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Pedro 1000 buttons Group: Members Posts: 7 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: Jan. 10 2002, 06:28 Hi! Does anybody know what is Mike talking about with "the watcher and the tower, waiting hour by hour" in Crises? Thanks Back to top

Delfín Group: Members Posts: 667 Joined: Nov. 2000 Posted: Jan. 12 2002, 10:49 ooooh, my dear friend...!!! The thing is at follows: 'Take a walk until the next dawn in the winter, rain and snow' The watcher and the Tower etc. 'There's a breech in the security a disturb in tranquility' etc. Was it helpful? Hope so!!! Delfín> -------------- The most precious thing I possess, is knowing the answer's yes Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: May 31 2002, 05:20 I have no idea what all of that means, but it sounds very mysterious. I'm sure it means something... -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

oblique Group: Members Posts: 411 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: May 31 2002, 12:49 On several occasions Mike has made lyrics about belief: Holy, See the light, The time has come, Peace on Earth. And of course there is the astronaut in Let there be light (In the beginning...etc.) So maybe the lyrics in Crises are refering to the Watchtower Society (a.k.a. Jehova's Witnesses). They are waiting for the rebirth of Christ and the end of days. Perhaps Mike beliefs there will be salvation. I do think there is still hope for him ;-) -------------- "While we are alive we should sit among colored lights and taste good wines, and discuss our adventures in far places; when we are dead, the opportunity is past." - Jack Vance Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: May 31 2002, 18:29 I think it's probably another case of his obscure lyrics that can mean what you want them to mean. Barry Palmer once said that he felt that Mike likes the meanings of what he writes to be unclear, to keep things a little mysterious (and Mike's answers to questions about the meanings of lyrics tended to be vague, with questions like "Does is mean this...?" tending to be answered with an enigmatic "It could do..."). It seems to me that he's trying to create more of an atmosphere with the words rather than make a reference to anything particularly specific. Mike has made Christian references in his lyrics before now (though I'd not include The Time has Come amongst those...you'll find my thoughts on that in another forum), but claims to follow his own set of beliefs in preference to any organised religion, which for me would put a question mark over any reference to the watchtower society, but it's an interesting suggestion and you never know... There's some evidence which suggests that Mike owned the painting that forms the cover for Crises before the album was recorded - it's possible that the lyrics were simply written to describe the painting, perhaps because he had it in mind for the cover, or perhaps because he was stuck for inspiration and tried describing the picture as a kind of exercise to get his thoughts going. Back to top

oblique Group: Members Posts: 411 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: June 02 2002, 03:43 Well, it was just a wild guess. And we all know that Mike doesn't care what we think of him, so he just make some statements that spontaniously come to him... Sometimes I suspect him of not even knowing what he's talking about... -------------- "While we are alive we should sit among colored lights and taste good wines, and discuss our adventures in far places; when we are dead, the opportunity is past." - Jack Vance Back to top

Bonsignore Group: Members Posts: 66 Joined: Nov. 2003 Posted: Dec. 12 2003, 16:46 Quote (jael @ June 02 2002, 03:43) Sometimes I suspect him of not even knowing what he's talking about...  As long as his lyrics sound good and add to the overall picture, I don't care what he's singing about... Back to top

Rileman Group: Members Posts: 93 Joined: Jan. 2004 Posted: Jan. 21 2004, 05:05 I think that 'the watcher' means the suffering person who is living in a crisis. 'The tower', the dark, scary tower on the cover of the album, means the crisis. 'The watcher' is waiting, helpless, hour by hour. He have tried to get the crisis away, but he failed, and now, there is nothing more he can do. Just waiting...to see if time will take the crisis away. That's my thoughts about the lyrics in 'Crises'. -------------- It's not easy going where no-one goes, and no-one knows... Back to top

