Poets of the Fall in a Perfect World – UV

Since Ultraviolet by Poets of the Fall was released on October 5th, I have been swearing by it every day… and I still am ?. Ultimately though, I’ve gotta pick one song to start with – False Kings & Dancing on Broken Glass don’t count, they’ve already gotten the spotlight – so how does one chose? I have said it before, I love every single song on Ultraviolet and the songs are growing in my heart, and are getting under my skin as I am getting the travel-fever for the German tour in a couple of weeks. How does one chose? I woke up with the song In a Perfect World in my head, and it is still playing, but I am not playing any music. Magical song for sure and not on the band set-list so far… Perfect choice! ?

If perfection existed…

… The world would be perfect, obviously… we all have our own vision of what that would entail. Me… no more disease, no more hurt, no more cruelty, no more premature deaths… only harmony. This would be my vision of a perfect world. Is it really what the song is about though? From the start I have felt that In a Perfect World is about death, or dying… disappearing maybe. Cheerful subject, I know… take it up with Marko, he wrote the song that way. Blend that theory with what Ultraviolet is about, the hidden world – the subconscious probably – and you get some deep thinking coming your way. At least, I know I do ? because it wakes me up at night sometimes.

Physical & Spiritual realm

The first verses and the bridge to the chorus, are like they are saying: on this god forsaken earth where all is nothing but darkness and misery, we just got to hang on because we won’t be there forever, something better is coming. Hope, yes, but still rather gloomy if you ask me…

But baby, we’re not here to stay,
© 2018 Poets of the Fall – Ultraviolet, In A Perfect World

I must confess, this is how I heard it at first… but then it got me thinking further, what if the meaning is more about what I need to hear than what Marko meant to say… or maybe he meant to say it, which means that I was meant to need it being said as such… whatever works for you ?.

I mean, imagine for a second that you are

living in a world where it’s always Monday
© 2018 Poets of the Fall – Ultraviolet, In A Perfect World

No matter what you are doing with your life and whether you like it or not, the idea that every day is Monday is bringing up some anxiety to my chest. (i.e. Bob Geldof’s “I don’t like Mondays”…) It is an efficient metaphor to say that every day there would be nothing to look forward to. Sleepless nights, depressing and the only light comes from artificial ones. The bets Marko is talking about could be taking things for granted, living on the edge of a knife where uncertainty rules your life. It is very Blade Runner-like atmosphere in that first verse. However, when you have hit rock bottom, it is probably how you see life… how you feel it… and that all the decisions that brought you to that point, you cannot undo and they still rule your life one way or another. Yet, Marko tells us to chin up, it does not have to be that way.

The tapestry of life as a beautiful journey
© 2018 Poets of the Fall – Ultraviolet, In A Perfect World

Or is it what he says? Because the chorus ends with this idea… “now is not a good time”, “we’ve gotta wait”… and yet, these concepts would just disappear, in a perfect world

There’s that elation of perfect timing…
In a perfect world…
© 2018 Poets of the Fall – Ultraviolet, In A Perfect World

Time is running out somehow in this song. It is how it makes me feel anyway.

Be good

Somehow in the second verse, when you’ve finally found your way and are doing good, despite it all… easily resisting temptation and darkness, you still aren’t perfect and it is easy to revert and go back to whatever your comfort zone used to be…

But even still I can stumble and fall,
And every step I miss, it still takes its toll […]
Serenity betrays […]
© 2018 Poets of the Fall – Ultraviolet, In A Perfect World

Yet, this sense of hope that these are just some kind of tests, they are temporary… just don’t give in and they’ll disappear. They are so many ways to interpret these lyrics that my head feels like it is spinning.

But baby, they’re not here to stay,
© 2018 Poets of the Fall – Ultraviolet, In A Perfect World

Punch line

Something I missed with Clearview was the occasional twist in the lyrics, lo and behold… they’re back on Ultraviolet, at least in the song In A Perfect World. Or maybe they are not, but to me they are and I will tell you why. The end of the song, the four verses In a perfect world are building in intensity, but the last one punched the air out of my lungs… it is not just the words though, it is the way Marko delivers them; they are loaded with so much pain that I actually felt the hurt, and still do every time I hear him sing them.

So, what is the song about? Maybe it is saying that no matter the hurt, faith will keep us afloat… that it is all worth it in the end because something better is waiting for us after the darkness… I don’t know. It is rather easy to get carried away because this is a broad subject… as it always is with Marko and no matter how you want to look at it; ultimately, we can relate to what he is saying… it hits home every single time. But, two things worth thinking about that, to me, are in direct relation with this song. First, the words at the back of the CD and Marko‘s words at the end of the interview he gave to Auditory Riot on October 9th (the words in question start at about 1:21:09)… I guess you might have a pretty good insight on what In a Perfect World, and ultimately Ultraviolet are all about.

To find what you’re looking for in the world, look within.
© 2018 – Poets of the Fall, Ultraviolet

1:29:09 – “Take care of yourselves and enjoy your lives to the fullest, if you can… and you can, I know that.” – Marko

The strength in this song is that depending on what I need to hear, I will have a different response to it. I don’t really need to know what it is all about, as long as I have a sense of it, this song will bring me joy despite the sorrow it bears.