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I really love this song and am listening to it now. It's just so inside my head atm. It's one of the few songs on the album where to me his voice is not overshadowed by the music in fact to me they compliment each other perfectly.
Thinks it is going to hold place with WYWTB and TTMAB my all time faves.
Yeah its an amazing song. One of the first that I heard of TTATS. I had it on repeat forever and a day.
Its just such a simple yet honest song.
Kat
I just love Darkness...it's one that got under my skin because I understood the place where Darren was coming from. It echoes some of the sentiments of Crash and Burn doesn't it? However bad things as long as you can cling onto hope there is always a way through.
The video conveys the feelings of utter isolation and loneliness so perfectly too. It's one of my favourite Darren songs ever.
Sharon
It's a brilliant portrait of confusion and alienation. And a brilliant introduction to the story he's been wanting to tell us for so long.
Darkness is chapter 1 in Darren?s personal journey of self discovery. This song sets the scene for the whole album and it?s a story of his life he?s been longing to tell. This is where his book of life falls open. It starts by illustrating this cold emotional empty desert in a landscape he?s been wandering alone in for so long. So long, in fact that he can?t remember for how long or when he first felt like this. He feels like a somnambulist, sleepwalking his way through life. It?s possible that this feeling even goes as far back as to his early childhood. Some memories can be so painful they are permanently blocked from one?s consciousness and maybe he?s erased them to cope with these unhappy thoughts and memories. Finally Darren plucks up the courage to admit how he?s really been feeling deep inside because at last he?s realised that in order to heal you have to face up to these feelings and deal with them to move on in your life. It?s pretty confessional and there?s a longing to recapture those elusive, rare, perfect moments of pure happiness that come too rarely in life and are gone in the blink of an eye. He?s desperately longing to hold on to those precious moments but all too often they are snatched away from us. He?s been existing but not really living in this emotional void. He feels as though he?s always waiting for happiness to happen and that nobody realised he was so unhappy and lonely. So he wrapped himself away from the world to protect himself from people and became invisible metaphorically speaking. He was seeing life in a distorted way from a shrouded existence. There is this on-going theme that no-one connects to him. It is easier to give than receive love. He found it difficult to accept whatever love was offered to him for whatever reason. He mistrusts people?s intentions. He now feels the need to take control and to face up to his demons before he can move forward and accept himself for who he truly is. Basically you can?t run away from yourself for ever - you discover that the monster you were running from is the monster in you. He needs to hold on to the love he does have.
There?s a line from Dangerous Liaisons ?those who are most worthy of love are seldom made happy by it? - a perfect description of Darren. He?s frightened not to have love in his life. He needs it to survive. All his life he?s felt disconnected. The music sets the emotional scene and starts like a single ray of light slowly emerging from the darkness. There?s a feeling of travelling, moving onwards through life. The music is ethereal, like a truth, an epiphany suddenly discovered. It?s like an awakening from a dormant emotionless state. Feels like he?s been nowhere emotionally and spiritually. He keeps on coming up against psychological barriers in people. Ever wonder why I never really truly connect, although my eyes are open, I could hold your gaze, but I never connected, never connected. He needs people to be open to connect with them to allow their souls to meet and recognise each other. There?s a searching, a longing, a desperation. Pleas to be heard and accepted. Maybe he?s been too kind and generous in the past for his own good and therefore taken for granted.
Finally he realises that happiness is a state of grace, not a state of bliss. That we don?t always recognise when we are truly happy. That ecstasy is transitory and that real happiness is acceptance. He has finally learned to accept what love there was in his life. He is choosing happiness rather than relying on other people to make him happy.
The thing that most struck me in this video is the fact that Darren seems to be hiding from himself as evidenced by the second persona hiding in the shadows, afraid to come into the light. The line you discover that the monster you were hiding from is the monster in you is actually personified by the second figure like a sort of Jekyll & Hyde character. Darren seems almost afraid of this whole other side to his character, like this alter ego has taken control of him (ie the 'popstar').
There's an air of not only decay and isolation but also an internal struggle going on within Darren himself. The listlessness, ennui, languid, restless nature of his body language evokes the feeling of a decision he is struggling to make or come to terms with.
The suitacase (Samsonite Bag) to me represents his whole life contained within it and the transient nature his life has become, never being able to properly settle in any one place for very long and the transient nature of his relationships. He seems almost afraid to open it at the beginning and ponders about what will happen if he does so. That suitcase is rather like a Pandora's Box of secrets that once opened will he be able to gain control of his life again or will chaos ensue?
The whole setting is one of being encased and enveloped in the Darkness. You can sense a real feeling of depression and isolation and that his world (ie hotel room) is closing in on him. No connections or communications work properly and the feeling of frustration at never being able to connect is very real. I can hold your gaze, but I never connected, never onnected....there's no-one for him to turn to for advice and guidance about what he should do and he realises that the only person who can help him is himself. For a split second it feels as though he could in fact be contemplating suicide but the thought disgusts him, so he moves on from that.
At last he summons up the strength to face his demons and fears and drops to his knees as if in prayer, pleading to a higher spiritual entity for some guidance. He then decides to confront himself and opens the suitcase. In doing so, he releases all the fears within himself and allows the light (love and truth) into his life.
To me this infers that we become the very thing we are most terrified of becoming if we don't learn to overcome our own fears and demons. It's one of the hardest things to achieve in life.
Janie xx
In a word - WOW!!! Janie you know how impressed I always am by your words, and that was sensational. I'm not sure there's anything to add to that, but I can say it's the sort of in-depth discussion of the album that I've been longing for! Thank you.
Sharon X
Wow Janie, I loved reading that. I could never express myself the way you do in writing or in speaking. Cheers for that. [img]smile.gif[/img]
<font size="3" face="Tempus sans ITC, Papyrus,Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">^^ echoes that sentiment!Quote:
Originally posted by sharonlk:
In a word - WOW!!! Sharon X
I have to say I am totally in love with Dublin Sky atm.
Gosh its just so damm sad. I love love the lines " I felt your slipping fingers, I saw you change your mind" and I love the " how many ways can I study the playback"
It really gets to me. Its a bloody sad song.
Janie I loved your description of darkness!!
Kat
Thanks for your kind words guys. Darkness really speaks to me.
Janie xx
[senior moment]I dunno how I missed this thread...[/senior moment] [img]redface.gif[/img]
Janie, you sum things up beautifully and your interpretations of his songs are simply awe inspiring. Kudos to you hun. [img]graemlins/girl_hug.gif[/img]
Darkness really is a great song - it's not my fave track on TTATS but it's up there. [img]smile.gif[/img]