"The Poet and the Pendulum" as written by Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I agree with NeoNataku in that this song probably draws some sort of inspiration from Poe's short story "The Pit and the Pendulum". He ~fell~ into the dark depths of poetry - living life as a poet, seeing the world in a completely different way from those around him - and in its own way, this knowledge brought about the advent of the pendulum - of his own death. Perhaps his downfall was fuelled by the fact that as a poet, he saw circumstances - and people - very clearly and the world hated him for that. Don't we all hate the truth about ourselves after all?
I don't know, but this is my incomplete analysis on this song. I love this song, beautifully intriguing, brilliant instrumentation. Can't wait to hear more of Nightwish :)
I tend to agree with a lot of what I've read here. However here are a few points not made. First, what I've seen of Tuomos and Tarja, Tuomas was very much smitten by Tarja, but Tarja didn't return his feelings. In fact Tarja married Marcelo, and this resulted in the song "I wish I had an Angel". Given that Tarja's nickname was Angel, it gives the song a lot of additional meaning. Around the time that song came out, Marcelo had it out with Tuomas which resulted in the ultimatum from Marcelo that "She's mine now, and you can't have her". From that point on (feel free to check this) Tuomas's comments about Nightwish being Tarja etc. all changed to he could go on without her. As things progressed, it brought on much of the fighting that's all too well publicized and I won't replay here. The end result is the dismissal of Tarja and Tuomas going into a deep depression. So with that background this song starts to make a lot of sense.
To start with "the end" obviously indicates the end of Tarja with Nightwish. I will note the line "A widowed writer torn apart by chains of hell" which hasn't been commented on much here. In light of what I've said, the meaning should become apparent.
The verse of "My home was there 'n then
Those meadows of heaven
Adventure-filled days
One with every smiling face"
Is best linked to the song Meadows of Heaven on the same album, which shows Tuomas's desire for the innocence and joy of childhood, a common theme with him.
I have little to add until we get to "the second robber...." There's been some debate as to the meaning here, but I take it to reference the standard story of the Crucifixion. There were two robbers crucified with Christ. The first one mocked him to the end, the second declares Christ is innocent and finally asks "Lord remember me". Christ's response was "today you will be with me in paradise". Tuomos is identifying himself with this second robber, and this has major implications for the end of the song.
Later he refers to the "Dark Passion Play". That's a medieval term for a play depicting the death of Christ and connects strongly with him seeing himself as the second robber. He feels his friends are performing it and as such are partly responsible for his death. Many other comments made here fit with this interpretation.
I really don't have much more to add to the death scene except to note that Tuomas said he would "die alone but loved". That line, when considered with the end as well as the strong religious references previously lead me to believe that the person speaking in the end is God and not his parents. God is often referred to as "our heavenly Father" in the Bible, and that fits in strongly with the prior references. In any case, the song ends as Tuomas finds that he has always been loved by God.
For me, this is one of the most powerful and moving songs I've ever heard.
try it in this order
home
the pacific
dark passion play
white lands of empathica
father and mother
___________________________________________________________________
-The dreamer and the wine
Poet without a rhyme
A widowed writer torn apart by chains of hell
One last perfect verse
Is still the same old song
Oh Christ how I hate what I have become
Take me home
Getaway, runaway, fly away
Lead me astray to dreamer's hideaway
I cannot cry 'cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
Forgive me
I have but two faces
One for the world
One for God
Save me
I cannot cry 'cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
My home was there 'n then
Those meadows of heaven
Adventure-filled days
One with every smiling face
Please, no more words
Thoughts from a severed head
No more praise
Tell me once my heart goes right
Take me home
Getaway, runaway, fly away
Lead me astray to dreamer's hideaway
I cannot cry 'cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
Forgive me
I have but two faces
One for the world
One for God
Save me
I cannot cry 'cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
-Sparkle my scenery
With turquoise waterfall
With beauty underneath
The Ever Free
Tuck me in beneath the blue
Beneath the pain, beneath the rain
Goodnight kiss for a child in time
Swaying blade my lullaby
On the shore we sat and hoped
Under the same pale moon
Whose guiding light chose you
Chose you all
"I'm afraid. I'm so afraid.
Being raped again, and again, and again
I know I will die alone.
But loved.
You live long enough to hear the sound of guns,
long enough to find yourself screaming every night,
long enough to see your friends betray you.
