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Topic: Does Innocent mean anything at all?< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
Ugo Offline




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Posted: May 10 2001, 18:01

Hi all. Yesterday I was listening to Earth Moving [yes, I'm one of the ones who like it... smile] and I stopped on Innocent and replayed it twice. Listening to this simple and innocent ditty smile gives me moments of pure musical pleasure...I like it a lot...from a musical point of view. wink Because what really bothers me in Innocent are its extremely silly lyrics. smile OK, we all know that Mike never was a great lyricist, apart from Moonlight Shadow and some very poetic songs he gave to Anita in other albums....but here he really reached his peak of utmost silliness. smile In particular, the first two lines have struck me since I have been participating in these forums: "I know you'll never stay the same / In time, most of us LOSE IT". Yes, IMHO Mike here has really lost it...his ability to write good lyrics. wink So I'd like to ask to all of you out there: according to you, do the lyrics to Innocent mean anything at all? And if they do mean something, what the heck do they mean? smile wink

PS: Olivier, if you think this message is more suitable to the General Comments forum, please put it there.

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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: May 10 2001, 23:48

Well...it's about children and their innocence.

It's addressed to the child - e.g. "You are from heaven sent, when you're innocent" (or something like that) meaning 'I love the way you're so innocent'. It's all that sort of stuff.
"I know you'll never stay the same / In time, most of us lose it" - 'Everyone loses their childhood innocence some day (but I'm hoping you won't nevertheless)'.

I don't think there's any huge deep meaning in it though - I'm not certain that very many of Mike's songs really do have any massively deep meaning. It seems to have been created by a small piece of inspiration and a lot of rhyming words...
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Ugo Offline




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Posted: May 11 2001, 08:03

So is it yet another song about Greta? He already included Holy in the same album... wasn't it enough??? wink smile smile

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Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian
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Cipher Offline




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Posted: May 11 2001, 12:08

In "I know you'll never stay the same / In time, most of us LOSE IT", is it possible that the "it" is referring to "time"? In time, mos of us lose time. English is not my first language, so I'm not sure if "losing time" exists also in english as in spanish.
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Korgscrew Offline




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Posted: May 11 2001, 19:06

Yes, it's possible to lose time in English as well...like when you make up for lost time...

All songs are open to interpretation and most of the time we can only guess what they really mean (even for the writer they often take on more than one meaning), so it could be about losing time somehow...I really feel that, with a song about innocence, that line would be referring to losing innocence (and saying 'in time most of us lose time' would seem a bit strange to me, but stranger things have been said in songs), but that's just how I see it and that isn't to say that anyone else's view of it is wrong.

Hearing what you want to hear is part of the fun...
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Dervish_D Offline




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Posted: May 14 2001, 03:56

Perhaps anyone shares my point of view:

The most meaningful lyrics in Mike's music are those you cannot understand. Either they are in a strange, foreign language, they are nonsense at all, distorted or the mere sound of the voice is important.
I like this secret behind the sound and often, I am not even interested in understanding what was meant.
E.g. On the one hand, it made me laugh, when I discovered that Mike initially wanted to name "Ommadawn" as "Pickles on my Glockenspiel" eek wink .
And I am sure that I'm not the only one who really understands this "German-English wordplay"... ( eeeeeeeek ) tongue

And on the other hand you have that serious piece of music...

Thus I sometimes don't want to understand anything but my interpretation of the music...
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CarstenKuss Offline




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Posted: May 14 2001, 16:23

Innocent is one of my favourites. I like the way the chords change, not always with the 1st beat, but also at different times in between. Interesting. Sometimes I think the arrangement is a bit too mechanical (sorry Mike...), so I made a cover version with mainly guitars. You can find it at http://reach.to/amarok

Lyrics: well, they may not be great poetry, but they make quite good sense to me:

I KNOW YOU'LL NEVER...: IMO Korgscrew is right here (and Cipher is wrong, sorry...)
YOU'LL SHINE AND LEARN HOW TO USE IT: = 'I hope you will still get inspiration from your childhood, even when you've grown up.'
...LIKE THE VERY FIRST SPEAK: Sounds silly, but little children sometimes talk like this.
...WHEN YOU'RE INNOCENT: Maybe the 'when' should have been 'because', but it didn't fit with the rhythm.
...AND YOU ADORE: When a little baby looks at you, you may have the impression that it 'adores' you. Well, we can't tell what it really feels, can we?
SPEAK, LAUGH, SMILE, WALK, SING: These are all important achievements for a child. It's just the wrong order. The right one is (I think): SMILE, LAUGH, SPEAK, WALK, SING.
COW JUMPS OVER THE MOON: This sort of thing happens in picture books for small children! Or, you wake your child in the morning, and the first words you hear are: COW! MOON!!! Just babbling, practicing words, living in its own world.

Just my personal opinion...-Carsten-



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GMOVJ Offline




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Posted: May 15 2001, 02:59

Hi all
I agree with Carsten, maybe not some wonderful poetry, but full of sens IMHO... Sorry to disagree with you Ugo wink. I find these lyrics beautful. Yes, maybe a naive song, but with plenty of love from parents to children... And, IMHO you're always a little silly and naive with your chilren. Well, I am very silly with my 2 year old nephew, so I can imagine what it is to be father wink!

