Stargazer & Light In the Black - The Interpertations !

[IRON-MaN]

Stargazer & Light in the Black

Somewhere in time, when the world was milk and honey, and the magic was strong and true, along came the mighty Wizard, a Stargazer with such knowledge and power the ancient lands of the Pharaohs have never witnessed before. For years he had those vision and dreams, ,gathering the meek inheriting his kingdom of gold from everywhere in order to build the tower of stone, a tower which would take him up to the sky to that one star, a star that would fill his greed and passion for power and glory , from there on the story begins , a story of a slave who have left his home , people and own dreams in order to fulfill the wizards overwhelming possession for exceptional power.

• Cozy Powell’s drum break and the band blasting into the main eastern riff Indicates the timeline and place, a thousand of years back …

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

Through out all those years of enslavement and suffering the slave miraculously still managed to survive ,its been “Nine years” of blood , sweat and tears to build and construct the enormous tower of stone yet , he truly believes that the purpose and reason are just “worth of breakin” his back .


"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 lines shows the how the slave/narrator and the other slaves were overwhelmed and disillusioned by the Wizard presence since the slave claims that “there’s no sun” in the shadow of the wizard, as if his presence re-fuels their power and passion of believing in what they’ve been enslaved for, dying and suffering for the last 9 nine year. Indicating that his field presence is such a spiritual uplifting one! Since the slaves are so disillusioned to believe that the wizards shadow ‘power/magic’ can keep them away from the tormenting sun. The wizard seemed to wickedly over use his power and knowledge of magic within the working field keeping in mind the deep impact of his appearance on his enslaved souls.
"Oh I see his face!” Seeing the wizards face, the Slave inner conscious seems to fight back his bewitched and ripped mind questioning why all those years of blood, sweat and tears were worth the suffering, a voice screams from the inside

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

Ronnie’s voice expressing the narrators seems to hold a complex mixture of anxious, curious, interrogative , and hidden anger towards the wizard , wondering “ where is your star ?” questioning “ is it far ?” , “ when do we leave ?” when will it all end ? the slave strength and spirit seems to weakens yet still tries to convince himself that he still truly believe in what he have been doing “ I believe yes , I believe”

A stream of memories starts attacking the slave’s mind

"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?"

Metaphorically, the terms “heat and the rain” seems to present the timeline factor building the tower of stone while “whips and chains” symbolizes all the obstacles and the price they had to pay in order to fulfill their dream (which they thought & believe it was their own) while the truth is that they’ve been overpowered, mind wise to deeply believe that!

“We built the tower of stone with our flesh and bone just to see him fly” and “But we don’t know why?” reflects the slave’s blind faith into the Wizard’s power, magic and dream “Now where do we go?" again, the slave seems to be within an inner fear contradiction between what he always thought is true and believed with his heart while on the other hand he cannot bear questioning what’s coming after, his been wasting all his life to build the tower of stone blindingly following his faith into the wizard magic , yet what’s beyond wizard seeks his star ?

"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!"

With the tower of stone almost completed the slaves feels that their “time has arrived” “The world spins, while we put his dream together” spinning here symbolizes the day, nights and years that have passed over the slaves in order to get the tower constructed.

"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 is followed by one of Ritchie’s most expressive and dramatic solos in his long spanning music career –

• The Beginning of the solo starting from the minute 3:22 represents the scene were thousands of people and slaves are gathered for the moment that they’ve been all looking for , the tower is completed and the wizard is moving surrounded by a royal ceremony to his beloved tower.

• 3:50 – He reaches the tower, looks at the enormous crowd, looks back up high again to the sky where the end of the huge architectural construction seems to never end.

• 4:35 – The conducted orchestra rise along in the mixing with the band reflecting the wizard’s greed , passion and curiosity moving up on the towers staircase to reach up to his star ‘ dream’ .

• 5:00 – The complex music sound and drama reaches its climatic pick when the Wizard reaches the top of the tower filled with his crazy , delusional and power hungry minded thoughts attempting to fly and reach out to his star , the wizard instead falls from the “top of the world” straight to the ground ( Ritchie abstracts this scene perfectly at the very end of his solo , reflecting the fall of the wizard )


"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!"

Deadly silence hits the field as the thoughts and believes of the crowd and slaves through all these years of suffering shatters into little pieces with the fall of their ruler. As the wizard falls and “then there's blood on the sand” the dream comes to an end and the slave awakes metaphorically, to realize he's been somehow fooled into the wizard’s own magic and dream’! With all the chaos consequences to the death of the wizard and the slave realizing that his mind have been fogged by false believes he moves to the dead body of the wizard and with all the anger, hatred and pain screams at the wizards in a fury hallucination.

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

And remembers…

" 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"

The Slave grabs the body of the wizard and furiously starts screaming to the stunned deadly face "Look at my flesh and bone Now, look, look, look, look, Look at the tower of stone" the slaves unconsciously asks the wizard to look at all the suffering he have caused to him by enslaving them for all those years to construct his tower.

