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Mike Oldfield Forums » Albums » Tubular Bells III » Mike in the Rain?

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Topic: Mike in the Rain?

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Belthazar

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Posts: 41
Joined: Feb. 2001

Posted: Mar. 02 2001, 06:17

This probably sounds a bit silly, but I've been wondering about the meaning of the words in "Far Above the Clouds"....

Quote

And the man in the rain picked up his bag of secrets, and journeyed up the mountainside, far above the clouds, and nothing was ever heard from him again, except
for the sound of Tubular Bells.

Could Mike possibly be talking about himself? A message to all his fans?... Yes, it DOES sound pretty silly...

--------------
Belthazar
That's Bravo Echo Lima Tango Hotel Alpha Zulu Alpha Romeo

Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana
-- Groucho Marx

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Posted: Mar. 02 2001, 06:38

It isn't a silly question, Balthazar. (At least, not compared to some of the silly things that I do wink

)

I'm not completely sure about this, but I think that "The Man In The Rain" refers to Mike himself. The "except for the sound of ... TU-BU-LAR BELLS!" at the end certainly gives this impression.

I interpreted this as most people never hearing about Mike Oldfield after the release of the original TB (and its sequels?), and possibly to Mike's retreat to Ibiza.

A while ago, there was a topic here called "the sound to too boo lar bells", which doesn't answer your question, but still has some interesting background.

TimHighfield Offline

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Posted: Mar. 02 2001, 07:46

Greetings Belthazar!

I've been looking through the articles on this site, and come up with this:

Quote

From the TBIII programme: As it moves into its final movement Tubular Bells III stays in a minor key. For Mike, this was important to convey a new facet of Tubular Bells. This is the civil version of a previously up beat piece of music. using a snippet of vocals, sampled and repeated in the house style, it unravels into a heartbeat. We hear the child's voice summarising the history of the central character, the main in the rain - elements of Mike's past - and announces the arrival of.... The Bell.
Far Above The Clouds is an emotionally charged finale.

If you want different versions of what I like to call "the Final Message" from the Tubular Bells Creator (like the "Final Message" from the Virgin Mike was in the last second of Music from the Balcony), see the A Seasonal Greeting and the ABC topics in the General section.

-Tim-

Pacha Daddy Offline

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Posted: Mar. 02 2001, 10:57

While I firmly believe that any good piece of art has some autobiographical aspect to it, this can also be seen as a sort of re-statement of the entire album. Outside of the "Prospero's Speech" aspect of the line (which would be more convincing if, say, Mike had declared he would record no more), it just pulls the titles back in to a cohesive whole prior to firing up God's Own Finale (you might be more familiar with it as "Far Above the Clouds") and closing the album.

Sometimes we strive to read too much into a statement.

Belthazar

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Posted: Mar. 03 2001, 04:23

cp:
Yeah, I noticed the "too boo lar bells" thread (I could never actually hear the words "Tubular Bells", but now I know why...)

....Mike retreated to Ibiza? I didn't know that...

TimHighfield:
Greetings...

I've noticed that articles written about the songs tend to be rather grand about things that I never notice.... and there's something about the way they say it that I don't like... I don't know...

Pacha Daddy:
Sometimes we do, Pacha Daddy. Sometimes we do...

--------------
Belthazar
That's Bravo Echo Lima Tango Hotel Alpha Zulu Alpha Romeo

Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana
-- Groucho Marx

tubularbills Offline

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Joined: Aug. 2000

Posted: Mar. 03 2001, 12:12

I'm not sure exactly what it is about this quote, but I really like that quote. I think that if the actual song, "Man in the Rain" was referring to MO, then the man in the rain in the quote would also be referring to him.

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Terrible, Wonderful, Crazy, Perfect.

Belthazar

Group: Members
Posts: 41
Joined: Feb. 2001

Posted: Mar. 03 2001, 18:38

Yes, I was thinking that as well that Mike is the man in "Man in the Rain"...

But I wouldn't really call the words in "Far Above the Clouds" a summary of anything, let alone the history of the Man in the Rain...

--------------
Belthazar
That's Bravo Echo Lima Tango Hotel Alpha Zulu Alpha Romeo

Time flies like an arrow.
Fruit flies like a banana
-- Groucho Marx

6 replies since Mar. 02 2001, 06:17

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Mike Oldfield Forums » Albums » Tubular Bells III » Mike in the Rain?