New Series – Poets of the Fall, Clearview simply said – 4th episode
Before hitting the speed-writing button…
… to keep up with my thoughts, I’d like to say something to you visitor(s) – regular or occasional. I have noticed that the first episode was very popular at once – ? yeah! – but then the others got the cold shoulder so to speak. I know I write long blog posts because I:
[…] do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to. ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, Treebeard.
Therefore, I asked myself why… and came up with two answers:
- Either, you guys are bored with the subject and chose not to read the whole series… which is fine by the way ?
- Or, it was too much to read at once… i.e. I posted the episodes too close to one another.
So, live and learn, right!? In case the second answer is accurate, I will, from now on, post one episode per week so it will give you guys time to digest at your own pace. So, let’s get down to business!
Previously on Clearview Simply Said
Catch up and read the first three episodes:
- New Series – Poets of the Fall, Clearview Simply said – 1st episode
- New Series – Poets of the Fall, Clearview Simply said – 2nd episode
- New Series – Poets of the Fall, Clearview Simply said – 3rd episode
“If you know you don’t know something, how do you get a clear view? It’s by asking.” – Marko Saaresto
In order to know who we are, we should embrace the madness within. This way, we might be able to ask ourselves the right questions. If we don’t, it is easy to get a preview of what we might become, as individuals: puppets. As such, we lose access to Love. We may avoid such a catastrophe, most likely by remaining a child at heart.
How do we outgrow our inner-child?
Episode 4 – Once Upon a Playground Rainy
Marko calls that song the Tony’s song when introducing it on stage (thank you, YouTube). I think I have written about Once Upon a Playground Rainy like three times (POTF – Once Upon a Playground Rainy; POTF – Who the fuck is Tony???; POTF – Tony saga continues) so what have I left to say on the matter?
– Let’s see, shall we?
– Yes! Let’s shall… ?
Once Upon a Playground Rainy to the Clearview theme
I had just finished writing the third episode when this literally hit me in the head. As I dance and twirl to the chorus of The Child in Me, revelling in some renewed dream of innocence, I am forced to go down memory lane and try to understand how it all came down to this. As I had a nice chat with my friend Susan about this, we agreed that Once Upon a Playground Rainy was a “coming of age” kind of song. I would also push the thought further. Maybe it is a view on how we’ve outgrown our inner-child without putting our minds to it. Thus we “stand proud in the parody” of a life that is not really our own.
Crying when nobody ever sees your tears
When no-one sees your tears
Stop dreaming and grow up is what I wrote about Shallow… and I feel like there is a little bit of that in Once Upon a Playground Rainy. So, is this it? Does “coming of age” mean to give up on one’s dreams in order to grow up and take on all kind of responsibilities that life forces us to face? We all struggle to fit in, but the puppet master – even though he is not mentioned in the song – manipulates us to become what we are not. Are we that weak that we cannot fight back? Maybe, most of us do not have the support we need to do so and we chose the “easy way” as I call it. The inner-child is thus rebuffed to the deepest abyss of our subconscious and all communication with him/her is rendered impossible. My psychologist used to tell me:
Claire, when you are unsure of a situation, or when you are afraid and are lost to how you have to handle this or that. Take your little girl by the hand and talk to her… listen to her and comfort her so that she understands that things do not have to be the way they used to, but that she still has a place within you. Make sure that she lives happy and peacefully in your heart and soul so that together you can reach the dreams you are longing for.
The child within… that person is you and does not have to disappear in order for you to be all “grown up”.
Hear the soft minor key of the one time me
Standing proud in this parody
Once Upon a Playground Rainy is, according to me, about what was and has somehow vanished. But you see, remaining a child at heart does not necessarily imply that we keep on being carefree. It only means that we should hold onto that part of ourselves to feel complete. Otherwise, all we have going for us is a farce we call life and we’ll fight on to be fulfilled even though we have no idea what that might be. I won’t write more about the song because I have done that extensively already… and I have looked at a few different angles the song seem to revolve around. Today, however, I focus on what seems to be a song filled with nostalgy and despite the awareness of having outgrown the inner-child, we miss him/her and yet, cannot get him/her back. The self-awareness of the lyrics though gives a sense of hope to this mess. ?
You’re still fighting, I see, like a modern day Bruce Lee
Clearview on what…
“If you know you don’t know something, how do you get a clear view? It’s by asking.” – Marko Saaresto
So, if we want to know who we are, there is a very important part of ourselves that we should not forget about or ignore for that matter. Therefore, the songs on Clearview are, so far, pointing towards the same question: who are you? There are no magic tricks to uncover such a complicated question. However, Clearview gives us some pointers on where to look to get a clearer view.