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

With the spell broken and his disillusioned believes shattered, through out all his emptiness, loneliness and although he might haven’t found his own star ‘dream’ yet , he sees hope coming through he sees a” RAINBOW RISING” on the horizon with the rainbow metaphorically symbolizing hope and a truly new beginning for himself.

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

With heart full of passion and true will to get back home ‘find himself’

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

With tears and frustration he shouts at the wizard’s dead body asking him to take him back home , back to his people & family he have been abducted from all those years , metaphorically , the word home symbolizes the slaves own self, his own dreams .


“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 have finally awaken from the wizard spell, now its up to his own will to decide what to do “give back my will “.Still in confused, frustrated and hurt for all those wasted years his “eyes are bleeding” and “heart is lead ahead” yet he finally realizes the ultimate truth that “it's not home” its not his dream and actually never was his own.

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

The Slave still tore between his past, present and future, a stream of contradicting thoughts and feelings seems to flow through his mind and soul, he wants to get back to himself, to his own dream ‘Home’ yet traces of the broken spell and his disbeliefs to what have happened to his ruler still sends the shivers down his spine .The song fades out leading to seconds classic cut of our epic Light In The Black.

• Cozy Powell drum breaks and the band attacks with a hard driving riff

• The up-tempo beat of the song indicates that the slave have finally broke free of the wizards spell , escaping from the tower field rushing into the desert in order to get back to his own home .

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

Although he had finally escaped , the slave “cant forget his face” and looks around in the plain desert wondering “what a lonely place” Still cant believe that its all over and that his totally free from the wizards control and illusions his disturbed mind questions “Has 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"


Still feeling hurt and despaired, he regrets "All the time that's lost” mocking in irony the “final cost” , in fear and disbelief he wonders will he “really get away?" , he remembers those past years of suffering and seems to blame him self “reaching for somebody's star" or in other words , following someone else’s dream.

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

Resisting his feelings of all the emptiness and despair, he starts listening to the voice deep inside him calling to get back, back to his own home, family and land, metaphorically calling back to his own will and dreams, there is hope “light” in all the loneliness and despair “black” he is going through, his spirits seems to rise again and he tends to believe that he will eventually be “coming home".

"Breathed the air before
Heard the thunder roar
never knew it was for me"

The slave remembers all the air ‘life’ he have wasted before, remembers the “thunder roar” which reflected and symbolizes his inner warfare of being control ,fooled and his own self will of rejecting the fact of following someone else dream .

"Like an open door
that you passed before
but you never had a key
He have passed the open doors ‘life’ before , but he never knew what was it all about , he never knew the purpose , never knew himself , never had his own “key”


"Always looking down
Lost and never found
Eyes that look but not to see"

Locked with a tyranny of souls into the wizard’s magic and realm of illusions, the slave’s life have for years been ruined by following the wizard’s desire and over possess for exceptional power. He never aimed to look for his own dreams and fortune, he may have departed, he may have escaped, yet he still feels all the loneliness and emptiness of the world, still looking for his home, looking for himself ,still “Lost and never found” , he has the “Eyes that look” yet he cant really “see” the truth, he cant find his path, he cant find himself, help himself.

Remembers with his soul full of pain, agony and shame ….

”All my life it seems
just a crazy dream
reaching for somebody's star"

He haven’t lost his faith , with all his strength and power his going to fight back his nightmares cause he now have all the love , purpose ,desire and reason to get back…

"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 bands gets locked within the mid section of the song where Ritchie Carey and Cozy seems to stretch out on their instruments , the mind-boggling groove and drum breaks by Cozy seems to reflect the inner warfare the slave is getting through , his determined and willing to pull himself together to find his journey back home ,and it seems his mind are soul are clear of illus ional interruption forever

• Ronnie with an unbelievable convincing and expressive vocals represent the Slave’s successful attempt to finally break all the obstacles to get back home , he screams With certainty …

“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"

Days have passed and yet his still tired, lost and despaired, hope seems to slips away from his soul once again, he still wonders will he “really get away?” get back home ? Once again he tends to resist …

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

"I've got my way back home
to the sky
there in the sky
I see your star"

Exhausted, lying by the sand looking at the moon, and endless bleached sand , the slave shivers from head to toe , he have finally his way back home ! Looking at the endless darkness of the universe, he has finally found his “Light in the Black”, sighting that huge star in the sky, he knows his way back home , he will follow the path of the stars in order to get his way back home! The irony and drama tops the mountain at the end of the song as the slave might never get to know or realize that this one star he have picked in order to get back to his home , was once in a life time , the infinite desire of another man , the wizard !

Stargazer/light in the black comes finally to end spanning over 18 minutes of pure music odyssey, a class epic about overcoming the obstacles ‘Black’ reaching out for your own hope & dreams ‘light’ It’s about knowing what you want and never getting your self ‘whipped and chained’ into someone else dream, it’s about the journey you should get through in order to find you’re your self recognizing ,your dream ‘star’ and simply becoming your one and only star, Stargazer!

