STARGAZER - How I see the story

[Serpens Mercurialis]

It's been a long talk on Stargazer and I've seen people imagining the characters and the scene and the tower in detail, but the fact is I never saw the story the way they all do, until someone explained it's about a wizard who makes people slaves to build a tower... This amazed me and made me rethink the lyrics! Anyway, here's my version:

The first thing that struck me was the love for the wizard I could clearly hear in Ronnie's voice and lyrics:
- "High noon Of I'd sell my soul for water ...... There's no sun in the shadow of the wizard" I imagined him (the narrator) protected by the wizard's shadow, hidden from the tormenting sun, which means the wizard is a good presence in the field;
- "see how he glides while he's lighter than air" - this detailed description is also made by someone who's fascinated about the wizard, his qualities and the way he moves/ flies/ glides. He's in an act of contemplation. How many lyricists in rock had chosen to give a description of a wizard's moves and consistency? You just don't do that unless you're fascinated.
- "Where is your star?" He's anxious, curious, interrogative, interested in anything the wizard does or sees;
- "I believe, yes, I believe" I've taken it as an afirmation of the man's faith in wizards, in their flying qualities, in the stars (in magic, generally speaking); those "I believe"s just blew my mind, just the most religiously-convincing lines I've ever heard from a singer!
- "just to see him fly so many die" I took it as an expression of strong desire ("I'd die to", as equal to "I'd kill to", for ex; it might not be accurate as an English expression, but in my language it is;) then, the "whips and chains" seemed to be, metaphorically, the hard obstacles and the price you pay to fulfill your dream; but I didn't think the song is about slaves forced to build a tower, I just thought it's about people who are aware of the sacrifices they have to made for their dream; seeing a wizard fly is, after all, a miracle. It doesn't happen every day. So they're all into it, they all WANT to build the tower; then "we feel our time has arrived": the time is close for their mutual dream come true, so again, they're all in the same dream.

There is, however, a problem. What our hero (in my version) doesn't realize at first is that - it's not his dream. It's somebody else's. And, no matter how fascinating, he suffers from that. Therefore the confusion - "We don't know why"; "But why ..... did so many die?". Therefore the falling of the wizard. As the wizard falls, the dream comes to an end and the hero "awakes", metaphorically, to realize he's been somehow bewitched and trapped into somebody else's dream (and we could use the lyrics from ALITB: "just a crezy dream, reaching for somebody's star"). This is the pain he has to face now: the price he paid, in years, effort, "flesh and bones", for a fake ideal. It's a tough moment, but he's awake now. He's "going home" (to himself, to his own dreams), and he can do that because the spell is gone ("he give me back MY WILL"). From now on it's his will that matters. He's still hurt and confused, still passive, not knowing what to do with himself ("Take me back"), but "Look there, on the horizon"... There's hope for him, he can "see a rainbow rising". This is a new beginning for him. He may not see his own star, but he can see the rainbow even if "his eyes are bleeding"...

His struggle to go back "home" (to himself) is told in the next song... Not much action here, but again a detailed description. Not of the wizard this time. The addiction, the spell, the domination of the wizard, or how do you want to call it seems to be over. He feels emptiness, loneliness, but he now has "the key" and sees his way home, beautifully symbolized by a light in the black.


This is, I think, the story of how someone who's powerful enough can interfere with your will - and about a hero's struggle of awakening and becoming himself. This is a story about magic, about initiation, about one's highest goal in life - being able to "reach his own star", stay in his own dream, find himself, build himself.

[berserkur]

Very interesting interpretation.

[IRON-MaN]

Yes , really enjoyed reading your interpertation , thank you !
somehow your intepertation completed my own vision of the song !
ive already wrote an old interpertation around 8 years back !
ive posted a link before, yet people seemed to be lazy ...
iam posting it here yet i hope people would undertstand that was pretty young when i wrote that , so please dont mind my sloppy writings in many parts ,iam trying to update it within a new context
with some additional ideas and thoughts !

The Interpertations have been taken from an article written all over the Rainbow Rising album ....

*****************

The Conceptual epics Stargazer and Light in the black starts off with a simple story a thousands years back where an evil Egyptian wizard seeks to build a tower to reach to the one star he personally believes would give him the absolute power and magic to take over the world! The Stargazer gathers thousands of slaves from all over the world in order to build his dream and tower!

