7-9-09 Non-Textual

So, if I say Don McLean I'm sure you immediately think of American Pie. Not me, I think of the song Vincent. I would venture to guess it is on my top 5 list of favorite songs. It doesn't matter where I am if I hear it come on the radio, I have to stop and close my eyes. The song wasn't very popular in the United States, being overshadowed by American Pie, which was released on the same album in 1971. In this country Don was considered a one hit wonder, even though this song made it to 12 on the Billboard Charts. The lyrics are:

Starry starry night, paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer’s day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills, sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills, in colors on the snowy linen land

Now I understand what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for you sanity
How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they did not know how, perhaps they’ll listen now

Starry starry night, flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue, morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand

Chorus:

For they could not love you, but still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight, on that starry starry night
You took your life as lovers often do,
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you

Starry, starry night, portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls with eyes that watch the world and can’t forget.
Like the stranger that you’ve met, the ragged man in ragged clothes
The silver thorn of bloody rose, lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for you sanity How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they’re not listening still
Perhaps they never will.

The words of this song really speak to me. Maybe because of Vincent Van Gogh's tragic life, or maybe because I am a psych major and understand the tragedy of mental illness and depression, and people that are tortured by unseen demons. I understand the power of those demons and how they propel us to act in a way that is not necessarily natural to us.

My favorite line in the song is "Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue." As I listen to the words and close my eyes, I see his famous painting "Starry Night." The swirls of blue, like smoke, traveling uphill towards a bright yellow orb.

When I searched for the lyrics online, I found don-mclean.com. The website says that Don wrote the song after reading a book about Van Gogh's life. It also states that a copy of the sheet music as well as a set of Van Gogh's paint brushes are buried in a time capsule beneath the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.

If you are not familar with this particular song, the website is www.don-mclean.com. On the site is a slide show of paintings set to this song.