[IRON-MaN]

I woud just like to give credit to Serpens Mercurialis for using some of her own visions on my interpertation ..
cheers!

[Serpens Mercurialis]

Hello, I've just found your article today! It is great and very detailed and I also love the way you have integrated the solos in the story!

I have few things to say, if I may...

I take the phrase "the world spins" (before the second chorus) as a moment of climax and revelation; accelerated living, time apparently loosing its normal rhythm because the work is ready and the emotion is just so strong!

"Look at my flesh and bone" - I don't see it that theatrical, slave addressing himself to the dead wizard. He rather cries to himself, in desolation and amazement. He doesn't need an answer, now that he is awake; he's just realizing what he did to himself following the wizard's dream. Regret and pain when he sings "Look at my flesh and bone", but the disaster and the amount of his suffering are materialized and truly "counted" by the existence of the tower: more despair and anger in the next phrase: "Look! Look! Look at this tower of stone!"

As about "A Light in the black", I only have one question:

the final exclamation... "There in the sky... I see your star!"...

What does it mean? Did he really "got home"? Did he find HIS star which is as far (but seemingly touchable) like the wizard's, therefore "YOUR star"? Or does that line sound like madness? (the vocals are crazy by the way! )

[IRON-MaN]

[Spyke005]

what I think the "where is your star" means is that the protagonist of the songs' lyrics has fallen victim to following a star to nowhere, a false hope of returning home just as the wizard had a false hope of reaching his.

[Serpens Mercurialis]

[IRON-MaN]

[Serpens Mercurialis]

OK I sometimes seem to fail to understand the easiest interpretation.

Somehow, though, I doubt anyone can find his own direction looking at somebody else's star! What is the idea behind it? It doesn't make any sense to me. Unless... it is the star who's special, a certain star who's the direction of all people... But our interpretation is based on the idea that everyone has a star and finding your own is finding yourself.

OK my interpretation

I just think this is an exclamation in amazement, the answer he's giving himself at the once tormented, obsessive question "where is your star? is it far?" At that time he was "blind", he had no idea how much there is to the star, how many years he'll spend there building the tower. Now, once he found his own way (the light in the black, the rainbow) he's able to see... what he was once desperate to see! His eyes are not those eyes that "look but not to see" anymore, he reached the same level as the wizard, he can see the sky, he can distinguish between one star and another. The exclamation is proof to him and to us that he got back to himself. And that the years spend to the tower, for the wizard, for a goal he can't even see (imagine) will always remain in his thoughts, in his flesh and bone.

[IRON-MaN]

Serpens ,
As usual , i always enjoy your own preceptions to the songs , i was discussing those interpertation with another friend and i guess she also had quite an interesting intereptation to the ending ( its quite close to yours as well i guess !

"Stargazer is about another question of mankind, the conflicting desires of the human mind for both individual autonomy and devotion to a higher purpose. The magician has recruited the minds and bodies of his many slaves for his own quest of flying to the stars, of ultimately transcending his earthbound, physical existence. He has made them believe that helping him to overcome these restrictions will give a higher meaning to their own existence. This motive is reminiscent of those many pseudo-religious leaders of all times who have exploited this universal desire.

The inevitable downfall of the magician also breaks the delusional spell of his quest and makes the slave fall back onto himself. He is now awakened from the numbness that has been inflicted upon him by years of mental slavery. But as he finally opens his own eyes, he sees nothing but the desert - both around him and inside of him. He has yet to find his way back to his inner self, but is unable to get there on his own, still crying out for guidance - Take me back to my home...

Like in so many of Ronnie's songs, the rainbow is an image of salvation. It's an immaterial, spectral phenomenon that can be seen but never reached. Here, it is also serves as a counter-image to the desert, as it cannot occur without rain, and its appearance raises new hope in the slave.

Light In The Black is of course a continuation of the slave's story, but I see it in a bit different way. The magician's end has left the slave with an inner emptiness, and he feels he's unable to fill it on his own. Lost in his desert, he's still searching for guidance. He needs a replacement, something new to turn to, something to call him back to life.

Eventually, he will succumb to the very same desire that has brought the magician down. He too sees the same star, he too believes that his true home is in the same sky. So in a way, his slavery is never going to end."

cheers !

[Spyke005]

that last point is exactly the same as I perceive it.

[IRON-MaN]

Spyke , i guess uve nailed that one right also my friend ! it fits perfectly to the drama and music as well ! i think i will have to edit the last part and add some additional thoughts to the ending as well ! cheers !

[Serpens Mercurialis]

Iron Man,

beautiful interpretation! Love the ideas and the phrases! \m/

[Parsifal]

This is really good! I like how you expanded on some of the allegory, both within the lyrics and the music itself.

Stargazer is by far my favorite song, and along with Beethoven's opus 132, Wagner's Ring Des Nibelungen and Lohengrin Prelude to Act I, my favorite piece of music ever.
_________________
Catch the Rainbow