Cheers, GMOVJ
PS : I was waiting for your post Carsten wink.

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Ugo Offline




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Posted: May 15 2001, 18:38

To Carsten: Great cover, but why the second vocalist sings like an opera singer? That style of singing seems to me a little inappropriate to the very light tone of this song. smile
To everyone [including Carsten, of course wink]: thanx for your exceptional answers. You've been wonderful. smile smile

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Ugo Offline




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Posted: May 15 2001, 18:40

Please, Dervish...make me laugh as well and explain me that wordplay. Does Pickles mean something funny in German? smile

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CarstenKuss Offline




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Posted: May 16 2001, 17:07

Thanks, Ugo. I'm glad you listened to our stuff and had some thoughts about it. That's what we do it for...
The 2nd singer (Daniela) is the lead singer in a blues & ballads band I'm in (PAINLESS, see my homepage). This might explain why her voice adds a heavy touch to a light song.
We're always open for criticism....

'Pickel' in German means pimple, but I still don't see the joke... -Carsten-

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Dervish_D Offline




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Posted: May 18 2001, 09:12

Okay, I'll keep it short:

"Glockenspiel" could be translated as "scrotum" (as my dictionary told me).

Of course, if this is funny at all is highly arguable...
Anyways...
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raven4x4x Offline




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Posted: Aug. 06 2002, 05:41

Hmmmmm..... :/
Back on topic now, Innocent has always seemed to me a funny sort of song. It conjured up images to me of a sort of love song. Of course, looking at the lyrics, the child interpretation makes a lot more sence to me now. And the lyrics are pretty awful, but it's the only song I've ever heard with the word 'omnipotent' in it. Cool.


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TimHighfield Offline




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Posted: Aug. 06 2002, 08:08

Unusual words in songs normally make me remember them more easily- and especially when that word is mentioned in conversation or just comes into my head. Example- 'asunder' in 'Running Up That Hill' by Kate Bush. Unfortunately, the songs aren't always ones I want to hear again. Example- 'Innocent'. Aside from the dodgy lyrics, it means nothing to me.
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raven4x4x Offline




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Posted: Aug. 09 2002, 22:21

It's always seemed to me like one of those silly little ditties (On Horseback and the like) that takes itself far to seriously and tries to be a serious pop song. It certainly isn't my favourite, it might be better if it wasn't so '80s'

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timshen Offline




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Posted: Jan. 28 2003, 20:18

If you see the Innocent video it become obvious that this is a song about retaining our childhood innocence. The lyrics may seem silly but really do capture the purity and simplicity of a child - to me that is good song writing. You could argue that they are not 'deep' or 'serious' lyrics, but what is your definitions of those two terms anyway! I've haerd so-called 'deep' lyrics that don't do anything for me! I actually like some of Mike's so called 'silly' lyrics and find a great depth in them.

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Mike Chadwick Offline




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Posted: Aug. 12 2003, 15:24

this is just a simple pop song...lyrics are simple and easy.without deeper meaning.it's about children (mike told that in interview).

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Sweetpea Offline




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Posted: July 12 2007, 02:48

Quote (Ugo @ May 10 2001, 18:01)
what really bothers me in Innocent are its extremely silly lyrics.

Well, I have a pretty high tolerance for silliness. :)

I understand some have a problem with the grammar, as well. In my own writing, I sometimes play with words, so I find the phrasing in "Innocent" amusing rather than confuzzling. If one can forgive W.S. Gilbert's "decapited", the Beatles' "he got juju eyeball", and the Stones' "I can't get no...", then one can grant Oldfield the same magnanimity.


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"I'm no physicist, but technically couldn't Mike both be with the horse and be flying through space at the same time? (On account of the earth's orbit around the Sun and all that). So it seems he never had to make the choice after all. I bet he's kicking himself now." - clotty
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Sweetpea Offline




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Posted: Dec. 25 2008, 02:19

I've been listening to a file called "Innocent (12" mix)" and I like it a lot. The backing track sounds different (though still very 80s) and it's a little longer than the album version. Was it mixed by Mike or by someone else?

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"I'm no physicist, but technically couldn't Mike both be with the horse and be flying through space at the same time? (On account of the earth's orbit around the Sun and all that). So it seems he never had to make the choice after all. I bet he's kicking himself now." - clotty
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Tubularman Offline




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Posted: Dec. 25 2008, 11:30

Quote (Sweetpea @ Dec. 25 2008, 08:19)
I've been listening to a file called "Innocent (12" mix)" and I like it a lot. The backing track sounds different (though still very 80s) and it's a little longer than the album version. Was it mixed by Mike or by someone else?

i like it too :) cool up tempo!
It is a mix by Bob Kraushaar.
info from wikepedia:
"Robert Peter Kraushaar (born February 1962, Ilford, Essex) is an English pop music record producer specializing in mixing. Kraushaar has mixed and produced commercially successful songs and albums for numerous British and international artists."


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