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| ==Overview== | | dD3gVo <a href="http://ilpytjettieg.com/">ilpytjettieg</a>, [url=http://bzuvzgtuclkv.com/]bzuvzgtuclkv[/url], [link=http://odhdiknoudrf.com/]odhdiknoudrf[/link], http://wpelaeqtgzlr.com/ |
| "Across the Sea" is generally considered a fan favorite. It is the midway segment between ''Pinkerton'''s first half (the dropped ''[[Songs from the Black Hole]]'' material), its second half, the material written at Harvard. Cuomo remarked: "When I got the letter, I fell in love with her. It was such a great letter. I was very lonely at the time, but at the same time I was very depressed that I would never meet her. Even if I did see her, she was probably some fourteen-year-old girl, who didn't speak English." The song was written about a letter that Rivers received from a Japanese fan girl. In many ways, "Across the Sea" is symbolic. | |
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| The first reason, is because, as mentioned above, "Across the Sea" represents the median between an album that can be considered two parts: hypothetical angst (part 1) and narrative angst (part 2). Much like it's placement in the album, "Across the Sea" also was the turning point (as Karl recalled) in ''Pinkerton'''s development. When Rivers wrote "Across the Sea", it was when he began to scrap the concept of the Black Hole. Likewise, it ended Rivers' period of intense writers block. This is represented by the 20 intro piano/clarinet intro before the distorted F# chord comes in, which is assumed by many to be the symbolism of Rivers opening the letter.
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| In the first verse, Rivers reportedly describes the letter almost verbatim. So close, in fact, that the girl who wrote the letter gets royalties. The song is one of the more personal of all the album. In the chorus, Rivers reveals his obsession with the letter. Being so distraught at Harvard, and so lonely, Rivers exclaims, "I need help and you're way across the sea." Each chorus ends with the phrase "I've got your letter, you've got my song."
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| In the second verse, Rivers describes the physical letter itself rather than its contents. He discusses the stationary, sniffing the envelope and licking the part where the girl licked and "falling to little pieces." He then proceeds to fantasize about the girl's clothing, room, and whether she masturbates.
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| In the solo of the song, Rivers changes keys every eight bars.
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| In the bridge, the instruments cut down while the song slowly grows quiet and Rivers refers to a moment in his childhood where he contemplated being a monk. He then tries to tell his mother he's a "good little boy", almost as if he's not quite sure of it himself. Immediately after wards, he decides to sing, "It's all your fault mama!", which is most likely a reference to being raised in such an nontraditional upbringing, something that Rivers felt attributes to his shyness and awkward youth.
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| Rivers then sings about how he dislikes the music industry ("this business is really lame") because he cannot find true love. He then sings "I've gotta live on the island to find the juice", which can be interpreted as a reference to living on the island of Japan to find juice (either something of satisfaction, or some type of sexual release or activity). The lines "As if I could live on words and dreams and a million screams..." refer to the "screaming crowds" he always said he wanted as a youth. In regards to his childhood ambitions to be a rock star like [[Kiss]], Rivers has said, "I didn't think past the screaming crowds." Now, Rivers realizes that it is something of little sustenance in Rivers life, and he'd rather have love.
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| The drums and chords on the song are very sporadic and typically do not follow much of a pattern, but rather change. On some bars, Rivers plays an Em and on others he plays a Bm in its place. The bass lines stray further from the root notes of the guitar chords than they did on [[The Blue Album]]. On June 21, 2008, Rivers said to ''Kerang!'', "Yes, she [the girl in the song] knows it's her. When I wrote the song I took her letter and I literally lifted lines from the letter and put them in the song, so she actually collects royalties on that song."
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| "Across the Sea" also has strong ties to the name of the album, ''Pinkerton''. In the play ''[[Madame Butterfly]]'', Pinkerton is the name of the colonel who falls in love with a Japanese woman, Cio Cio-San (or actually Madame Butterfly herself), but has to leave her in Japan and return to America. Hence, Pinkerton was across the sea from Butterfly. When Pinkerton returns to Japan, Butterfly eventually is murdered. Emotions from this part of the play are mentioned in the song "[[Butterfly]]."
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| ==Personnel== | | ==Personnel== |
