Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 28

The Waterboys - "The Whole of the Moon" & "This is the Sea"





(Album Release: September 1985)
In my opinion, if there is such a thing as a "perfect" album, it is the Waterboys' This is the Sea. And when I say "perfect," I don't necessarily mean for everyone. It is perfect for me, specifically. Filled with literary imagery, allusions, spirituality without getting overly "religious," and poetic lyrics. In fact, Bono once said about this album that the word poetry is thrown around too often in rock, but is entirely apt here. He further cites it as being in his top ten favorites. I share this passion for the album. Though I have heard and own other Waterboys albums, none quite stack up to this one. Even Mike Scott, the visionary leader of the band, said that it was "the record on which I achieved all my youthful musical ambitions" (Wikipedia, 2003 citation). "The Whole of the Moon" one of two singles from the album, is an exuberant celebration. Its lyrics exalt an unnamed visionary whom the narrator envies. Comparisons are made between the two throughout the song, with "I saw the rain dirty valley, you saw Brigadoon" as just one profoundly poetic example. Many have tried to guess the target of Scott's praise, offering forth C.S. Lewis, Prince, and Mark Helprin, and musician Nikki Sudden even claimed the song was about him, but it is still somewhat a mystery. I've always envisioned it being a lover who simply has a joie de vivre and vivid imagination. The song builds into intense crescendos, swelling into majestic symphonies of guitar, keys, violin, and horns as Scott unleashes even more lyrical beauty, such as "Unicorns and cannonballs / palaces and piers / trumpets, towers, and tenements / wide oceans full of tears / flags, rags, ferryboats / scimitars and scarves / every precious dream and vision / underneath the stars." The song is simply breathtaking. Even more stunning is the title track and closer of the album. "This is the Sea" rivals "The Whole of the Moon" in every department. I can connect with it on a number of different levels. At its core, I feel the song is about starting over, about making positive changes, leaving darkness behind and moving on into better realms. I'm not sure if this is exactly what Mike Scott was going for on this song, but that is what it means to me, and it means a lot. The concept of "that was the river, this is the sea" makes a simple yet profound comparison that runs throughout the song, reassuring us that even though we may experience trouble and pain, there is always time to alter our course. As such, this track has been a comfort through many points in my life, from the river of small-town life to the sea of college, from the river of loneliness to the sea of self-reliance, and from the river of divorce to the sea of a new direction in life. For these songs, these magical, wonderful, beautiful songs, I will forever be grateful to Mike Scott and the Waterboys. It's not often that rock and roll can change lives, but Mike Scott certainly changed mine.

For more of my writing on This is the Sea, check out this Treblezine review.