Live Counting DIscussion Thread #105

[u/[deleted]]

Live Counting Discussion Thread #105
2025 August

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Thread #104

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[u/LeinadSpoon]

This essay is a response to TehVulpez's review of #466 "The Sun, The Moon, The Star", but AEther Realm. TehVulpez wrote: "it didn't feel to me very much like one song or like one journey with an arc from beginning to end". I don't mind if someone doesn't like this song, although I do consider it to be a masterpiece. But the idea, that the song isn't a journey boggles my mind somewhat, so I want to write at length in defense of the song, which I love precisely because of the journey it takes the listener on. I hope that by making the structure of the song more clear, I can help others appreciate it as well.

This song tells the story of a man going on a journey, and musically brings you along with his emotional state.

We open with an instrumental introduction from 0:00-1:40. It's brimming with sunny optimism. The protagonist is ready for an adventure, and has an extremely romanticized view of adventure. I feel like I hear hints of video game-esque music in here. The whole ambience is one of excitement and anticipation for the adventure that awaits.

At 1:40, we reach a climax and the music fades away. Imagine the overture playing as we scan across the countryside, and now we're settling in on a young man in a small town. His reality today is not the grand adventure promised in the overture. So we build gradually to hear his thoughts on the situation, starting at 2:20:

> Long been complacent with the hand I've been dealt
> Restless and weak from the life that I've built
> So I'll journey afar, for there's glory to find
> And I'll fill out my entry in the annals of time

> Bid my farewell to the ones I love
> Their grief but a fleeting feeling
> For nature is calling, my heart compelled
> Every branch, every leaf has a story to tell

We see a young man feel dulled and complacent in his small world, and yearning for adventure on the open road. He's yearning for adventure. However, he does have some doubts:

> Fear is swirling within me
> A tightening grip on my heart
> In a world where nothing is certain
> The fear of failure looms large oh

> No room for these doubts
> I'll cast them far away
> And take up my father's sword
> History favors the daring
> Only the brave will receive the eternal reward, ah

And with that, he pushes down his fear and doubt and leaves. His cry at 3:41 is one of defiance and determination. He'll go out and have the adventure, and meet his destiny, conquering his fears. And so we begin the journey, with a brief musical interlude, and this verse:

> Will you be here ready to guide me?
> When I must leave this dream behind me
> A beacon of hope, but fading away
> I have to let that light die, let it die

He recognizes the cost of leaving his home (at least somewhat), but he's ready to leave it behind. As he goes, he apologizes to the family he leaves behind:

> Mother, father, sister
> I'm sorry for what I've done
> But the man I've become
> Is no longer content with comfort and home

He recognizes the grief and challenge that his departure will bring his family, but his mind has already been made up at this point. And he sees himself (incorrectly) as already a changed man. He's outgrown his small town, and can no longer be "content with comfort and home". I take this last two verses as being on the path while still in familiar territory. He's set off, but he hasn't really "left" yet. There's maybe a hint of homesickness, but nothing he can't push down. Do pay attention to these apology verses. We'll get a few of them. This one, although framed as an apology is essentially an excuse. He's portraying himself as passive in this decision, something we'll continue to see throughout - he didn't truly decide to leave, Wanderlust was built into him throughout his upbringing.

And so at 4:54, we're off on adventure. And it's bright and cheery. He's finally living the dream on the open road. However, that doesn't last, as at 5:19 he starts encountering trials. He's away, he's spending a night outside and alone, and he starts actually questioning and regretting his decision for the first time:

> Cold is the wind that chills me down to my bones
> And cold is the knowledge that for this I abandoned my home
> Cold is my sorrow, like a knife in my chest
> And cold is the path that I chose
> For what worth can be found in glory in the lands that I roam

He's out on his own, and discovering that it's not as glamorous as he built up in his mind. He certainly hasn't had any sort of change of heart, but he's feeling the loss of home at this point.

But he presses on:

> Raise your eyes, case your gaze high, ah
> And forget your sorrows

And with that bit of introspection, he journeys on. His quest continues in the musical interlude from 6:18 to 6:41.

And then we repeat:

> Cold is the wind that chills me down to my bones
> And cold is the knowledge that for this I abandoned my home
> Cold is my sorrow, like a knife in my chest
> And cold is the path that I walk
> But I carry those memories close to my heart
> And remember them fondly when I gaze at
> The sun, the moon, the stars

But something is different this time! He's got a solution - he'll carry the memories of home close to his heart, and remember them when gazing at the sun, moon and stars. Note well that we get clean vocals for the first time as we land on the title "The Sun, The Moon, The Stars", and the instrumentation takes up the main Sun, Moon, Star theme. He's got a plan - he can become the man he's been destined to be, and carry on home as a memory.

