POTF – Passion Colors Everything (one year later)
If I recall, last year around that time, Poets of the Fall was celebrating becoming a teenager… meaning that Poets of the Fall had reached the dreaded by all parents period called puberty, 13 years! The band was taking a break from the Clearview recording… It is also around that time that my husband and I met for the first time and so, this year (on Sunday, April 16th) we will be celebrating our 14 years anniversary, which is kind of mind blowing considering everything that has happened since then. I know, my mind works in very strange ways to draw such a parallel, but I thought sharing such a date with Poets was kinda cool.
One year ago, almost to the day, I wrote a post POTF – Passion Colors Everything, which was an interpretation of what the song told me then… literally! Why did I choose this song today? It is probably because of what is going on in my life right now (why else?) and also a little bit because of Jaska Mäkinen‘s answer to the latest Prowlers of the Fall: Reloaded‘s interview (a question from Timo Breier).
Timo Breier: “What do you think is The Most underrated POTF Song. In My opinion it is “passion colors everything” on Revolution Roulette.”
(Jaska): I like that song too. Another such song from the top of my head is The Distance.
Well, Timo… I agree with you and since Jaska likes it too, this is twice as much a reason to write about and around the song again.
What’s going on?
You all know that I am quite an ambitious woman and I don’t ever back down from my dreams (and never will). Lately, I’ve been applying myself to making one of them come true, but it backfired big time. It would seem that I wanted the cake and eat it too. Somewhere along the way, I crossed a fine line that I should not have crossed. It would appear that, with everything I do, I am meant to learn the hard way, over and over… but do I really learn anything? I wonder… sometimes, it feels like unconsciously I don’t want to learn and believe that if I hold on hard enough to my naivety and the utopian idea of how society should work, it will come true at some point.
I have a mind for simple things, but things are not of mind to simplify
There’s always some loophole technicality you buy into and pay until you die
It is not as if I am oblivious to how I work, so what is it with me? Needless to say that I feel very stupid right now… or maybe it is just as Bert Karlsson said: “I have bad luck when I think“.
Where am I at?
And when I’m finally brought to my senses
Parade the rain on my parade
Before I’m back to my defenses
To watch the whole thing escalate
I am now facing the consequences of my actions and I feel like a lion in cage… pacing and helpless to sort out my mess on my own, but I am not on my own and that is my blessing. It is, however, of little consolation for the time being. My dream was short lived. The dark clouds brought snow on my ambitions, freezing them in their tracks before they could take their flight.
And I seem to have lost my appetite, it’s underrated how we overrate
Just one decoder
It is like all the good and positive things that happened the last few weeks were washed away by my stupidity. I set myself up, again! I am really aggravated when I behave that way. “Miss Impossible” should definitely be my nickname… hmm, wait a second… it is actually one of the nicknames my husband gave me. Don’t get me wrong, this is just another endearing nickname; there is nothing mean behind it.
I have a huge problem. I always want to do the right thing, and am always honest and true to my beliefs and feelings. What I have troubles to keep in mind is that my husband is the only one in possession of the decoder. I tend to say (write) half of what I mean which in the end creates misunderstandings and therefore problems. I am expecting too much of people and forget that they do not have the decoder.
The price I pay for my original sin
Everything, everything, everything
But “truth will out” and the trial forgotten (or rather stored away) when all is right again, because it will… it always does.
When passion colors everything…
… I forget all else, even common sense. I lock myself in my “Temple of Thought” where everything goes as planned and dreamed, but sometimes, it is also rather far from how life is. Reality is harsh on passionate dreamers.
I dance in tune with what I fear
To do adrenaline
Completely rapt with what I hearWhen passion colors everything
The songs I sing, from way out there to deep within
I can’t say this enough. Poets of the Fall is underrated on the music scene… is it by choice? I have no idea but as long as they are out there doing what they love doing: music, and share it with us, I am happy. The band is without a doubt huge in Finland, I’ve never seen it for myself though… but to the rest of the world, no matter how big the fan base is, there are a lot of people out there who are still waiting expectantly to see them live (I am one of them of course).
Anyway, Marko Saaresto‘s way of writing lyrics is still amazing me. I don’t know how many times I have listened to Passion Colors Everything, but it’s like reading a book over and over; there are always new layers appearing as I read the story again. Lately, the song has pushed me not only towards some very much needed reality check, but also in front of a mirror I desperately and unconsciously wished to avoid. As I wrote the first time, Passion Colors Everything sounds like an autobiographical song and yet, if we dig deeper, we all find parts of ourselves in it.
I will end with the thought that if we pay enough attention to what Marko sings (whatever the song), we might actually learn something of value about ourselves.
- Passion Colors Everything – Revolution Roulette 2008
- Miss Impossible – Revolution Roulette 2008
- Temple of Thought – Temple of Thought 2012
- “Truth will out” – Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix movie 2007 – Mr Weasley to Harry Potter before Harry’s hearing at the Ministry of Magic
- “I have bad luck when I am thinking” (“Jag har otur när jag tänker“) – Bert Karlsson saying and quote
