Black Star

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zooropamanda

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What are your thoughts on this song?
Its always intrigued as to what exactly its about.
Just simply about the notion of being in love?
Is there something ailing his love?
What is it that hes blaming?

Any thoughts?
 
i know all the things around your head and what they do to you

I don't know exactly what Thom had in mind when he wrote this song or what the song as a whole means, but that line has always been very relevant to me, having experience in a relationship with someone who struggled with mental illness at one point... feeling helpless and inept, watching your relationship fall apart... that's what I've always taken out of this song

the troubled words of a troubled mind i try to understand what is eating you...
 
I've interpreted these lyrics as:

blame it on the black star
Let's blame this on the evil in the world.

blame it on the falling sky
Let's blame this on the things out of our control.

blame it on the satellite that beams me home.
I'll let you blame this on me, and my chronic belief/hope that life isn't all about pain and hurt.
 
The thing that strikes me about that song is the world-weariness when he sings the chorus. Oh, and the way he sings "but it's 58 hours since that I last slept with you" absolutely breaks my heart.



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Love was never a single emotion

-ACROB@T
 
I also like this part...

"The troubled words of a troubled mind i try to understand what is eating you..."

So true with us women. I think the song is sad.
 
Well, without quoting any lyrics (no time right now), Black Star impresses me as a song about emotional straitjacketedness.

I assume (though I don't know) that the protagonist is a guy who works in some corporate job, is never home, keeps insane hours and has a wife at home who maybe keeps herself going with daytime television and anti-depressants. He steps in the door briefly, and she's still in her dressing gown.

What's the Black Star? Interesting image, kinda has a biblical ring to it - wormwood and all that. Sounds like a fob-off to me: the real problem is not falling heavens or apocalyptic visions, it is closer to the here and now. Their lives are out of control, so instead of admitting it he makes a quip about blaming it on, um, God maybe.

I distinctly admire how the music reflects all of this. The introductory fade-in with the chiming guitars feels like the end of something, not the start. Like a plane taking off or somebody leaving the last room they were in. The whole song feels like the closing credits to a film.

I actually think this kind of song is what Blur might have done on albums like The Great Escape, had their vision been more expansive...

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"And you'll be standing there, while the boats go by
While the boats go by on a Friday evening
Shining your light, shining your light on a Friday evening
Got to slip away, got to slip away down that ancient highway
In a town called Paradise, in a town, in a town
All along, all along that road, all along that road
All along that road with the trancelike vision..."

[This message has been edited by Kieran McConville (edited 02-04-2002).]
 
I like everyone's thoughts on it. I always thought a 'black star' was something that someone claims is there (you just can't see it cos it's black) but no one can prove it; and it's probably imaginary. Blaming something that isn't there.

foray
 
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