The Bell(end) Group: Members Posts: 1051 Joined: July 2005 Posted: Aug. 08 2005, 11:34 I have a story for Crises, at the start all is well, I don't know what exactly but at around 3 minutes a big problem arises, the poor man tries to get away from it and takes a peaceful walk, when he returns he is in limbo, static in thought and movement, pondering his problems, he gazes from his window for hours in a solid daydream and finds a risky solution, he convinces himself that its the only way to solve his problems and goes for it, the final climax is him completing his risky mission and at the end there is around half a minute of complete silence, this is when he collapses and breaks down inside, unable to move through worry. I didn't give any specific detail so that people can make up their own stories from this, this is just something to base things upon   -------------- When the night's on fi-ya, do you need love's arms to hold yew? :D Back to top

Tubularman Group: Awaiting Authorisation Posts: 2304 Joined: June 2004 Posted: Mar. 10 2006, 16:56 Quote (oblique @ May 31 2002, 18:49) So maybe the lyrics in Crises are refering to the Watchtower Society (a.k.a. Jehova's Witnesses). They are waiting for the rebirth of Christ and the end of days. he he.. not a bad idea   how did you know that? -------------- Mike Oldfield M i x e s https://soundcloud.com/tubularman Back to top

Nacho Group: Members Posts: 230 Joined: Feb. 2000 Posted: Mar. 11 2006, 05:58 From a message posted by Nicolas Delnatte in Amarok Mailing List: I put here some informations I had from Terry Ilott, who painted the cover fro "Crises" Terry Ilott first met Mike Oldfield in 1976, by a sculptor named Lynn Chadwick. At this time, Oldfield lived in the neighbourhood of Ilott's house. Ilott reports that he met once Stevie Winwood and other musicians at Mike's house, and that they all played music together (not Ilott, only the musicians). Before 1978, Terry Ilott painted a dozen of frames for a James Ballard's book 'The Drowned World'. Finally, the book or the paintings (?) were not published. In 1978, Mike Oldfield bought two of these pictures, one of them being something close to the cover of 'Crises'. In a tour program from 1980 or 1981, two pictures forming a dypthich were included (I don't know if there were the two frames bought or only one of them), the one wich would inspire Crises's cover, and another, sort of red vartation of the Crises covers. This picture used to be on a website that seems not to exist anymore. While working on 'Crises', Mike asked Ilott to paint a new frame close to the version of 1978, for the cover of the album. The following comes from a french interview : Mike Oldfield received the frame while working on the album. The frame was named 'Sea of Crises' (a place on the Moon - note : I think the Moon is reversed (correct english ?) on the frame or is it in the impression process that it was reverted ?). This name inspired some of the lyrics for the album. Yes it seems that some lyrics are linked to the cover : 'The watcher and the tower waiting...', 'Moonlight Shadow' and maybe more... Back to top

amazarak Group: Members Posts: 284 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: Mar. 11 2006, 13:54 Quote (oblique @ May 31 2002, 18:49) So maybe the lyrics in Crises are refering to the Watchtower Society (a.k.a. Jehova's Witnesses). They are waiting for the rebirth of Christ and the end of days. I am not completely shure, but as far as I remember, the name "Watchtower society" is based on the following fragment of the Holy Scriptures. It says about watcher and tower, maybe Mike got inspired by this too? amazarak -------------- Just hold your heading true Got to get your finest out Back to top

hiawatha Group: Members Posts: 2391 Joined: Mar. 2004 Posted: Mar. 11 2006, 16:00 Quote (amazarak @ Mar. 11 2006, 13:54) I am not completely shure, but as far as I remember, the name "Watchtower society" is based on the following fragment of the Holy Scriptures. It says about watcher and tower, maybe Mike got inspired by this too? Here is the line: ""Day after day, my lord, I stand on the watchtower; every night I stay at my post." In the Scripture, the watcher is ON the tower. In Crises, he is not watching from the tower, he is watching the tower itself. -------------- "In the land of the Dacotahs, Where the Falls of Minnehaha Flash and gleam among the oak-trees, Laugh and leap into the valley." - Song of Hiawatha Back to top

amazarak Group: Members Posts: 284 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: Mar. 12 2006, 04:54 Quote (hiawatha @ Mar. 11 2006, 22:00) In Crises, he is not watching from the tower, he is watching the tower itself. Certainly? I can't find a fragment of crises lirycs that suggest that. The towers are not to be watched, but to be a place to watch from. amazarak -------------- Just hold your heading true Got to get your finest out Back to top

