He also produced the hugely successful Year Of The Cat album with Al Stewart and two albums with American progressive rock band Ambrosia. In 1975 he met Eric Woolfson who not only became his manager, but joined forces with Alan as a songwriting and performing partner for what became known as The Alan Parsons Project. The APP’s debut album, Tales Of Mystery And Imagination, based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, paved the way for a signing to Clive Davis’ newly launched Arista label and a string of hit albums, namely I Robot (1977), Pyramid (1978), The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980), Eye in the Sky (1982), Ammonia Avenue (1984), Vulture Culture (1985), Stereotomy (1986) and Gaudi (1987). A brief venture into musical theatre resulted in Freudiana in 1990.The show ran for over a year in the historic Theater An Der Wien in Vienna. Eric and Alan then went separate ways. Eric devoted his career to the musical theatre while Parsons felt the need to bring his music to the live concert stage and to continue to record conceptual symphonic rock music. With his long-standing previous APP collaborators, guitarist Ian Bairnson, drummer Stuart Elliott and orchestral arranger Andrew Powell, Alan dropped the "Project" identity for Alan Parsons - Try Anything Once in 1994. The partnership continued for On Air in 1996 and The Time Machine in 1999. During this time the first incarnation of "Alan Parsons Live Project" toured to sell-out audiences throughout the globe.
Following Alan’s relocation to California, a new Live Project band was formed in 2003. The album A Valid Path, Alan’s foray into Electronica was released in 2004 and featured Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, The Crystal Method, Shpongle, Uberzone, PJ Olsson and Alan’s son, Jeremy. 2008 saw the reissue of all the Alan Parsons Project albums in expanded form, containing never-before-heard bonus material and a 2-CD compilation called The Essential Collection. One of the most familiar Project tracks is Sirius, perhaps best known as the Chicago Bulls theme and more recently as walk-on music for The New Orleans Saints at their triumphant Superbowl game in 2010.
Alan’s latest venture is an instructional series about recording called The Art And Science Of Sound Recording. See www.artandscienceofsound.com. All Our Yesterdays, a song written especially for the series, features some of LA’s finest musicians and a rare performance by Alan on lead vocals. