Marquee Moon is a trip through a long dark night in New York City in the summer of '77. The heat, the blackout, the Yankees, Son of Sam, CBGB. Creativity and Destruction.
It opens with two honking horn guitars in a downtown traffic jam at night, the neon lights flashing all around. Suddenly, all the lights go out. Tom Verlaine sings:
I remember how the darkness doubled...
It's dark except for the moon, which shines like a movie marquee in the sky. The narrator wanders around, encountering a man down at the tracks and later, a Cadillac in the graveyard. Strange days.
Extended guitar solos surround the verses, and they are amazing. Richard Lloyd plays a brief one at 3:00, but then starting at 4:52, after the Cadillac verse and chorus, Tom Verlaine takes off on a long twisted ride through the heart of the song. It lasts until 8:13, when all the players unite in a triple-play angst that builds up and release into stardust at 8:42, little sparks of light twinkling like fireflies.
The drums start back up at 9:18; we cycle back through the first verse, then gently come to the end.
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