Next episode: What does define a win?
Thanks for reading,
Until next time! ?
About the series…
The interview below – which you should absolutely watch because it is really interesting – Marko Saaresto gives us his personal feelings on Clearview, therefore ending the interview with a cliffhanger. Just saying! Yours Truly has made a transcript in her notebook and here is an excerpt of it:
“Clearview is a clear view on things that you are unclear about basically, because […] it’s really, simply said it’s about asking. If you think you know something, that’s fine, but if you know you don’t know something, how do you get a clear view? It’s by asking. So, that’s basically what it’s about. But that’s a, I think also, a very big topic that we could really talk, like, a lot.” – Marko Saaresto, August 2017 (transcript by Yours Truly)
The idea behind the series comes of course from Marko. Since I am a spur of the moment kinda gal, at least when it comes to my creativity, I had not planned how often I should write the episodes when I started this self-imposed challenge. In any case, this series is about uncovering what I call a mystery… the magic behind Poets of the Fall‘s creation. Who am I kidding? I might, nonetheless, discover a pattern. ? Consequently, I am wondering about this: How do you go from the question/answer – “how do you get a clear view? It’s by asking.” – to writing the songs as we know them today. Hope you’ll enjoy the reading and don’t forget to rate this article with the little hearts at the top of the post! I’ll sure appreciate it ?
Source video: Dukascopy TV - Switzerland - Marko Saaresto, Poets of the Fall video interview, posted on Facebook on 15/08/2017
2 Comments
Suz
I know we had quite a discussion about this song in the past, and I too still hold to the fact that it is a coming of age song. Since then, I have been more focused on trying to figure out what the speaking part of the song means. So I went back to your other Playground blogs to see if you wrote about it, but not so much. (altho I did find a blog I hadn’t yet read so I commented on the “Tony Saga continues”). The one thing you did write about it was that it seemed like a type of war reference. I can kind of see that, but why war? What does skeleton pose mean? Standing straight and rigid like army men? What are their likenesses and why did it make no sense? If these are childhood memories, why a war reference?
Now, I can see war in this if they are grown already, like in the part, saw our likeness and it made no sense. That would have to mean, they saw the enemy, and the enemy was just like them, maybe standing across from them, ready to battle, but why were they doing this? They were the same, just people on opposite sides standing there in a rigid pose ready to fight, for what? And the “for what” is what makes no sense. There is no reason to this fight, this battle, this war, so it makes no sense to them, and their faces probably mirrored each other(saw our likeness); fear and confusion.
But then if it’s childhood memory, then what does the war ref mean? And why out back where the gates are closed? So they can’t get away?
Perhaps the war reference is society again and not a real war? Daily battles, everyone trudging along, doing what they need to be doing just to survive? And everyone looks the same, tired and stuck? And to him it makes no sense. The gates are closed in this reference meaning people are trapped in this daily grind?
But then whose words are bringing salvation?
I think I MIGHT understand that one line here.
This one:
“Salvation in your every word
Lost in the fray of everyday”
Whose words are bringing salvation? Is he listening to someone? Is someone giving advice?
If in this whole song he is singing about himself, which I think he is, then no one is talking to him at all, the words of salvation are his own. Perhaps if we switched the 2 lines around it makes better sense, can we do that? Do songwriters do that so their songs might rhyme better?
“Lost in the fray of everday
Salvation in your every word”
He is growing up, he is lost, he doesn’t know what to do, he takes off for awhile and slums in Tony’s shack trying to get it together, he goes back and tries to make the best of it but he is lost in the fray, in life, he’s not doing what he should be, until…
The thing that brings him salvation! His own words.
His poems, his writing, his music. That will be what frees him from the fray of every day!(the war of his life? The people doing the same thing as him, daily grind? Maybe that is the skeleton pose? Society again? And it makes no sense)
But his music will free him because it’s what he is meant to do, it is his salvation, salvation in your(his own) every word.
I think this comment is just a jumbled mess so I hope you see what I was trying to say.
I think when I see the band again, if I get the chance, I will write these words down and ask Marko what they mean, and maybe he might tell me. Miracles do happen 😛
clairepeek
Your comment makes a LOT of sense Suz! To me, the war reference is more of an inside war, between Marko of the past and the present Marko (or whomever I was referring to). In essence, I agree with you and you have great insight on that song. I think it is too close to home for me to see beyond my own inner-struggles, inner-war… your comment is an excellent addition to my post.
Thank you, Suz!
PS: please do not worry about the length of your comments ever… love reading them, you too have excellent insight ^_^