Karl Wallinger (19 October 1957 – 10 March 2024) – The Whole of the Moon – YouTube
The 1980s saw a lot of good music. Some tunes were innovative, others harkened back to the past, and a third bunch synthesized past and present. Karl Wallinger and the Waterboys belonged to the third type. Sometimes the band sounded like Bob Dylan bu…
Karl Edmond De Vere Wallinger (19 October 1957 – 10 March 2024)
The 1980s saw a lot of good music. Some tunes were innovative, others harkened back to the past, and a third bunch synthesized past and present. Karl Wallinger and the Waterboys belonged to the third type. Sometimes the band sounded like Bob Dylan but with a big 80s snare drum sound. Other times they were downright folkie. And yet other songs sounded something like Jimi Hendrix if he had lived to see the music change.
This tune was released on the 1985 album This Is The Sea. I can't begin to tell how this album touched me. I was young, living away from home, had bought a new monster stereo (much to the chagrin of the good people in the apartment above), and was recently separated from my steady girlfriend. My response to the split was a mix of sadness, exuberance, and some definite living on the edge.
Songs like "The Whole of the Moon" caught all those feelings in the space of a few minutes.
You stretched for the stars And you know how it feels To reach too high Too far too soon You saw the whole of the moon
Rockets were going off but my ship hadn't launched yet. That would happen soon after when I moved to India for a master's degree.
Later, on returning home, I wrote my own song, "The Book of Life," with some very Waterboys-ish lyrics, "I saw the colors... you got the tan."
I always liked those lyrics and hope to get my song out someday. But in the meantime, let's remember Karl Wallinger's unique contribution to the wonderful world of music!
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