For years I've been strapped unto this altar.
Now I only have 3 minutes and counting.
I just wish the tide would catch me first and give me a death I always longed for
-2nd robber to the right of Christ
Cut in half - infanticide
The world will rejoice today
As the crows feast on the rotting poet
Everyone must bury their own
No pack to bury the heart of stone
Now he's home in hell, serves him well
Slain by the bell, tolling for his farewell
The morning dawned, upon his altar
Remains of the dark passion play
Performed by his friends without shame
Spitting on his grave as they came
Getaway, runaway, fly away
Lead me astray to dreamer's hideaway
I cannot cry 'cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
Forgive me
I have but two faces
One for the world
One for God
Save me
I cannot cry 'cause the shoulder cries more
I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world
"Today, in the year of our Lord 2005,
Tuomas was called from the cares of the world.
He stopped crying at the end of each beautiful day.
The music he wrote had too long been without silence.
He was found naked and dead,
With a smile in his face, a pen and 1000 pages of erased text."
Save me
-The songwriter's dead.
The blade fell upon him
Taking him to the white lands
Of Empathica
Of Innocence
Empathica
Innocence
-Be still, my son
You're home
Oh when did you become so cold?
The blade will keep on descending
All you need is to feel my love
Search for beauty, find your shore
Try to save them all, bleed no more
You have such oceans within
In the end
I will always love you
To start with "the end" obviously indicates the end of Tarja with Nightwish. I will note the line "A widowed writer torn apart by chains of hell" which hasn't been commented on much here. In light of what I've said, the meaning should become apparent.
The verse of "My home was there 'n then
Those meadows of heaven
Adventure-filled days
One with every smiling face"
Is best linked to the song Meadows of Heaven on the same album, which shows Tuomas's desire for the innocence and joy of childhood, a common theme with him.
I have little to add until we get to "the second robber...." There's been some debate as to the meaning here, but I take it to reference the standard story of the Crucifixion. There were two robbers crucified with Christ. The first one mocked him to the end, the second declares Christ is innocent and finally asks "Lord remember me". Christ's response was "today you will be with me in paradise". Tuomos is identifying himself with this second robber, and this has major implications for the end of the song.
Later he refers to the "Dark Passion Play". That's a medieval term for a play depicting the death of Christ and connects strongly with him seeing himself as the second robber. He feels his friends are performing it and as such are partly responsible for his death. Many other comments made here fit with this interpretation.
I really don't have much more to add to the death scene except to note that Tuomas said he would "die alone but loved". That line, when considered with the end as well as the strong religious references previously lead me to believe that the person speaking in the end is God and not his parents. God is often referred to as "our heavenly Father" in the Bible, and that fits in strongly with the prior references. In any case, the song ends as Tuomas finds that he has always been loved by God.
For me, this is one of the most powerful and moving songs I've ever heard.
His home was where he was the happiest, when he was younger, without all the fame and praise.
He is glad that people like his music, but he is sick of the praise from people who do not
even know him. He does not want to be forced to write anymore and he knows without his poems, he is
nothing (at least in the eyes of everyone else). To him, everything he has to say has already been said.
The song is most definitely in reference to Edgar Allen Poe's the Pit and the Pendulum, a story where
a Spaniard is kidnapped and left to die all kinds of horrible different ways including by the blade of a pendulum that decends slowly while he is tied up. He is able to escape these dreadful fates, but there are times when he longs for death. Tuomas is always making references to water and it seems like at this point he is longing to die by drowning and end the torture. Death is seen as a beautiful thing.
It sounds as if Tuomas thinks that when he is gone the band will go on playing without
him, that he will not even be mourned by the band members.
He wants to leave all the pressure and expectations but he can't because it will hurt all of his
fans, not just himself. Basically, he has become a whore for the world because he does what his
fans want him to, not what he wants for himself.
Notice also that there is exactly three minutes between when the boy says "three minutes and counting"
and when you hear the sound of the pendulum and Tuomas's death is anounced.
All in all, the song is about everything a man might think about when he realizes that his life has
fallen apart and death is a very immediate posability.
Has it got anything to do with catarsis?
Maybe he's reached a new catarsis by dying an being cleared by all his previous deeds and suffering?