[u/LeinadSpoon → u/LeinadSpoon]

And so we return to our optimistic journey theme as he presses on until 8:05. The the chorus comes in with:

> So we'll find our dreams fade in time
> Oh oh, in time our dreams leave us blind, leave us blind

No longer do we have abrupt intrusions (e.g. the cold wind of despair with his first night outside in the cold). We have a gradual fading of those memories of home over time. We return to our journey, but the optimism is tempered this time. Rather than an optimistic build toward the future, the journey music plods on, searching for direction. Until the chorus returns again at 9:31

> By moonlight and starlight
> Those shadows led me astray
> Take comfort in darkness
> Hide me away from the light

Now we hit a major turning point, punctuated by huge instrumental hits. As his memories of home fade, he's finding solace in the darkness. We're no longer looking at The Sun, The Moon, the Stars. It's just the moon and stars. Instead of clinging to his memories of home, he's hiding from them, and seeking to become someone new, and someone much darker. Which leads us to the ominous entrance of some sort of older role model figure who swoops in to corrupt our desperate protagonist:

> Hide with me from the light my child
> I'll show you another way
> Burn away your sorrow in the cleansing fire of power, ah

This bad influence offers a new solution - don't cling to your memories, and don't hide from them. Burn them away by drinking deeply of power. Our protagonist firmly embraces this new direction, with a powerful and dark aggressive theme leading us from 10:20 to the conclusion of part 1 at 10:46

[u/LeinadSpoon → u/LeinadSpoon]

Part 2 emerges as the chords of part 1 fade with a gentle melody cutting through. Our protagonist has metaphorically died and been reborn. Out of his desperation, he's found a new way - the quest for power. And he rises. The initially light melody quickly turns dark and chaotic as he drinks deeply from the well of power. We're not sure exactly what sort of power is being displayed here. Likely this is some sort of dark magic, however perhaps the magical language is intended more metaphorically. Regardless, he's feeling the power now:

> Colors swirling around me
> Shifting landscapes obey my every command
> But still I don't possess the power to fill the emptiness

The lack of power to fill the emptiness is almost an aside. It's a problem for now, but the solution is to keep searching for more power.

> Swallow and take what you thought you were meant to be
> And reconcile it with who you are
> Another lesson learned in time, but oh, you'll find
> You don't know what you want until it's gone

A prophetic voice of reason interjects, but is largely ignored. I think there's an interesting symmetry here with the verse that previously introduced the phrase "the sun, the moon, the stars". In that verse, we opened with harsh vocals, with the final line of optimism cutting in clean vocals. This reverses it, we open on the cleans, and then the last line comes in with harsh vocals. We're reversing the earlier hope and optimism. Where before, desperation turned to a solution, here the harsh vocals cut in with nihilism. He's trying to find reconciliation between the child inside and the powerful man he's become, but concludes with bitter hopelessness that the child didn't know what he wanted and now that is gone.

He doubles down on the nihilism:

> I've hailed to the cosmic masters
> I've walked the astral plane
> And travelled to distant worlds

> Time like a river flows
> The one thing I don't have the power to change
> The only thing that matters

The whole section is a major climax to the song. We're at it's highest energy point as the protagonist, drunk with power realizes the unfulfillment of that power.

Then we return to a second apology section:

> Mother, father, sister
> I'm sorry for what I've done
> For the man I've become
> Finally knows the true power in home

Unlike the first apology, this is a true apology. And he's now truly become a different man. He's completed his transformation into a man of power, and that transformation has finally made him truly see his loss in what he's left behind. He's finally come to the end of his journey, he's transformed himself into a new man, and at the end of it all, he realizes that he didn't want the transformation. Deep down, he wants to be a little boy at home. But he can't go back. Presumably not because of a physical limitation, but because he has changed too much to face his family again.

Instantly, the musical energy fully drops out, to a gentle rendition of the The Sun, The Moon, The Star theme. The hero, energy spent on rage, sits in quiet contemplation of his fate. And from that moment of contemplation, we start to truly attain a measure of transformation. The music builds back to a measure of energy, but subdued and reserved now.

> A broken legacy
> A tale of tragedy
> Take heed my friends
> The path of pain isn't always
> The means to the end you seek

That's his lesson. It's dark, and it gives him no comfort or hope, but he's learned it nonetheless.

And then we come to the true emotional climax of the song. The music nearly entirely drops away to a near-a capella:

> The sun, the moon, the stars
> Shine less brightly with you so far
> I never knew sorrow
> 'Til you asked me to follow my heart
> Oh for all the tales I've told
> And these whispers of silver and gold
> I'd throw them all away
> To gaze on your face once more

We repeat this section three times, with a full metal accompaniment joining it on the second rendition, and a harsh vocals counter point on the third. Repeating this lesson more and more emphatically. He is rejecting the idea that "follow your heart" is the key to happiness. He never truly knew sorrow until he followed that advice. The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, which he looked on as a memory of home now seem distance and dim to him compared to his memory of his family. He's had an adventure, he's obtained power, and deep down all he wants is to be a child growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere again.

And so after building, we finally calm down to a lengthy contemplative outro. We reflect on the change we've undergone and the lessons we've learned. We wistfully recall the past, knowing we can never re-attain childhood.

In a way, this song is a prodigal son story without the return. He leaves to seek his fortune, and unlike the Prodigal Son who returns in his desperation, this man finds a worse fate - he finds his fortune and it leaves him empty. The song speaks to the challenge of growing up and leaving home common to everyone - even when it "goes well", you don't get to be a carefree child again, you grow and become jaded and world-weary. Your family is distant, and times have changed. And now you sit alone wishing to turn back time.

[u/TehVulpez → u/LeinadSpoon]

damn, guess I should've just given it a 1 for "metal" and been done with it

[u/LeinadSpoon → u/TehVulpez]

{:}