About "In the sky"

[Lestroid]

Well Love Expresso, I've enjoyed participating in these song threads.  In this case, I've grown to love this song that I previously just skipped over.  Mark's songs can be challenging that way - you have to listen and think while you feel the music wash over you a few times before you really get them.  And then they don't leave you...

[yontwocrows]

The narrator is Mark and the "soul balladeer" is his inner song writer, who seems to function independently, free from the things that hold him here on dry land.  The verse about the "hard bitten stranger" seems to be the audience or at least that part of the audience that, like me, just ignores the song. 

Unfortunately I'm not convinced. The theory about "inner song writer" i like. BUT:

And the hard-bitten stranger as deaf as a post
who stands at the fire where a poet

[nababo]

After reading all the posts here, firstly I got more confused than in the begining of the thread. I put aside some of my initial thoughts about the lyrics and, reading again all your opinions, I got to a conclusion, with some possibilities. And I must say I drank in many thoughts of you, so most of why I'll write it's not original.

MK pays homage to a poet or someone who spreads poetry - like a singer, fir instance. It can also be a certain person, unaware to us, or just the "idea of a poet", the whole world of poetry makers. I tend to think that is a specific person.

A poet is an artist. Any artist aims to the change of the situation, or at least points out what is wrong inthe world. As any artist, a poet must connect or reconnect with himself to understand the world outside. So he travels and the destination is his own mind. The songs captures the moment in which he comes back. When he returns, he's ready to point the world that some things are wrong.

Some imagery of the lyrics also puts the poet as a visionary, a pioneer. To many, this is a sign of madness. And one possible reaction is to deny or try not to listen to what it's been said. Nevertheless, the future is on the side ofe those who think ahead, and this generates light over the world.

[Love Expresso]

I have been listening to the song for a while now and the words "sound of guitars" and the "songs" are irritating me still and make it not too easy to accept the last few ideas very easy, although I wrote something different a few hours ago..

What about this: Back to Kitty: She's a writer (a poet?), has published her third novel last year. So maybe it's about being creative and the ability to just let it go, after having created it, giving it (novel, song) away to others now? The first verses could just show how MK admires her for going so deep into imagination and the creative process, and now the novel is ready, she's coming home, back to reality, in a way.

The hardbitten stranger, deaf as a post, could be the critic/reviewer or the public in general. After a long and adventurous creative process, it may be not too easy to let the produced art (novel/song) go - also to expose it to critics. Mark is more experienced in dealing with criticism after all those years. And she has taken the big adventure of writing this or these books, unafraid and so on, and the hardbitten stranger, deaf as a post, he can't know the story, can't feel the pain, stands at the fire, where the poet's dreams roast... Mark would never call himself a poet, so maybe it's about that.
We learned that Let It All Go is about a similar theme, so maybe about an artist that has to learn to be confident in what he does - and Kitty was just my first example. Mark's songs always are generally applicable. Why not thinking of one of his sons, doing his first steps into song writing...

The songs and the laughter at the end could come from him trying to comfort her, trying to console the hurt writer's soul, because of love. The vagabond wind might imply that not only songs and laughter, but also the words of the critics are flying away in the sky and therefore are not important. The music of this song shows that it has a deep warm and loving theme, whatever the explicit lyrics are about.

Phew.

I am sure I will come up with another theory about this tomorrow. This song is very evil in a way. And I wish MK would give a small hint that would help us to understand it. he often did it in the past. For example the mentioning of Sonny Liston made it very easy for me to understand and love Today Is Okay. Patrick O'Brians name helped a lot to understand Haul Away. Why not a single little hint for us? 

LE

[yontwocrows]

Mark would never call himself a poet

That's a point! Interesting input your whole post, i've to think about it. 

I'm listening to the song as well. and yes, it's warm; it's love; it's infinity; it's somehow consoling... 

[binone]

In an ideal world, Mark would register himself in AMIT, and answer all this questions. I'm sure he would enjoy doing, because is for the meaning, the interpretation of the lirics, not for the music or the riffs.

But we are in a real world.

[yontwocrows]

 

[dmg]

In an ideal world, Mark would register himself in AMIT, and answer all this questions. I'm sure he would enjoy doing, because is for the meaning, the interpretation of the lirics, not for the music or the riffs.

But we are in a real world.

I don't know...I wouldn't get away with 99% of the comments I make!

[joanzimm]

I really enjoyed reading all of your interpretations of this song.  I always thought this song was about MK's wife, Kitty.  For me, it just sounds full of love at the end whe she comes back home to the family after her journey of being away writing her novel.  Too simplistic, I know, but I always envision MK with his happy family at the end of this song. 

