what is echoes about

Peace Frog wrote:  and so i throw the indosws wide and call to you across the sky"

Wow, did anyone notice the way I spelled "windows" was really disturbingly wrong? What the hell was I on?

i still get an overall lonliness vibe from the song, and i still enjoy the sub theory the best--i just think it fits.

Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air
And deep beneath the rolling waves
In labyrinths of coral caves
The echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand
And everything is green and submarine

in this verse i think we begin the story with a landscape view zeroing in on the man in the submarine. we'll start out in his "study" where an albatross hangs motionless upon the air, move outwards into the ocean looking in on the submarine sitting on the bottom on the ocean/an ocean cliff all alone.

And no one showed us to the land
And no one knows the wheres or whys
But something stirs and something tries
And starts to climb toward the light

He doesn't know why he's there but nevertheless he realizes he can't stay there forever and begins to "climb toward the light"

Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can

--this is one of my favorite lyrical verses in history--alright. On a literal level first then. He's walking aimlessly through the sub and he sees in relection in something. He stops to loook at himself and ends up in a sort of daydream where he imagines himself as a king of sorts, surrounded by people. He realizes this is all disallusion and go's back to walking. On an interprative level: I think this is just describing the "lonliness" vibe--all he ever sees is himself, he is alone. So he daydreams about being a king and "leading through the land" but he knows that within himself he'll always be alone and he (his reflection) has to "help him understand the best he can" --the reflection must always be there in order to remind him that he is alone if that makes sense. It does to me.  

And no one calls us to move on
And no one forces down our eyes
And no one speaks and no one tries
And no one flies around the sun

He has no motivation to end his lonliness (he may not even really be on a submarine, it's just a symbol of his lonliness) but he also has no motivation for being lonely. Yet still no one is there to help him out of his little mess. As for the last line...I gather that he thinks he's sunk to a point where it's impossible for him to get back up. He's downand dirty to the point where he's almost buried in the dirt. 

During the instrumental passage I picture many things happening, always changing. Mostly I see him having another little daydream in which he goes nuts and tears everything to hell. Near teh end when teh verse line resurfaces I see him returning to reality, just sitting in his little study with blank eyes. 

Cloudless everyday you fall upon my waking eyes
Inviting and inciting me to rise

Well here I think it makes sense that he just wants to be dead. He sees no clouds/no hope, and "you" is his little alter ego/reflection--that little bit of hope that keeps "inviting and inticing him to rise" --he still has a chance of being redeemed and finding happiness.

And through the window in the wall
Comes streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning

One of two things happens here--Another daydream where he sees false hope and embraces it, or hope actually does arrive in the form of ???????. OR it could be a little mixture of both, he has evidently slept or rested to the point where he felt like he has slept--this is where it gets odd. A lot of things here support that the whole submarine trial was just a REAL dream someone (our character) was having as he slept. He dreamt of oppression and lonliness and wallowed in it in his empty submarine until we woke up to find that there was more hope than he thought--sunlight streaming through the window. For this bit--depending on how depressing of a person you are or make teh song out to be, you can kinda gather your own thoughts: Was it all a dream? Was the man embracing false hope? Has hope finally arrived in the form of "light" that he always saw but never reached until now (read the first chorus to notice another reference to "climbing towards the light")

And no one sings me lullabies
And no one makes me close my eyes
And so I throw the windows wide
And call to you across the sky

Depending on which mini-theory you like best this could once again just be a re-cap of basically the same thing.

If you support the "dream" thing, the man wakes up to find that nothing is holding him back, so he embraces his oppertunity and calls for othersto embrace it with him.

If you like the whole "alt. daydream" little thing this supports the whole lonliness vibe. No one's there for him to "sing him lullibies" or"make him close his eyes" (references to moving on), so he calls for help--he needs help.

The hope that finally arrived vibe suggests that no one is here to hold him back anymore (this could also refer to lifted emotions--he no longer feels lonely/depressed/alone), so he embraces life and "calls to it across the sky".

Also the last line point that he could be thanking someone for helping him out of his miserable little phase.

And there you have it...depending on how I feel, those are the 3 little stories I've come up with for this magnificent song--Now I'm going to go listen to it. If anyone else sees anything in it please post--I'd like to see the whole technology thing in idea-format...it intrests me yet I can't find very many references to prove it--and by the way i LOVE analyzing songs, so if you have any other song you'd like for me to give a shot then please PM me or start a topic about it.

If you don't see this little story/journey than that's fine--what do you see? After all the song is extremely personal--you could see it on a more or less reality-based level. 

Enjoy

King Volta (Ben)  

Rust wrote: Sorry King, but I dissagree with some of it. The lyric you and I both like best, "Strangers passing in the street." - That part, I think it is about someone else, litterally. The key word would be, Strangers, so it's someone else he has never met. "I am you and what I see is me." - I think this sentence is just a fancy way of saying that they are both looking at eachother. I think you are just looking to hard into the lyrics, I mean after all, this is Roger before Darkside that we are talking about. He often used a lot of metaphors and worded things differently to seem smarter, instead of being blunt with his lyrics like he is in Dogs, for example. The last verse has to be the main character waking up, "upon my waking eyes", so mabey the beginning of the song is a dream, and the build up section is him waking, or having some sort of an epiphany. The guitar solo before the third verse always made me think of someone coming to a realization of something, an epiphany that is dramatic.

haha it's fine that you disagree with me. i encourage it =).

but the stranger could still be him. he is no longer in touch with himself, he doesn't know who he is, what he's striving for--he no longer has a purpose for living. it all works out really.

Oh ya, seen the VHS, really cool for 1972 or 73 , Gilmour is wired up good!!

I hear what you're saying king, but I tend to go along with Rust. Firstly I believe the song is about a state of mind (like all floyd), the lonliness he feels before he meets a girl, experiences a connection. A relationship forms and he finally has a reason for life.

 The under-sea landscape described represents the lonliness, he has sunk below the surface of social contact, he is alone here. In this state of mind he opperates, living a normal life, but he tries to call out to the world.

"Strangers passing in the street
By chance two separate glances meet
And I am you and what I see is me
And do I take you by the hand
And  lead you through the land
And help me understand the best I can"

He finally makes contact with someone. They say you can only truely see yourself through the eyes of others, and i think this is the realisation he makes here. I also see this as perhaps love at first sight?
eitherway, the brief moment of connection with this woman is timeless "No-one flies around the sun' " -the world cieses turning for him in this everlasting, epiphanous moment.

The long sequence has a funky beat- a love scene perhaps?- The third verse indicates to me that the relationship has formed

"Cloudless everyday you fall apon my waking eyes
Inviting and inciting me to rise
And through the window in the wall
 Come streaming in on sunlight wings
A million bright ambassadors of morning"

He is no-longer submerged,there is sunlight in the window, he has a reason for life, and he feels complete.

To me, i see a love-song in echoes. Possibly one of the few and the most beautiful pink floyd wrote, but it exists in the typical hidden floyd fassion. It is a salvation song, a new found love saves him from himself, his own tendancy for internal lonliness. The same lonliness that exists behind The Wall...


Any who, thats what i see.

Empathy wrote: I've always thought it was about human evolution, with "No one called us to the land" being about the mystery of why that first amphibian ancestor of ours decided to see what was above the waterline. "Strangers passing in the street, by chance two separate glances meet, and I am you and what I see is me" - to me, this is about the fact that we're all made of the same basic material. Then again, I'm probably "overthinking" it all. I AM a Tool fan, after all!

Your's sounds about the most accurate one of all of the theories. I think the others are just overthinking it.

Ya don't need to debate on what the song means, just enjoy it for what it is!