“Does
the moon actually possess such strange powers, or is it all just…lunacy?”
It was 4.51 billion years ago, that
chaotic time when the planets were young and still forming, the chaos before
creation, when Theia (a hypothetical Mars-sized planet) collided with Gaia. The
debris that was thrown into space then rotated around the new planet Earth,
slowly coalescing into what we now know as the Moon. This planetary partnership
has been beneficial to the life that came to form on planet Earth. The Moon
causes tides in the ocean, leading to tide pools and perhaps encouraging
creatures of the sea to move onto land. The Moon has protected the Earth from
thousands of asteroid impacts, as evidenced by the craters that scar its surface.
It reflects sunlight back on us at night, aiding visibility. However, it is moving away from the Earth at the rate of 1.5 inches per year. Given enough
time, it will drift far enough away to no longer affect Earth’s tides or protect
it. It will never break free of Earth altogether; in 50 billion years or so it
will reach balance and move no further. But in all likelihood, both the
Moon and Earth both will be swallowed by the expanding Sun before then.
Billions of years later, primates who were at least intelligent enough
to look up at the sky and wonder what they were seeing, prescribed many
different personifications to the moon, what we now call Gods and Goddesses.
When you look at how the Moon has helped life on Earth, it makes perfect sense
to be thankful to it; not that the ancients could have known exactly how the
Moon has helped life exist. Every culture had its own unique way of looking at
the Moon; none more or less correct than another. The ancient Egyptians saw the
God of Wisdom, Thoth, shown as a man with the head of an ibis, its curved beak
shaped like the crescent moon. The ancient Greeks saw Artemis, also a Goddess
of the Hunt. The Urartians saw Selardi, a Moon Goddess. The Inca saw Mama
Killa, another Moon Goddess, defender of Women. The Chinese saw a rabbit, Tu’er
Ye, in the craters on the Moon. In Wicca the moon represents the Triple
Goddess, the Divine Feminine. It seems that the Moon is more often associated
with Goddesses than Gods. In Europe there were more myths about the moon, such
as werewolves, people who transform into wolf-like beings during the full Moon,
born of the practice wolves have of howling at the Moon. Even today, many
believe that the moon possesses strange powers. Is it all just…lunacy? All of
these cultures from different times around the world looked up at the same
object, and saw something different. It was perhaps a new concept when the
monotheistic Abrahamic religions saw nothing but a rock in the sky. Science has
demystified the Moon even further. And now, people have walked on the Moon. We
might even have colonies on the Moon one day, if humanity can refrain from
destroying itself by the time that becomes a viable option. Humans have, by and
large, lost their imagination when it comes to the moon, perhaps to space in
general. Poets and lyricists are the only ones keeping the echo of it alive.
These are all thoughts to
contemplate when listening to my Moon Mix, second in my series of theme mixes
based on words and concepts, the first of which was songs about the Cold. In
this mix I’ve gathered approximately 80 minutes of songs that are either about
the Moon or mention it. Just like studying mythology, it gives us many
different interpretations of the Moon, the end process of thousands of years of
religious and poetic perspectives on Earth’s cosmic partner. I’ve tried to
reconstruct the mix on Spotify, but many of the songs are too obscure to be on
Spotify (a sure sign I did a good job on the mix), so for those songs I will
link to YouTube.
Godsmack
– Moon Baby
“Let’s
take a blast to the moon, baby.”
The best part of this song is all
the voice samples at the beginning, my favorite of which I’ve already quoted.
Also included are Neil Armstrong’s famous words as he landed on the moon. This
makes it an ideal song to start the mix off. The song seems to be attributing
the Moon to carnal longings and cravings, which ties into the werewolf myth. But
the song in general is a good one to bang your head to, and one of the best by
Godsmack. My first concert I ever attended was Godsmack opening for Metallica
back in 2003 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. I recall actually preferring Godsmack’s
performance to Metallica’s. They were never my favorite band, but I liked them
quite a bit in the early 2000’s, before I moved onto European black metal.
Type
O Negative – Wolfmoon
“Hey
wolf moon, come cast your spell on me.”
This song has similar themes to the
previous, associating the moon with wolves, werewolves (the line “Those silver
bullets, a last blood benediction,” in particular), in addition to the female
menstrual cycle. The opening lyrics, “The 28th day, she’ll be
bleeding again. And in lupine ways, we’ll alleviate the pain”, speak for
themselves, giving the song a lot of strong sexual undertones. The word “lupine”
can be an adjective for something that is wolf-like. The Inca Goddess Mama
Killa was also associated with both the Moon and the menstrual cycle. This
association is possibly why more cultures have Moon Goddesses than Gods. The
song itself, in typical Type O Negative fashion, is darkly beautiful, and I
more often find myself just taking in the energy of the music rather than
paying any attention to the lyrics when I listen to it.
“The
curse of the black moon will haunt you, the Wolf King has entered the blood storm,
let the fire burn your innocence.”
