song An Ocean Of Strange Islands

[Fugazi]

This is the next single, and a short excerpt is already available:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SXUtMs4dYE

Also the lyrics have been dropped in the Yesterwynde game.

[Moondance]

Also posting the lyric video here, as I did in the album discussion.

 

[Fugazi]

Because of silly time zone considerations, the song has already 'leaked' on YouTube... well leaked for the time zones that aren't yet allowed to listen to it without using a VPN.

Anyway, if anyone's curious:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt25mLAkhBo

I think I will give in and have a peek, I enjoy listening to new songs without being distracted by the videos. 😁

[Fugazi]

I have been busy this last week... but I have been listening to 'An Ocean' over and over. It has it all, heavy and sweet, fast and furious vocals, soaring vocals, high octane drums, great arrangements, mood changes, a catchy chorus... This will probably be a highlight of Yesterwynde. I may be reaching here, but I think it's better than anything on 'Human Nature'. It has many elements reminding me of Human Nature though, and not only that outro that sounds like 'Moors' from 'All The Works Of Nature Which Adorn The World' ! But I feel it also borrows from previous albums, all the way back to Imaginaerum.

And this would be such a great song to hear and feel live... Make it happen, Tuomas. 😠😁

Quoting Tuomas: 'An Ocean Of Strange Islands' takes us on the ultimate musical island-hopping adventure reminding the adventurer that happiness is most joyous when shared.

[Fugazi]

LYRICS:

A mariner under a sky moonlit
On an island of a crewless ship
A few decades of immortality ahead
A one-man crew for a one-way trip
Islands, islands everywhere
I keep my range with crowded sails
My waves, they kiss every shore I land
Steep cliffs will mock my waving hand

Islanders, villagers, universal mariners
Calling me, guiding me, monsters far beneath
Hurricanes on the way, lunatic weathervanes
Shipwrecked lovers on a faraway cay
Passing by butterflies, fluttering for a day
Jokers, jesters, Goddesses, hominidae
Deep delicious blue beneath
I'll steer wherever tomorrow is near

Light a beacon so I can navigate
Through the tempest, through the madness
Light a homefire for the sad man with a begging hand
Light a beacon so I can navigate
Through the tempest following the quintet
Ride on the highest wave
Bring me to life
To them who dance in the daylight

Sail and seek
The starbound quay
Calling you, calling me
To be a part of your story

Here raining ash to cover the dead
An island of the past wrecks
Of you, of the endless sundown
Hemlock meadows, deepest quicksand
Empty harbor by a wasteland
Mirrors, mirrors, everywhere
For you of mad despair

Friends, who were for a time
Now grapes of sour wine
Lords of a single fly
Still, I rue no island of shared solitude

You who glow in deepest woe
Let it be, retiree, the water's fine
Sail carefree

Sail and seek
The starbound quay
Calling you, calling me
To be a part of your story
On these strange islands

[StarDragonX]

As I stated elsewhere, this song "An Ocean Of Strange Islands" is my favorite song from the Yesterwynde album.

[Fugazi]

I'm still letting it all sink in, but I also think that this is my favourite song.

There's a theory out there that this song is about Marko leaving the band, with the islander theme, the lonely sailor, friendships undone and all that. It could actually make sense, but if true it's probably not something that Tuomas will want to admit or discuss in the future.

[StarDragonX]

I have learned one thing (actually many things) about song themes and lyrics. The thing is that some songs don't tell about those themes we instantly think about. For instance, people assume that every one of Tuomas's love songs are about Tarja, eg. I Wish I had An Angel and so on. That might be true in some cases, but some early songs might actually tell about other people Tuomas has met in his youth, maybe even a crush of his (or something like that). But those persons would propably want to keep themselves secret. Or maybe Tuomas want to keep those persons a secret haha... Anyway... In my opinion, Johanna Kurkela (Tuomas' wife) talks about Tuomas' or Nightwish's subject in a secret way. Johanna Kurkela is a well established Pop singer in Finland. There is the song "Kuolevainen" (and many others) by Johanna Kurkela, which means that man (or woman) is a mortal being. It talks about "secret" feelings of love. So Johanna Kurkela talks about Tuomas from her point of view in her songs, but it is written like some "secret code". I think few people actually realize, that Johanna Kurkela's songs are about her and Tuomas relationship and also things revolving Nightwish, but it is not stated in a way that is not crystal clear. So, Tuomas might be talking about his wife Johanna Kurkela in his Nightwish songs, not Tarja. Or some other person.

This "problem" leads to an another point in my opinion. Because of these sensitive subjects in eg. early Nightwish songs, Tuomas doesn't actually want to reveal the identity of these persons or original subjects. And also, the Artist (Tuomas) wants to have a good story. Some fan theories, or fan fantasies actually have gone so wild that maybe telling the truth would be a little underwhelming in Tuomas' sense.

And third point. Many people have this mentality that Tarja is somehow going to join Nightwish in the future, which is highly unlikely, in my opinion. Well, maybe there is a very small chance. Actually, Tarja and Marco is doing Nightwish II at the moment actually... haha. But I get the feeling that it is not enough for some people. They want to see Tarja with Tuomas' band Nightwish. So the artists understand that some of their fans want to hear a certain narrative. Maybe Tarja joining with Nightwish is the most obvious one. So because of the risk of drama, now Tarja has some references of this theme on every album, like "Little Lies" and "Diva", and "you and I". The list goes on. Some people think that these songs are about Tuomas, so the songs are written in a cunning way to fit the narrative. So, Tarja, for instance, can sell her albums to some people with this "story." I personally believe that the Nightwish artists have basically left the drama behind, and they are following the story written by fans in a sense. So you see that closing in on this subject psychologically is a little complicated, and I could maybe write a psychological novel about these things. So the conclusion is that people sometimes do not want to think. That is why it is easy to sell a very simple solution, like “Tarja and Tuomas are forever angry towards each other and they could have gotten married year 2003 and bla bla bla....” The story lives on. There are some fanfiction stories of The Beatles and other bands as well.

And as an actual answer to your post: Nobody can clearly state if this song is about Marco or not, in my opinion. But there are some clues along the way. Tuomas is probably not going to state that “this song is about Marco”. Though, you are not necessary wrong thinking that “An Ocean Of Strange Oceans” is about Marco. It might be, but maybe we will never get a 100% to these questions. We have to keep guessing.

 

As a reference: Johanna Kurkela: Kuolevainen (the mortal one), sorry, the song is in Finnish only 😞

 

 

 

Edited October 5 by StarDragonX
Some grammatical errors