The songs begins from the thoughts and mouth of a SLAVE, who was taken from his home and land ,bought to work and suffer to build the tower of stone ,it has been many years since he was stolen from his home and the one thing that keeps his soul breathing is that his hoping and willing to get back home someday ,someway!

Ritchie Blackmore ,once again proves his talented and self favorite musical direction giving out the eastern sound he always topped when performing ! since the song appears to be in the east land and since the whole story seems to lay in the desert , Blackmore focused and concentrated to give out a very special sound and riff in order to give the sense and feeling of the song which he totally succeeded in doing so ! yet the more astonishing thing is how he lead his partners and band members to give out the final output of the song ,giving out one straight big impact of complexes sounds of his band members!

The song starts with one of the best drums intros of all time performed widely by the drum monster Cozy Powell .From the drum intro into the main Riff of the song where the band seemed to more tight ,strict and solid ,giving out more complex and professional musical eastern sound highly written, composed and arranged by Ritchie Blackmore!

"High noon, oh I'd sell my soul for water Nine years worth of breakin' my back"

It has been 9 years and the tower of stone is almost over, the slave looks at the tower some kind of proud that he defeated all the difficulties he faced ,looking at the tower getting higher ,the slave is so happy that he resisted and caught up hard with his flesh and blood on his life time dream !

"There's no sun in the shadow of the wizard See how he glides, why he's lighter than air? Oh I see his face!"

The wizard has came to the working arena by himself, taking a look at the workers and tower as usual ,our slave hero looking for a place with a shadow where he can have a rest only for a couple of minutes ,there he see the huge shadow right close to him ,suddenly he sees the wizard, through out all this past years ,he haven’t saw the wizard ever, this was his first time ,the wizard looking at the slaves, suddenly his eyes fell on our hero ,both at a second had a furious eye contact!!!

The song seems to slide into the famous chorus where band seems to break into very complex eastern sound, as its clear enough that Blackmore uses musical minor scales in order to give out the best eastern sound his band could give out to the song ,in order to be able to express the song in the best way ,giving out the exact feeling and sound the songs needs!

"Where is your star? Is it far, is it far, is it far? When do we leave? I believe, yes, I believe"

The slave shouts within himself with anger ,looking at the wizard, asking him where is his star ! when its going to be over? is it still much more than this ? he shouts again within himself ,when its going to be over ? are u going to set us free? anyway ,no matter what happens the slave would fight and resist ,cause simply he believes that one day his going to get back home, when ? well its only a matter of time ,in specific test of time.

"In the heat and the rain With the whips and chains To see him fly So many die We built a tower of stone With our flesh and bone Just to see him fly But don't know why Now where do we go?"

The slave looking at the tower and going back through his memory ,remembering this past hard years ,remembering the hot ,hard ,dry working days ,in conflict he gets the winter rainy days, remembering and wondering how he resisted the suffer through out all this years, remembering how many friends he lost during those years ,knowing that this tower is not only built of stone ,but in fact built of the sweat ,tears and blood of his friends and himself of course, Many people died far away from their homes and family and they don’t even know what did they die for? and even if its over, will they ever get back home someday ?

The band seems to have awesome leading part by Blackmore with his mind blowing guitar riff and leading parts along with Ronnie James Dio who was totally successful expressing the slaves anger , fear ,dream and pain through his powerful and melodic voice, yet Blackmore seemed to be much more musically matured than his purple years having an orchestral background rhythm tic sound to the band all over the tune in addition of course to the classical rhythm performance of Tony, Cozy and Jimmy!

The band switches again to the original song riff and 2nd verse.

"Hot wind, moving fast across the desert We feel that our time has arrived The world spins, while we put his dream together A tower of stone to take him straight to the sky Oh I see his face!"

Its the hot, dry summer again and although its pretty hard to work in such a weather, the slaves are working hard ,as they felt that the tower was almost over and that they fulfilled the wizard dream !The band enters the 2nd chorus .

" Where is your star? Is it far, is it far, is it far? When do we leave? Hey, I believe, I believe, In the heat and the rain With the whips and chains Just to see him fly Too many die We built a tower of stone With our flesh and bone To see him fly But we don't know why Ooh, now where do we go"

The 2nd Chorus ends and then Ritchie Blackmore drifts the song into an almost 2 minutes sliding solo where he performs one of his finest ,well built and arranged solos of all time!
Once again Blackmore proves that his the most unique and phenomenal rock guitarist to ever used a slide, as he gives out a very deep, melodic and touching solo only using his slide! Moreover the solo seemed to be very straight to the point, giving more deep expression to the conceptual and mood direction of song and also throwing off tons of unlimited emotions and feelings from his guitar solo proving why the man in black is yet to be the most expressive musician and guitarist of all time!

