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This is a modern version of one of the hits from the 80's and probably Roxy Music's most successful song. It's a sad song, sung from sheer despair, but at the same time it manages to make your soul rise and hope for something more. The language is quite simple, but the lyrics are very poetical and not so easy to understand. You can also watch the original Roxy Music video.
I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing.
Fallen leaves in the night,
You can't say where they're blowing
As free as the wind
Hopefully learning
While the sea on the tide
There's no way of turning
More than this - you know there's nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there's nothing
It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing.
Like a dream in the night
You can't say where we're going.
No care in the world.
Maybe I'm learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning.
More than this - you know there's nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - you know there's nothing
More than this
More than this - you know there's nothing
More than this - tell me one thing
More than this - there's nothing
NO WAY OF KNOWING= After prepositions and conjunctions we use the ING-form, not the infinitive.
YOU CAN'T SAY WHERE THEY’RE BLOWING= The original lyrics say "Who can say where they're blowing". A rhetorical question where we know the answer: nobody knows where they’re going. In fact, the leaves are not blowing, but being blown (by the wind), but in poetry we sometimes do this (use an active voice with a passive meaning).
HOPEFULLY LEARNING= They’re learning (or at least, I hope so). We use the adverb "hopefully" when we are not completely sure about something but we want it to be true:
- They’ll hopefully arrive in time = I hope they will arrive in time (and I think they will).
TIDE= The sea level varies under the influence of the moon, so waters may be higher or lower; that phenomenon is the tide. We can say "high tide" and "low tide", but it is more common to talk about "high water" and "low water".
THE SEA ON THE TIDE HAS NO WAY OF TURNING= The sea on the tide can’t go back (when the tide is pushing the sea to the shore, you can’t stop that). Again, we find an ING-form after a preposition.
A first she says "hopefully learning, while the sea on the tide there's no way of turning". Both things happen at the same time but are no related. But later in the song she says "hopefully learning why the sea on the tide has no way of turning", so that's what she's learning, the reason why the tide won't come back. It means that she's accepting that her lost relationship will never come back, and that's the first step to acceptance.
NOTHING= Pronounced /nʌθɪŋ/.
FOR A WHILE= For a short time. Notice that the word "while" here is a noun (= moment), not a conjunction.
NO CARE IN THE WORLD= No worries; carelessly, completely relaxed. The phrase "in the world" is just emphasizing. This phrase is very common, we can use it as kind of adverbial or even as an adjective:
- People are spending like no care in the world = people are spending money as if they don't worry about the consequences.
- I was relaxing under the tree with no care in the world. = I had no worries, my mind was completely at ease.
- She's a no care in the world kind of girl = she's the kind of girl who is relaxed, who doesn't worry about anything.
The last sentence shows that there's hope for him, he's probably learning the lesson, understanding and getting ready to move on: Maybe I'm learning why the sea on the tide has no way of turning.
This is the song of someone who is desperate. Many people take for granted that he is expressing some kind of philosophy of the void, pure nihilism: the only thing which is real is this and now, what we can see and feel at this moment; no dreams, no future, no God, no love. The religious symbol in the Roxy Music video (a cross) fuels this interpretation.
But the fact is that Brian Ferry wrote this song to talk about a love affair that broke apart. So it's not really a song about the universe, but about a broken-hearted lover who feels his world has come to an end somehow, and at the same time he wants to get over it (recover from it) and move on. He's telling himself that he can't keep hoping and dreaming of a future back with her because there's no more than this. He has to focus on the present situation (the sea and the tide has no way of turning: she doesn't love him and never will again). Only when he can understand this fact, will he be able to move on and love again.
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