Seventh Wonder Song Meanings

Relating to those conversations before, heres another part from my interview with Andreas:

"I wrote the lyrics for the Great Escape (song) but Tommy wrote all other lyrics. I can’t go into them all but Wiseman can roughly be seen as a story about what happens here on earth long before the great escape and what is leading up to those events. Alley Cat and Long Way Home are about the same person at different points in time."

Just wanted to share this also. :)
 
Relating to those conversations before, heres another part from my interview with Andreas:

"I wrote the lyrics for the Great Escape (song) but Tommy wrote all other lyrics. I can’t go into them all but Wiseman can roughly be seen as a story about what happens here on earth long before the great escape and what is leading up to those events. Alley Cat and Long Way Home are about the same person at different points in time."

Just wanted to share this also. :)

Sirclansman, thanks for 'pushing' me a bit to look deeper into the 'Alley Cat/ TGE'-connection but I feel with this post you're 'a little too late to the party': it has been discussed already in the previous posts... ;)
 
Sirclansman, thanks for 'pushing' me a bit to look deeper into the 'Alley Cat/ TGE'-connection but I feel with this post you're 'a little too late to the party': it has been discussed already in the previous posts... ;)

Yeah, I guessed so, but still wanted to post this, cause I took one more look to that interview-material what i got from mr. A. :)
 
At first, King of Whitewater is, IMO, the best song in TGE. And here's some help to open the lyrical theme of that song. Straight from Andreas (this is originally from the interview which I used on my SW-article in finnish metal mag Inferno):

"King of Whitewater is based on Swedish folklore, about a being who plays the violins in the rapids in the woods, luring people into the water and then drowns them."

Interesting!!!! Listening to King of Whitewater over and over really made me feel like it was related to the ending of the movie Crossroads....lots of similarities! :)
 
Hey Arnie777.
Well, as you said yourself, she really messed up (did something bad) and she's late AGAIN. Her "belly aches from fear" because she knows there will be trouble when she gets home - her father/parents will punish her. On top of that (or it could be that that's the reason for her fear), she has lost the keys to their house (as well). She knows her parents won't be happy with that!!




I think she has never really felt save at home. She knows how it is SUPPOSED to be (a happy familylife), but she's not sure whether she will experience that feeling one day - "....now do you think that's gonna happen, to me?"

I'm not sure what you mean by "living on the streets and becomes an alley cat" and "her first job as an alley cat".
Her being an 'Alley Cat' is a metaphor which is used to explain the situation she's in - she's not really living on the streets ("Some days I will stay inside to cover that I've cried").
She's depending on someone else ("You're my wire to the light, and my spark here in the still of the night, So baby let me stay where I'm at, In your sight I always feel alright") and she wants him to take control of her life so she can move on ("Help me face my fears, stay pulling strings my dear, rule me like a puppeteer").

More interesting stuff! I need to hit this board a lot more often, LOL! Just a quickie note, though, in American slang, 'alley cat' is often used to described a dude who just 'slinks' around from woman to woman to woman, never settling down with anyone.

You guys here all rock! :)
 
Could "She" be the same girl in Move on Through?

Well, this is what is said about the girl in 'Move on Through':
"A rich girl in a private jet, holds on to the past cause her future's already set.
She'd save a thousand souls in Africa gladly. While they're taking her somewhere else, she cranks the volume in her headphones to forget.
(Some babies being raised on razorblades) some choke on golden spoons. Everybody needs their own way to ease all of the rashes inside a while, and it's why the girl's still putting on a smile.
Can't get enough of this sensation, so pure in every way, giving this girl her everyday reincarnation. Every time her heart is feeling blue, touched by the music she can move on through."

I don't think she is the girl from "Long Way Home' and 'Alley Cat'. The girl in those two songs had a turbulent childhood, I'm sure she doesn't want to "hold on to the past" too much - she'd rather "erase and rewind" it.

A thing that the two girls have in common though is that they find comfort and (some sort of) strength in listening to music - "Seeking shelter in the ghost of Elvis and all of the magic Michael left this world" - nice recurring theme again!
 
A little bump...


So, after giving 'The Great Escape' (and the other albums as well) a lot more spins, are there any new thoughts/visions regarding song meanings?
I think this is a very interesting thread, it would be a shame if we let this one slip away.
 
