In the second verse, I believe there is a reference to The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock by T.S. Eliot.
"And as the yellow fog is lifting,"
The "Love Song" concerns a man weighed down with regret and the knowledge that his cowardice in seeking love has cost him the experience of it. He has wasted his life in trivialities, in half-deserted streets, cheap hotels, "sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells," meaningless conversation, a hundred indecisions and visions and revisions before toast and tea. More than this, he passively accepts this waste, believing that his chance to change things has long passed.
"Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet - and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid."
And at the close,
"We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us and we drown."
In the poem, the yellow fog seems to represent the essence of lethargy and wastefulness, crawling through the streets, around the houses, pressing up against the windows. In Black Diamond Bay, the yellow fog is lifting. The earthquake is perhaps the "human voice" that wakes the characters in the song. And yes, they drown, but they are for once awake and alive and made painfully aware of how fruitless their lives have been up until this fatal point.
I think there is something in how the desk clerk and the dealer are merely there as passive observers and commentators on the actions of those around them. The woman is searching for something (we don't know what), the loser is trying to reverse his luck, the Greek is in a hurry to take his own life, and the soldier and the tiny man are doing business, on the cusp of succumbing to their desires.
"The desk clerk says, 'It happens every day."
The volcano has erupted, the mountains are streaming lava, the fields are on fire and even the stars are falling. The desk clerk could be saying this happens every day, which lends some mystery to the song, similar to that found in Hotel California by The Eagles. He could, of course, just as easily be referring to the homoerotic tension between the soldier and the tiny man. Either way, he comes across as unusually calm for someone about to meet his own demise.
In my opinion, the desk clerk (and possibly the dealer by extension) can be perhaps be compared to the eternal Footman in Eliot's poem. There is also a suggestion that he is the yellow fog itself, as he appears throughout the song in various states of drowsiness, confusion and general idleness. Similarly, the dealer has only two lines in the song, first instructing the dealer to wait, then later on informing him (somewhat ironically) that it is too late.
Of course, the themes of irony in Black Diamond Bay are also very strong. The woman rejects the loser and the soldier for their false love (the loser would not leave the gambling room for her, the soldier wants to buy her romance), tries to save the life of a man intent on dying, and ultimately finds true love only to have it thwarted by fate. The soldier chases after the woman up until the last moment, when he realizes (or simply must admit) that he desires something and someone else entirely. The Greek is in an awful hurry to kill himself, but moments after his death he would have died anyway. The loser breaks the bank as the island sinks into the sea, taking all the players in this tragic comedy along with it.
I think the narrator is another victim of the yellow fog. He sits alone, watching news that depresses him and drinking beer. All he sees of the Black Diamond Bay disaster is a hat, a pair of shoes and "nothing happening." I suppose the question is how much is happening in his own life? When will his earthquake come to shake him awake from his stupor? Just the same, will it come too late?
In the second verse, I believe there is a reference to The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock by T.S. Eliot.
"And as the yellow fog is lifting,"
The "Love Song" concerns a man weighed down with regret and the knowledge that his cowardice in seeking love has cost him the experience of it. He has wasted his life in trivialities, in half-deserted streets, cheap hotels, "sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells," meaningless conversation, a hundred indecisions and visions and revisions before toast and tea. More than this, he passively accepts this waste, believing that his chance to change things has long passed.
"Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis? But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed, Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter, I am no prophet - and here's no great matter; I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, And in short, I was afraid."
And at the close,
"We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us and we drown."
In the poem, the yellow fog seems to represent the essence of lethargy and wastefulness, crawling through the streets, around the houses, pressing up against the windows. In Black Diamond Bay, the yellow fog is lifting. The earthquake is perhaps the "human voice" that wakes the characters in the song. And yes, they drown, but they are for once awake and alive and made painfully aware of how fruitless their lives have been up until this fatal point.
I think there is something in how the desk clerk and the dealer are merely there as passive observers and commentators on the actions of those around them. The woman is searching for something (we don't know what), the loser is trying to reverse his luck, the Greek is in a hurry to take his own life, and the soldier and the tiny man are doing business, on the cusp of succumbing to their desires.
"The desk clerk says, 'It happens every day."
The volcano has erupted, the mountains are streaming lava, the fields are on fire and even the stars are falling. The desk clerk could be saying this happens every day, which lends some mystery to the song, similar to that found in Hotel California by The Eagles. He could, of course, just as easily be referring to the homoerotic tension between the soldier and the tiny man. Either way, he comes across as unusually calm for someone about to meet his own demise.
In my opinion, the desk clerk (and possibly the dealer by extension) can be perhaps be compared to the eternal Footman in Eliot's poem. There is also a suggestion that he is the yellow fog itself, as he appears throughout the song in various states of drowsiness, confusion and general idleness. Similarly, the dealer has only two lines in the song, first instructing the dealer to wait, then later on informing him (somewhat ironically) that it is too late.
Of course, the themes of irony in Black Diamond Bay are also very strong. The woman rejects the loser and the soldier for their false love (the loser would not leave the gambling room for her, the soldier wants to buy her romance), tries to save the life of a man intent on dying, and ultimately finds true love only to have it thwarted by fate. The soldier chases after the woman up until the last moment, when he realizes (or simply must admit) that he desires something and someone else entirely. The Greek is in an awful hurry to kill himself, but moments after his death he would have died anyway. The loser breaks the bank as the island sinks into the sea, taking all the players in this tragic comedy along with it.
I think the narrator is another victim of the yellow fog. He sits alone, watching news that depresses him and drinking beer. All he sees of the Black Diamond Bay disaster is a hat, a pair of shoes and "nothing happening." I suppose the question is how much is happening in his own life? When will his earthquake come to shake him awake from his stupor? Just the same, will it come too late?