Howling Syn is a little-known metal
band I found out about a long time ago; I believe it was on MySpace that I
found them. This song begins with a wolf howl, suitably. A Black Moon is an
actual phenomena; it’s the opposite of a Blue Moon, that is, two New Moons in
one month. Some modern Wiccans and pagans ascribe significance to this, and do
special rituals and spells (maybe curses if they don’t mind the karmic
consequences) on Black Moons, which may be what this song is referencing when
it says “the curse of the Black Moon”. But of course, a Black Moon has more to
do with a quirk of the Gregorian calendar than an actual astronomical event of
significance. But, significance is subjective in the first place. (Is it all
just…lunacy?) Best of all, the term “Black Moon” just sounds cool. This song
will be the last on the mix that has to do with wolves, but is among my
favorites.
Echo &
the Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
“The
killing moon will come too soon.”
In an interview, singer Ian McColloch
ascribed the lyrics to this song to divine inspiration, having woken up with
the lines running through his head one morning. Perhaps some higher being
wanted the song to be made. Or perhaps it’s all just…lunacy. (Okay, I need to
stop.) Early in the song lyrics the Blue Moon is mentioned (“under Blue Moon I saw
you,”), making a perfect juxtaposition to the previous song. The singer of Echo
& the Bunnymen was unclear about the meaning of the lyrics. I’m not certain
myself how to interpret them. It seems to me the Moon is more of a background
element, and the song is really about a forbidden love. This song is a classic
of post-punk and gothic rock, from 1984, a terrific year for music as you’ll
soon find out when I cover my 1984 in Music mix. Alas, I was born just a little
bit too late to live in a time where music that I like achieved any kind of
popularity.
Long
Night – East of the Sun, West of the Moon
“I’ve
been east of the Sun, west of the Moon, for your love.”
And here we have more modern gothic
rock from the band Long Night. “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” is
apparently the title of an old Norwegian folktale, although I don’t know if
that is what the songwriter here is alluding to. He seems to be saying he has
traveled very far to find someone’s love. I suppose to be east of the Sun and
west of the Moon would mean being in a spot on Earth where sunset is occurring.
You wouldn’t be staying there for long. However, if you’re as far north as
Norway I think sunsets can last for a long time in the winter.
Ashes
Fallen – Blood Moon
“Blood
Moon rising, I’m on the ground. Seconds ticking; the only sound.”
The first of two songs on this mix titled “Blood Moon”, this is another gothic rock song, this time one that I got from Obscura Undead’s UnObscured 2019 compilation (which I’ve mentioned many times on the blog before). A Blood Moon is a total Lunar Eclipse, when the Earth blocks sunlight from reaching the Moon, giving it an ominous red hue. This has factored into many religions, notably Christianity with regards to the apocalyptic prophecies of Revelation. And like the Black Moon, its main significance is that it just sounds badass; with the added benefit of also looking badass too. Making it a good song title.
“Come
and visit me, on the Moon.”
It’s very sad how obscure this band
is. This song came out back in 1986, the year I was born. I can’t find out much
about it. I only heard this song on a compilation of obscure 80’s music someone
posted to YouTube. It’s got the 80’s saxophone and Siouxsie-esque vocals. The
lyrics are unavailable anywhere on the Internet that I looked, but I think the
song is about having your head “in the clouds”, as it were. Or on the Moon in
this case. I can relate to that. My mind is rarely here on Earth.
Katil
- Kuzim
“Above
this dark world, let us become two moons.”
I already wrote an entire blog entry about this song, a Hamshen Armenian folksong, which you can go ahead and read, it's the entry right before this one.
I wrote it in preparation for this blog post, actually, because I knew I had a
lot to say about it. The metaphor about the moon that this song makes is as
something that brings light to a dark world; like bringing positivity to a very
negative, harsh world. And I was astonished that Spotify had this exact version
of the song. Nice going, Katil. I should buy their album.
“Somewhere
out there, beneath the pale moonlight, someone’s thinking of me and loving me
tonight.”
This song is going to cost me goth
points. But screw it. An American Tail is one of my favorite movies. The
song “Somewhere out There” was sung by the mouse siblings Fievel and Tanya
after Fievel was separated from his family on the way to America, and is about
how they know they’ll be together again. They’re staring up at the same moon,
after all. That gets me thinking about what I discussed earlier, about how
different cultures around the world all looked up at the sky and saw the same
thing, yet had many different interpretations of it. The version I used for
this mix was sung by Fievel’s young voice actor Phillip Glasser on a rare promotional album. It
basically uses the background music to Linda Ronstadt’s version (which I’m not
into, but not because of the background music but because it was turned into a cheesy 80's love ballad).
The
Midnight – Los Angeles
“Helicopters
against moonlight, our holy mother of the midnight, and if we live forever let
us live forever tonight.”