The highly arranged orchestra gets to give the solo, band and song a 3rd musical dimension delivering a very high complex rhythm tic sound to the overall sound!
With a great heavy and solid drum break the solo ends and the song gets into the 3rd and final verse of the song!

The tower seems to be finished and dream of the wizard is moments from becoming true!

"All eyes see the figure of the wizard as he climbs to the top of the world No sound, as he falls instead of rising Time standing still, then there's blood on the sand Oh I see his face!"

All the kingdom watching the wizard has he climbs the tower high above the ground ,eyes of hatred all over the place ,from the eyes of people which have suffered a lot to get this tower built, finally the wizard makes it to the top ,cant believe himself, the wizard stood at the edge of the tower, looking downward on to his people and slaves laughing in hallucination ,he cant believe that he fulfilled his dream and that by the night his going to be the ruler of the world. Suddenly the wizard slips over the edge of the tower!!! the wizard falls on the down ,his blood spread all over the golden desert ,no sound ,no voice ,no whispers , nothing!!! thousands of people just staring at who used to be their ruler, they cant believe what happened, the slaves cant believe that all these years to fulfill the wizard's dream collapsed in one hell of a second! The slave through his tears looking at the wizard's body starts asking him again...

The band enters their 3rd ,last and final chorus .

"Where was your star? Was it far, was it far When did we leave? We believed, we believed, we believed"


and once again his memory flashes back in a second , remembering all the things he his been through ...

" In heat and rain With the whips and chains To see him fly So many died We built a tower of stone With our flesh and bone To see him fly But why In all the rain With all the chains Did so many die Just to see him fly"

As the song seems to be drifted to a near end ,Blackmore musical geniuses starts to appear once again as the lead and rhythm parts seems to be more powerful and edgy that the past the chorus ,the orchestral sound rises over this part and seems much louder than it was at from the beginning of the song!

The slave moves towards the wizard body ,the wizard eyes wide open ,with blood slipping off his mouth and all over his face, the slave shouts in his face....

"Look at my flesh and bone Now, look, look, look, look, Look at the tower of stone"

the slave is furious ,he is shouting at the stunning face of the wizard asking him to see what he have done to him and to similar slaves ,making them suffer and die ,just for a useless tower of stone, the slave still crying ,not for the death of the wizard, but for all the pain and suffer he have been through, only to build a tower of stone!

"I see a RAINBOW RISING Look there, on the horizon "

Through his tears the slave looks at the horizon and watches a RISING RAINBOW, and here we start to take a look at the album title RAINBOW RISING which means allot the song, the RISING RAINBOW here is symbol of many things,the rainbow is a symbol of the innocence, good and purification ,what more the rainbow is a symbol of hope, watching the rainbow high rising in the horizon ,reminded the slave of his dream, it energized him with the hope and will to get back home!

Once again Blackmore proves how so different and classical this album is by having a classical and conceptual artwork capturing the magical story and symbolism he and Dio tried to give out through the lyrics ,musical compositions and arrangements!

The slave screams!

"And I'm coming home, I'm coming home, I'm coming home"

He wont give up ,his nightmare is over and has to fight to get back home ,nothing is going to stand in his face, even time ,he don’t care anymore.....

The song seems to drift into a new direction as the orchestral sound seems to rises over and be take the leading part along with Dio.

" Time is standing still You, give back my will Ooh ooh ooh ooh Going home I'm going home" "My eyes are bleeding And my heart is lead ahead But it's not home But it's not home Ooh"

The slave is tearing blood he feels that nothing can stand in his way to get back home, but he still knows that his home is still far away ,and although his heart is lying there at his home, he knows that he might not make it ,but anyway he doesn’t want to die here ,cause he believes that this is isn’t his home and it will never be, he prefers to die trying to fulfill his dream .

"Going home I'm going home My eyes are bleeding And my heart is lead ahead But it's not home But it's not home"

The slave tries to encourage himself once again that his going back home...but still cant believe that he might not make it, looking back at the wizard, the slave starts to shout into the wizards face ,shouting furiously ....

