I suspect that Murphy was very influenced by Kate Bush; this song reminds me of songs from Bush's 'The Sensual World' (like 'The Fog' or 'Never be Mine')
I'm just now really getting into Peter Murphy's music. I don't know a lot about his personal life, other than that he is very religious. Based on what I have heard of his work, he does seem to draw inspiration from 'dark' things. I think that this song could have been written about a lover who has depression, or perhaps, it is a love song to depression itself. I think that sometimes in this song the 'you' (his lover) and the 'it' (the depression) are the same entity. Depression, horrible as it is, can sometimes be a great source of creative energy. I know that this is true for me...in fact, sometimes I feel like I HAVE to be depressed to get any sort of creative work done. I bet that Peter Murphy can relate to that need to go somewhere 'dark', and that sort of love/hate relationship that a person can have with mental illness. I feel like he describes my own experience fairly well:
'I find you in the morning
After dreams of distant signs
You pour yourself over me
Like the sun through the blinds'
So if The Cure's 'Lullaby' is about that hopeless feeling you get when you're depressed and alone at night, the first few lines of this song are about that strange sense of peace that you get when you have SURVIVED a night alone with your depression. When I was living with my boyfriend, I used to have many nights where I would have go away to be by myself so as to not keep him awake; the sheer gratitude that you feel when, after you've cried yourself to sleep, someone that you love comes to find you in the cold and the dark and makes you feel safe again...that's just like that feeling you get seeing morning light through the blinds.
The 'distant wind', the 'secret wind' that he describes...that could be that bittersweet restlessness that is associated with anxiety and depression. He describes wanting to conquer this thing that 'throws about, takes you in and spit you out', this thing that 'leaves you dry, cuts you up and takes you high'...it's like being carried away by ones emotions. 'Twists and turns, Changing color, spinning yarns'; he could be talking about the 'mental chatter' that you experience when you're dealing with depression....the way the 'stories' that you tell in your own mind about your own identity/perception of reality are altered by mental processes that you can't quiet control...
The funny thing is, this thing that 'cuts you up' is also the thing that 'lifts you up' and 'keeps you walking' and 'never shouts' (never shouts? could he be talking about wind again? wind sometimes SEEMS to be shouting, but it can't really 'shout'...it's almost like a line from a riddle...) This 'thing' (depression and/or anxiety) can actually be a great motivator, even as it snatches up all of your motivation. It makes you want to change your life/behavior to overcome the suffering inherent in the condition...and yet, there is an 'immediacy' and a sort of clarity to ones experience when one is dealing with depression (I think because the left brain isn't able to 'filter' experiences in the way it usually does)....this feeling can actually be very beautiful, in a weird way.
I think that this song is very much about trying to experience that sense of 'flow' that can come with dark feelings, without being swept away by those feelings...I think that this song could very well be about Peter Murphy's own 'creative process'.
Idk, that was a long and rambling interpretation. Sorry for all the grammatical errors and whatnot...don't much care like editing myself right now though, lol.
I suspect that Murphy was very influenced by Kate Bush; this song reminds me of songs from Bush's 'The Sensual World' (like 'The Fog' or 'Never be Mine')
I'm just now really getting into Peter Murphy's music. I don't know a lot about his personal life, other than that he is very religious. Based on what I have heard of his work, he does seem to draw inspiration from 'dark' things. I think that this song could have been written about a lover who has depression, or perhaps, it is a love song to depression itself. I think that sometimes in this song the 'you' (his lover) and the 'it' (the depression) are the same entity. Depression, horrible as it is, can sometimes be a great source of creative energy. I know that this is true for me...in fact, sometimes I feel like I HAVE to be depressed to get any sort of creative work done. I bet that Peter Murphy can relate to that need to go somewhere 'dark', and that sort of love/hate relationship that a person can have with mental illness. I feel like he describes my own experience fairly well:
'I find you in the morning After dreams of distant signs You pour yourself over me Like the sun through the blinds'
So if The Cure's 'Lullaby' is about that hopeless feeling you get when you're depressed and alone at night, the first few lines of this song are about that strange sense of peace that you get when you have SURVIVED a night alone with your depression. When I was living with my boyfriend, I used to have many nights where I would have go away to be by myself so as to not keep him awake; the sheer gratitude that you feel when, after you've cried yourself to sleep, someone that you love comes to find you in the cold and the dark and makes you feel safe again...that's just like that feeling you get seeing morning light through the blinds.
The 'distant wind', the 'secret wind' that he describes...that could be that bittersweet restlessness that is associated with anxiety and depression. He describes wanting to conquer this thing that 'throws about, takes you in and spit you out', this thing that 'leaves you dry, cuts you up and takes you high'...it's like being carried away by ones emotions. 'Twists and turns, Changing color, spinning yarns'; he could be talking about the 'mental chatter' that you experience when you're dealing with depression....the way the 'stories' that you tell in your own mind about your own identity/perception of reality are altered by mental processes that you can't quiet control...
The funny thing is, this thing that 'cuts you up' is also the thing that 'lifts you up' and 'keeps you walking' and 'never shouts' (never shouts? could he be talking about wind again? wind sometimes SEEMS to be shouting, but it can't really 'shout'...it's almost like a line from a riddle...) This 'thing' (depression and/or anxiety) can actually be a great motivator, even as it snatches up all of your motivation. It makes you want to change your life/behavior to overcome the suffering inherent in the condition...and yet, there is an 'immediacy' and a sort of clarity to ones experience when one is dealing with depression (I think because the left brain isn't able to 'filter' experiences in the way it usually does)....this feeling can actually be very beautiful, in a weird way.
I think that this song is very much about trying to experience that sense of 'flow' that can come with dark feelings, without being swept away by those feelings...I think that this song could very well be about Peter Murphy's own 'creative process'.
Idk, that was a long and rambling interpretation. Sorry for all the grammatical errors and whatnot...don't much care like editing myself right now though, lol.
Curious to see what everyone else thinks.