5. Kinslayer
4. Planet Hell
3. The Riddler
2. Poet And The Pendulum
1. Bare Grace Misery
But my god! This song IS NOT ABOUT TARJA!!! The only song about her from Dark Passion Play is Bye Bye Beautiful. Personally, I think the song is about Tuomas' life, and the struggle he's had with himself over the years from the suffering he had. I was told by my friend who introduced me to Nightwish that Tuomas was actually raped when he was younger, and that's what he refers to throughout this song.
When I think about it, it makes me want to cry, this song is so sad, and beautiful
Of course in the context of the song, "rape" is metaphorical
First, I believe that the part of the chorus "I cannot cry cause the shoulder cries more, I cannot die, I, a whore for the cold world", can be understood very well and more deeply by looking at previous nightwish songs, especially Dead Gardens. Dead gardens states, "Tired, but I'm unable to give up, since I am responsible for the lives I've saved." This is quite literal, as Tuomas stated in the Biography that during the intermission between Wishmaster and Century Child, when he was thinking of ending the band altogether, one of his motivations to continue was that he had recived letters from fans stating that Nightwish lyrics had disuaded them from committing suicide and inspired them to keep living. Toumas has implied in many songs and interviews that it is exhausting to have to keep up his work, his inspiration to his fans, because he is responsible to them. How can he "cry", when he has such a desperate world to please and comfort because he is thier voice? How can he let down the masses?"
Secondly, I wanted to mention that there is a very interesting bit of timing hidden in the song: In The Pacific it states, "Now I only have three minutes and counting". This line ends at exactly 3:54 into the song. After the spoken part in Dark Passion Play, it says "Save Me!", Shhiiinnggggggg! That high pitched sound occurs at exactly 6:54 into the song, exactly 3 minutes, to the second, after it says "Three Minutes and Counting". This emplies that that sound is the pendulum cutting the songwriter in half, the ultimate realization of his fears expressed in the pacific when he is "Strapped down to the altar".
"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a story about the psychological torments that endures a victim of the Spanish Inquisition. After being judjed guilty, the narrator is put into a completely dark room. He soon discovers it is full of traps which mean to end his life. Again and again he escapes, either by chance or by his clear thought, just to realise that yet another sadistic game awaits him. His feelings switch repeatedly from agony to hope for salvation through quick death or even to hope and the joy of escape. But in the end he realizes that every possible way leads him inevitably to a torturous death. He feels only pure despair and the empty feeling that he is but a puppet and not at all master of his fate.
One of those sadistic games is a great pendulum with a blade-edge that slowly descends towards him while he is strapped helpless on a bed. Tuomas refers to it directly(as well as metaphorically) in the rhymes:
The blade fell upon him
...
For years I've been strapped unto this altar.
Now I only have 3 minutes and counting.
I just wish the tide would catch me first and give me a death I always longed for
...
The blade will keep on descending
Overall, in the song, the poet describes feelings similar to those of the narrator in the story, such as:
-agony:
"I'm afraid. I'm so afraid.
Being raped again, and again, and again
I know I will die alone."
-hope hidden in this agony:
"But loved."
-hope for salvation through death:
"I just wish the tide would catch me first and give me a death I always longed for "
Another common topic between "The Poet and the Pendulum" and "The Pit and the Pendulum" is the escape in the world of dreams. In "the Pit", E.A.Poe makes a beautiful analysis about the state of mind and soul during their return from the dream world to the cruel reality. And sleep is the only way for his hero to cheat reality even for a few moments. In the song Tuomas seeks also a hideout into the dreams:
"Getaway, runaway, fly away
Lead me astray to dreamer's hideaway"
That is not something new in his songs. Dreams, fantasy and escape from reality have always been key features in Nightwish songs. And I believe that this is exactly what makes Nightwish songs so touching and beautiful.
It is well known that Tuomas has been greatly inspired by authors of fantasy books, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, or composers of monumental and epic music, such as Hans Zimmer or Vangelis. Now he enlists along with them Edgar Allan Poe, the birthgiver of horror, crime and detective fiction. What is the common fraction of them all? It is that their mind children touch directly our soul, generating various feelings. This is what Tuomas recognized in their works and this is what he is doing through his songs.
He also mentions the Meadows of Heaven again, and I heard somewhere that this first track is supposed to represent the "death" of Tuomas, while the rest like For the Heart I Once Had, Escapist and Meadows of Heaven are all flashbacks into his childhood. How I wish I could write music like this.