[ingridswing]

In an ideal world, Mark would register himself in AMIT, and answer all this questions. I'm sure he would enjoy doing, because is for the meaning, the interpretation of the lirics, not for the music or the riffs.

But we are in a real world.

I don't know...I wouldn't get away with 99% of the comments I make!

As he said in Bridport again (and said earlier) he doesn't discuss the meaning of the songs. It's own interpretation.
But what a nice world it would be if he would ;-)

[yontwocrows]

'

I really enjoyed reading all of your interpretations of this song.  I always thought this song was about MK's wife, Kitty.  For me, it just sounds full of love at the end whe she comes back home to the family after her journey of being away writing her novel.  Too simplistic, I know, but I always envision MK with his happy family at the end of this song.

I love simplicity and simple answers in connection with lyrics, so your reading is not excluded. My first reading I've trashed, thanks LE 
But there are many parts i can't understand if you're theory is right. (The verse with the stranger i don't get / and also the guitar sound and that songs are carried away in the sky (=last line and title)) So, if you have suggestions how to read it, plz. We have to try a little bit. At the moment i've the feeling that we are swimming in a kind of uncertainty. But patience, we have time!

[dmg]

In an ideal world, Mark would register himself in AMIT, and answer all this questions. I'm sure he would enjoy doing, because is for the meaning, the interpretation of the lirics, not for the music or the riffs.

But we are in a real world.

I don't know...I wouldn't get away with 99% of the comments I make!

As he said in Bridport again (and said earlier) he doesn't discuss the meaning of the songs. It's own interpretation.
But what a nice world it would be if he would ;-)

I think it's because we all have our own interpretations of them and they can have mean different things to each of us, perhaps even in a personal way.  Maybe these threads are rendered pointless in view of this;  I think one can overanalyse a songs' meaning.  To a point we can discuss where the idea came from and what some of the lyrics mean but at the end of the day the song as a whole is always open to interpretation and that, I think, is why Mark doesn't discuss this.

[foma]

"New tune, we gonna attempt a new tune. This one is called a Quality Shoe, I don't know why, but there it is".

It depends on the song, I think. Storytelling MK songs is pretty clear even for me, non-English speaker. As long as this just a story, it's clear, but when ambiguity and poetic complexity begin to appear

[joanzimm]

'

I really enjoyed reading all of your interpretations of this song.  I always thought this song was about MK's wife, Kitty.  For me, it just sounds full of love at the end whe she comes back home to the family after her journey of being away writing her novel.  Too simplistic, I know, but I always envision MK with his happy family at the end of this song.

I love simplicity and simple answers in connection with lyrics, so your reading is not excluded. My first reading I've trashed, thanks LE 
But there are many parts i can't understand if you're theory is right. (The verse with the stranger i don't get / and also the guitar sound and that songs are carried away in the sky (=last line and title)) So, if you have suggestions how to read it, plz. We have to try a little bit. At the moment i've the feeling that we are swimming in a kind of uncertainty. But patience, we have time!

The stranger verse could be the critics (who are deaf as a post) of Kitty's (the poet) work.   I envision Kitty being compared to a sailboat coming in on the tides returning home to the sound of guitars, MK. 

Sounds way too personal for MK though.

[yontwocrows]

I think it's because we all have our own interpretations of them and they can have mean different things to each of us, perhaps even in a personal way.  Maybe these threads are rendered pointless in view of this;  I think one can overanalyse a songs' meaning.  To a point we can discuss where the idea came from and what some of the lyrics mean but at the end of the day the song as a whole is always open to interpretation and that, I think, is why Mark doesn't discuss this.

Of course, you're right with everything, dmg. But what is a great advantage of this forum, that there are many interested and clever members, who like to think about the meanings. And who are interested in that exchange. I know that there are songs that will stay unclear to a certain point. "In the sky" is a good example for this. But then i'm even more interested what other listeners are thinking about it. And also "In the sky" becomes in that way  clearer to me - in very little steps. For me it's not only about a perfect understanding, but also a way to reflect upon the own life. And it was a good motivation to listen to the song for many times and to get very deep into it. Without this discussion i wouldn't have paid too much attention to it. But now: I love this song! And the variety of thoughts it produces! And the documentation of it!
And another advantage: the threads keep staying. Who knows? In ten years we get the decisive hint and the songs become clearer. Then we've a good documentation about our way of thinking and the way it was supposed to be. Could be funny and interesting.