Wow...this is a thread I am going to need to read, and re-read! :) I love songmeaning discussions, even if I may be the worst person in the world at analyzing the lyrics myself. ("Oh yeah...it must be a bout a cat that lives in the alley....right?" Just kidding!)

The music almost always captures my attention first, but strong lyrics keep me held to the entire song. I find that having some idea of what the songwriter intended, or what one can gleam from the lyrics for oneself, can add a lot to the listening experience.
 
A common theme throughout the album is escapism concerning TGE:

1. Wiseman - In the prequel to track 7, the character is told they will have to fly away and essentially escape this world where the captian has resigned and the ship is going down (there's no saving it).

2. Alley Cat - Her escape is pretty obvious her, relationship extasy...although it also hints at music and alcohol as an escape method for our friend that in "the long way home" seemed to have possibly escaped her problems to an even bigger problem....her current life situation.

3. The Angel Maker - Orphans escape the problem of parents not being about take take care of their children, but end up in a far worse fate.

4. King of the White Water - It appears the sound coming from the "king" is irresitable. The feeling given before the death occurs is an escape from the stress of life, and therefore lures them into death as by this point the feel so good they don't care if they die. Death itself then kind of also becomes the escape.

5. The Long Way Home - The character from #2 is younger and takes the long way home, but she was obviously trying to escape (how can keys just disappear, I would die to have them here). Perhaps, the long way home is an intentional diviation from where she was headed (perhaps to tell her parents) and in taking the longer route she decides to not to go home, which possibly lead to her situation in song #2. Eitherway, taking the longway is a time lapse and escapes having to tell her parents (or boyfriend) the truth.....and if she decided home was a horrible place (as indicate by the songs end) she probably never made it to her destination, therefore escaping the situation all together.

6. Move On Through - The poor man on the street is using music as his escape mechanism, therefore he doesn't care that people are walking by not paying him a dime, hes found a moment of bliss. The rich girl seems troubled by a situation in which perhaps she saw suffering in an African country, but at the current time, she cannot COMMIT to volunteer work as her future has been set (higher education, career). She is upset and her only escape is to turn up the music and drown out the thoughts in her head. Music unites us and becomes a positive method for getting away of the stresses in our life, even if just for a few moments.

7. The Great Escape - We pick up from track 1 and now we find the character actually going through with mother earths plans and escaping. However, the escape (while an adventure of sorts) does not have a happy ending, therefore like in track 3 it is a forced ESCAPE but unlike track 3 there is no justiced served, the earth is burned to flames because we ESCAPED our responsibility to take take of it.

Alright, go ahead and torch my analysis, lol :p
 
Well, i am pretty sure TGE is based on the science fiction poem "Aniara" by Harry Martinson. Aniara is about a tragedy on a space ship that was heading to Mars to escape the dying earth, but an accident knocked the ship out if the solar system and out in space. It makes a lot of sense to me. And the so called goddess is Mima that is an all knowing computer that becomes a god to the people on the ship.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniara
 
First of all, elvir@, welcome to the forum :wave: ! It's good to have you on board....;)


Already a lot has been said about the song 'The Great Escape'.
Indeed, the poem by Harry Martinson IS what TGE is based on.

Here's a thread in which Andreas B. explains a bit about the source and some of his lyrical decisions.
The link in the thread may be useful to get a better look 'inside' the original poem:

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/seventh-wonder/644956-aniara-online-resource.html
 
Actually i orderd the book and got it today so it is going to be really interesting to read :)
 
Hate it when my typing floats off into cyberspace. Just posted a long reply to this very interesting thread and was told I'm unauthorized to do that!

So, what I will try and repair and repeat is that I could babble on but will say that my favorite line on TGE is "Somewhere in time we were living. Remember us then", which applies to a ghost ship hurtling through space and for a mourning nation weeping for its murdered children.

Enough said.
 
Well, I, as a Jazz listener/pseudo-musician, have learned that giving a concrete meaning to something is not as fun as just listening to the lyrics and trying to "merge" these lyrics into your life and personal experiences, and, since that is what jazz is all about (Improvising and letting go, seeing where life can take you) My sincere advice is that you try to look the meaning of these lyrics in a way that you may feel identified with them. That way, things are just funnier and way more meaningful. After all, men and women have always struggled to find the meaning of their lives, right?

The meaning of life is as correct as if it did not have any meaning at all -Aristotle-