"Take me back, take me back Back to my home ooh, ooh, ooh"

Its very obvious why Blackmore have chosen Ronnie to be the lead vocals of his own band ,as Ronnie's vocals on this song just sums it all ! the song drifts away with Dio's screams and orchestral sound ending one ,if not ,Blackmore's most complex, beautiful, melodic and powerful rock tunes arrangement and composition ever !

The classical Stargazer fades out and light in the black starts to shine out ! the song starts with a drum break followed by the song main guitar riff, the tempo seems quite faster than the previous classic ,yet the atmosphere and mood of the song seems to put the listener on the same track as Stargazer, thanks to the beautiful production of Martin Birch !the song actually starts where Stargazer ended, where the slave has escaped taking the opportunity of the mess that happened during the tragic death of the evil wizard...

"Can't forget his face,What a lonely place Has he really let us go?"

Lost within the endless desert, the slave's memory reminds him the evil wizard, he stares at the darkness around him ,still he cant believe that his nightmare is over, he cant believe his set free ,still he cant believe his on his way back home!

Blackmore's composition to the song was well arranged ,giving out a hard ,solid yet mystery sound that really fits the mood of the song ,and even more expresses the slaves situation more dark and deeply backed up by tough rythmatic lines from Bain ,Carey ,Cozy and Ronnie having a hard leading role expressing the slaves own thoughts and situation!

"All the time that's lost
What's the final cost
Will I really get away?"


The slave wonders ,after all the years he wasted ,after all the years of pain and misery ,will reach his dream ? will he really get away from all this evil he spent his live captured into?

"All my life it seems
Just a crazy dream
Reaching for somebody's star"

his life flashed through his mind wondering what was it all about ? nothing? just wasted his life time in building a tower of stone for the wizard to reach a star ? why the hell would he want to get to a star? the slave wondering why looks up to the sky ...watching the bighting Stars shining in the night and lighting the endless darkness his getting through ..

"Can't believe it all
Did he really fall
What to do now I don't know"

the slave seems not to be believe what have happened so far, he still cant realize the simple tragic death of the wizard, looking all around in the golden sea, he really wonders what to do ! he wants to get back home, but his simply lost !

The band gets into the chorus which makes the band shines moreover, as the band musical output seems to be one tight hard classical sound,Blackmore seems to lead this song to a more heavy metal direction than the previous classic!


"Something's called me back
There's a light in the black
and I´m ready to go
I'm coming home"

A voice in slaves mind echoes in his mind, asking him to come back home ,the SLAVE with anger wakes up ,wakes up from all the depression he have been through ,there is always hope, and he has nothin to lose. The light symbols to hope and to his dream while black represents the evil, depression and loss ,the slave screams "iam coming home!"

"Breathed the air before
Hear the thunder roar
Never knew it was for me"

The air & the thunder roar, represents the struggle within the slave himself., the deep struggle between hope and depression , the struggle between his life time dream and the fear of being lost ,the fear of not believing that he could really fulfill his dream ,cant still realize that he could!


"Like an open door
That you passed before
But you never had a key"

Through his life ,he was always looking down while watching his steps one after the other, never looked forward, he was never anxious or had the will to do something ,to fulfill a dream ,he was always lost ,never had something in mind to do never had any plans or dreams, just lived for nothing he had eyes but he never saw the truth of life ,he never knew what’s it all about ,but now he can see., he can see hope ,he can see what makes his life worth for ,he can see what he wants to get too now, only now he has reason to fight and live for....


"Something's called me back
There's a light in the black

I'm coming home, I'm coming home, yeah
I'm going back to my home"


The second chorus ends ,and the band flows in long musical field, where Ritchie Blackmore seemed to go beyond any musical limits ,showing off how tight ,technical ,brilliant and magical his band is , Tony Carey starts the journey with a long keyboard solo just proving his one of the top pest keyboard players in the genre ,moreover ending out his best keyboard efforts on such a remarkable classical album! As the keyboard ends the band gets into a one of the most complicated musical moments ever, having a huge break lead by Blackmore and over showed the powerful and unbelievable rhythmic tic Cozy Powell drumming on the album! Blackmore then enters a world of his own, proving its one of his finest moments ever in his career playing one of his most long, yet well arranged and beautiful solo's ever! Blackmore seems to have enough with his slide on this one and plays completely free handed this time! The solo ends with another solid, harsh band break, back into the main riff with Ronnie back on vocals!


"I'm going home, home, home
Going home, home, home
I'm coming back "

"Don't forget his face
What a lonely place
Did he really let us go

All the time that's lost
What's the final cost
Will I really get away?

