When I was young, Nights in White Satin gave me more late night heebie-jeebies than any other song, with the possible exception of Gary Wright's 'Dream Weaver'. My Zenith clock radio with its glowing numbers would be the only light in my bedroom, and I would imagine all sorts of ghosts lurking in the corners or hanging around outside among the trees. A truly haunting, lonely piece of music.
It starts off quietly, with a flute and some strings and light glockenspiel or something. Then the gently strummed acoustic guitar and drums come in, followed by Justin Hayward's mournful vocals. An eerie mellotron enters the mix at 0:42. I love the mellotron, but wow, what a creepy sound. At 1:06 we get our first dose of the crying angel voices, time to grab my pillow and stick my head under the covers. Imagine Scrooge hearing those at the stroke of midnight. Yikes!
Another pass through verse and chorus and crying angels, then at 2:18 a big smack of the drum and we head into a gloomy flute solo, accompanied by acoustic guitar and more sad mellotron.
The night passes on, the moon drifts in the sky, the stars twinkle, clouds pass by, but the narrator does not sleep. He is suffering through the night, having many 'what does it all mean' thoughts: just what the truth is, I can't say anymore. The orchestra cranks it up at 3:50, the crying angels continue to torment us. At 4:35 the orchestra surrounds us with a wall of strings and horns as the narrator rolls around in bed, unable to shake free of doom and madness. At 4:57 we are allowed a brief moment of peace before it all shatters at 5:20 in piercing strings and alarmed horns. It is all too much, and the narrator soon loses consciousness.
At 5:38 he enters a dream state. There is a brief instant of silence, then the voice of Mike Pinder startles us at 5:54 with the spoken 'Late Lament': Breathe deep, the gathering gloom, watch lights fade from every room...this part would freak me out to no end. I love to imitate the extremely British accent: cold hearted orb that rules the night. After this section, the strings and horns ascend to rage against the impending dawn, making one final stab at 7:00. The final gong at 7:07 signifies the appearance of the sun, and the long scary night is thankfully over.
No comments:
Post a Comment