hiawatha Group: Members Posts: 2391 Joined: Mar. 2004 Posted: Mar. 12 2006, 09:15 Quote (amazarak @ Mar. 12 2006, 04:54) Quote (hiawatha @ Mar. 11 2006, 22:00) In Crises, he is not watching from the tower, he is watching the tower itself. Certainly? I can't find a fragment of crises lirycs that suggest that. The towers are not to be watched, but to be a place to watch from. amazarak Look at the album cover art. -------------- "In the land of the Dacotahs, Where the Falls of Minnehaha Flash and gleam among the oak-trees, Laugh and leap into the valley." - Song of Hiawatha Back to top

amazarak Group: Members Posts: 284 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: Mar. 12 2006, 10:10 First of all, it's no "tower", but a scycraper. Secondly, in that "tower" there's one window lit, in a right-top corner, where resides the watcher who waits hour by hour BTW what a pointless discussion I think Mike's reaction whould be like "what a hell are they talking about!?" IMHO he just wrote a mysteriously sounding piece of text amazarak -------------- Just hold your heading true Got to get your finest out Back to top

hiawatha Group: Members Posts: 2391 Joined: Mar. 2004 Posted: Mar. 12 2006, 11:33 Quote (amazarak @ Mar. 12 2006, 10:10) First of all, it's no "tower", but a scycraper. Secondly, in that "tower" there's one window lit, in a right-top corner, where resides the watcher who waits hour by hour BTW what a pointless discussion I think Mike's reaction whould be like "what a hell are they talking about!?" IMHO he just wrote a mysteriously sounding piece of text amazarak A skyscraper is a kind of tower, anyway. -------------- "In the land of the Dacotahs, Where the Falls of Minnehaha Flash and gleam among the oak-trees, Laugh and leap into the valley." - Song of Hiawatha Back to top

Sysiyo Group: Members Posts: 245 Joined: Feb. 2003 Posted: Mar. 12 2006, 15:50 If the watcher is in the tower, then who the hell is the guy in the lower right-hand corner of the cover? For what it's worth, I've always thought the lyrics suggest that watcher is not in the tower but waiting together with the tower. Back to top

amazarak Group: Members Posts: 284 Joined: Mar. 2005 Posted: Mar. 13 2006, 05:10 Quote (Sysiyo @ Mar. 12 2006, 21:50) If the watcher is in the tower, then who the hell is the guy in the lower right-hand corner of the cover? I dunno, maybe he is someone who is being watched by the watcher I think that the connection between cover art and lyrics doesn't have to be so strict, though it is suggested by the watcher-and-tower clause on the back side of the cover. amazarak -------------- Just hold your heading true Got to get your finest out Back to top

hiawatha Group: Members Posts: 2391 Joined: Mar. 2004 Posted: Mar. 13 2006, 08:04 The cover always reminded me a little of the light in the tower on Kadath in this classic fantasy tale: Quote "Vaster and vaster loomed the tenebrous towers of the nighted castle above, and Carter could see that it was well-nigh blasphemous in its immensity. Well might its stones have been quarried by nameless workmen in that horrible gulf rent out of the rock in the hill pass north of Inquanok, for such was its size that a man on its threshold stood even as air out on the steps of earth's loftiest fortress. The pshent of unknown stars above the myriad domed turrets glowed with a sallow, sickly flare, so that a kind of twilight hung about the murky walls of slippery onyx. The pallid beacon was now seen to be a single shining window high up in one of the loftiest towers" - from "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath", H. P. Lovecraft. Also consider the Dark Tower of "The Lord of the Rings" and the other Dark Tower from Shakespeare/Browning/King. Then there is the Bob Dylan lyric for a song performed by Hendrix and others: Quote "All along the watchtower, princes kept the view While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too." Surely any discussion of "the watcher and the tower" needs to consider this song, "All Along the Watchtower", which is far and away  the most famous one about a watcher/tower/etc. Please see: http://www.reasontorock.com/tracks/watchtower.html -------------- "In the land of the Dacotahs, Where the Falls of Minnehaha Flash and gleam among the oak-trees, Laugh and leap into the valley." - Song of Hiawatha Back to top

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