All my life it seems
Just a crazy dream
Reaching for somebody's star"




Another days have been lost ,and his still lost ,still cant take off this nightmares his facing everyday and every night, still his wondering and asking himself what he have really wasted his life in ! still wondering if he will ever get to his home ,still wondering what the hell the star was worth for !? his still having this fight and combat, within himself, within his soul and mind......


"Something's called me back
Like a light in the black
Yes, I´m ready to go
I'm coming home, home, yeah"


At a certain day ,where the desert is dark ,endless dark ,the slave sat alone ,almost depressed and lost his dream ,he started to believe he wont ever get back home ,his lost in the desert and he no way to get out !suddenly he hears the same old voices he heard before ."HOME","HOME"the slave lies on his back on the soft desert sand ,staring at the stars, trying to regain his powerful spirit to succeeded his dream to finish what he always lived and fought for ,he takes a look at the stars shining the night and refilling the slaves spirit with more hope and courage ,as it shine ,as it lights the black and darkness surronded by him ,the darkness he was drifted too many years ago ,and fought with all his body and soul to get through it ,but still wonders will he ever will!

"I've got my way back home
To the sky
There in the sky
I see your star"


suddenly the slave's body shakes and his eyes light like diamonds in the dark, he found it ! he found the way to get through the evil and darkness, he found the way to get back home! ,he finally found the answer ,there up in the sky is his finally hope ,isn’t it ironic??? his going to follow the stars path to get back home! the stars which once took his lifetime and drifted him away from his people and home ,the same star is going to the way and hope to take him back home ,isn’t it a tragic? the slave rises his head up high to the sky ,there in the sky he spots a certain huge star, its the star that he decided to follow, and ironically he probably will never get to know that this specific star which is taking him straight back home ,is the same star the wizard wasted his life trying to get to!!!

[IRON-MaN]

Just wanted to point out , that Serpens Mercurialis
interpertation that the Slave and the others Belived in the wizard is probably what makes the most sense , since in the last verse he says " we belived , yes , we belived !"

Blackmore solo is a masterpiece of its own , i guess the first part of the solo expresses the scene where the huge crowd of people and slaves are watching the Wizard moving to the tower of stone in a mighty sacred crowning ceremony , the midpart is the same

midpart/ending part - the wizard starts climb the tower moving from a step to the other , rising higher and higher ( the music starts to build up the same ) and suddenly he slips and fall ( end part of the solo where it sounds as if something really drops from way high above ! very dramatic to say the very least !
truly one of Ritchie's finest moments ever !

If we listen carefully to the Light In the Black uptempo beat , its just perfect expressing the rush and escape of the slave as well ....

Serpens Mercurialis , ive already started writing a more professional storyline /article concerning the Stargazer/Light In the Black interpertations(talking about my intepertation) , and if you dont mind , i would love to add some of your ideas and interpetations to the article , of course you will be fully credited for that as well !

[Jezza001]

i really enjoy reading things like this, that was a very interesting and well thought out interpretation, thanks for posting

[Serpens Mercurialis]

Iron Man,

That was a great article, from a musica, conceprual and "directorial" point of view, thanks for posting it.

I'm glad we agree about the slaves believing, at one point in the wizard's dream.

Sure you can use ideas from my post!... Well, those who fit in the slave/ruler version. My version is actually a translation of the song in magical terms (wizard as in today/crowleyan acceptance of the term; one's WILL as being the most important thing to find etc.)

Stargazer is fascinating to discuss anyway! I Adore it!!

[GEORDIE]

All this talk about the meaning of Stargazer has really made me appreciate the song as a stunning piece of art!!

[IRON-MaN]

[Serpens Mercurialis]

Please do post any new ideas!

Dio's universe is fascinating and his voice, music and lyrics and inseparable, the voice re-telling the story in all its accents and his lyrics being pure music!

[Reem]

i think "light in balck"is continuing the story of "stargazer"because well, the wizard fell of the tower and he sings in "light in black" the following: "can't belive it all,did he really fall,what to do now i don't know..."

[Serpens Mercurialis]

Yes, it is. I don't think any of us said anything differently...

[Hene777]

...pieces of art, these two songs are. Really, wow. It shows us that how fantastic songwriter Dio is.
_________________
It goes on and on. On and on it's Heaven and Hell all your life.

[Reem]

[Hene777]

[Reem]