The Midnight is one of the best
synthwave bands, and as with most synthwave (or retrowave if you will) that has
lyrics, the subject of their songs are often invoke nostalgia. They might be
about lost loves, wonderful summers, or in this song’s case, a really great
night you had with your friends that you didn’t want to ever end. So this song
barely mentions the moon, but it serves as a background element. The image of
helicopters against the moonlight kind of stands out against the rest of the
song; when I think of helicopters at night I think of police helicopters
sending glaring searchlights down and hunting after a criminal on the run, and
having to lock up your doors and hope some crazed gun-wielding madman doesn’t
bust in. But I spent a bit of my childhood living in one of the worst poor
neighborhoods of Fresno, California, so maybe that’s why I feel weird about
romanticizing helicopters.
Switchblade
Symphony – Dissolve
“In
the moonshine I
leave no trace, my visions have gone far from this place.”
Switchblade Symphony is another of
those bands I wish I had found out about a lot sooner, but didn’t hear of them
until a couple years ago. It’s a 1990’s goth band. This song is very dark, slow
and meditative. I’m unsure what it’s really about. Other lyrics include “The
fear of God is in me now”. I’m assuming by “moonshine” she’s not referring to
illegal homemade alcoholic drinks, but actual moonshine. But it would be interesting
to know how the alcoholic moonshine got its name. Maybe because it had to be
made at night, in secrecy. This is a hard song to interpret. Maybe the narrator
of the song is dying and afraid of meeting God’s judgment as their
consciousness dissolves. It could be.
[:SITD:]
– Drowning in the Flame
“And
when the Sun and Moon grow dark, and when the stars no longer shine, the sky
and Earth will shake, my love will keep you safe.”
I’m convinced this song is about the
end of the world, which is pretty obvious when other lyrics include “We’re
waiting for the end to come, our world is slowly dying, while we’re staring at
the Sun”. Unless the Earth was encased in some kind of shell there’s
no way the stars would stop shining, at least not for the next hundreds of
billions of years. Even if all the stars went dark right now it would be four
years before we even saw one disappear, because the closest star is four
lightyears away. It’s a big universe out there. The sun has about five billion
years left in it, and by the time it goes dark the Earth and Moon probably won’t
exist anymore, at least if the sun really does expand and swallow them. But the
song’s being poetic, and I’m ruining it.
“The Moon
is high, the night is young. That’s the time for you to dance.”
It’s my favorite Greek darkwave band.
The Moon just sets the scene for this song. It’s night time, the night has just
begun, let’s go to a dance club and do some lurching and swaying goth dances.
It’s a pretty straightforward song. It makes me miss The Castle in Ybor City. The
moon, with all its spooky connotations, is a good first image to invoke in a
song about going to a goth nightclub.
Mindless
Faith – Moth Without a Moon
“Like
a moth without a Moon.”
I talked about this song last December when it was #1 on my top 3 songs of the month. The lyrics are in the description of the YouTube video, but I still can’t really make sense of them. The song has references to insects and plants and the night, and the line “Like a moth without a moon” doesn’t explain much. Do moths normally have moons? At any rate, I still like the song a lot despite not understanding it.
SYZYGYX
– Blood Moon
“Take
me far away to the blood moon.”
And those are the lyrics to the
whole song, just repeated. Here’s the other song on the mix titled “Blood Moon”.
I’ve spoken about this song on the blog before, when it was my #2 song for this
month, February 2020. The music is captivating, and makes me think of staring
transfixed at a blood red Moon. I was so transfixed by this song I didn’t
realize the lyrics were just one sentence repeated over and over until I paid
attention for this blog.
Voltaire
– The Man Upstairs
“And
I’m surrounded by lunatics who don’t even need a moon.”
I’ve spent most of my life living in
apartments, so I know only too well what it is to have noisy, sometimes scary
neighbors. This is a song for anyone who has wished death on their upstairs
neighbor for vacuuming or juggling bowling balls at 4 in the morning. The word
lunatic comes to us from the Latin word “lunaticus”, meaning “of the moon” or “moonstruck”,
and used to describe the mentally ill. Going back as far as ancient Greece, and
maybe further, the Full Moon has been rumored to cause people to go mad. Police
officers and nurses today will attest to this as well, although I’m not certain
there have been any statistics to back this up. Poor Voltaire’s neighbors didn’t
even need a Full Moon to fall into…lunacy.
Right
Said Fred – Let’s Face the Music and Dance
“Soon
we’ll be without the moon humming a different tune, and then there may be
teardrops to shed. So while there’s moonlight and music and love and romance
let’s face the music and dance.”
And now for something completely
different: electro-swing. It’s a good song to end off on though, as it equates
the moonlight with love and music, and urges the listener to enjoy the moment,
because it won’t last forever. This song is a cover of a much older song, perhaps
best known as a Fred Astaire dance number, but has been revived by Right Said
Fred, a band that’s been around for a long whle now but is hopping on the
electro-swing bandwagon, an emerging genre in recent years which I’ve been
listening to more often as of late.
Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this
meditation on our celestial partner in the Solar System, the Moon. I look
forward to my next mix of this nature being centered on either Stars, or the
Heart. Whichever I decide.
No comments:
Post a Comment