From: owner-seven-seas@smoe.org (seven-seas-moderated-digest)
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Subject: seven-seas-moderated-digest V1 #34
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seven-seas-moderated-digest Thursday, November 7 2002 Volume 01 : Number 034




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Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2002 19:34:14 -0600
From: Amy Moseley Rupp <amyr@jump.net>
Subject: seven-seas-moderated My love affair with "Ocean Rain"

Right, any wiseass who takes this to mean literally playing round with 
the record / CD / cassette will be completely out of line and 
intentionally wide of the mark, but....

I fell instantly in love with the song "Ocean Rain" the very first time 
I heard it.  I remember it distinctly, because I leaned forward in my 
seat and turned the volume up, straining to hear the beginning.

I just now returned to the computer after listening to it twice -- the 
second time lying on my back on the wooden floor, with my toes against 
the wooden enclosure that holds the stereo.

I listen to this song with my eyes closed and my chin lifted as if the 
song is kissing me.  I feel the bass pulse through the floor and my toes

like a lover's heartbeat.  The song begins slowly and austerely, the 
solo cello like a midnight meeting in a beautiful garden.  I can begin 
to cry if I'm overburdened, and as the tears course down my cheeks, Ian 
begins singing, and his voice is the strongest yet gentlest of 
caresses.  The ache of desire begins in my throat, the ache of 
unrequited love, or a love at an unreachable distance.  The drums come 
in, and my pulse quickens as the strings swell all round, and the guitar

begins its song to my body and Ian renews his plea for understanding and

shelter.

The first bridge at about 2:40 begins with an ecstatic burst of 
cymbals -- like kissing someone I have long loved, for the first time, 
and the song puts its arms round my waist at 2:53 with Will's guitar 
solo.  The music continues, achingly familiar by now but building in 
intensity, and on the last verse, the chords suddenly resolve and Ian's 
voice is breathy and catches, "screaming from beneath your waves...." 
and my throat sings out the same melody, with the second climax hitting 
an even higher note, then an exhausted Ian half-murmuring the closing 
lines to the song and all instruments and vocals ending in collapse a 
little over five minutes from the song's beginning.

I really cannot put into words how this song makes me feel, though I 
have tried.  It's not at all dirty, but beautiful and moving and 
wondrous.  A love affair with pure sound -- what every artist may try to

achieve but almost all fail.

This is why I love Echo and the Bunnymen.



======================================
The Official Seven-Seas Web Page.
www.bunnymenlist.com

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End of seven-seas-moderated-digest V1 #34
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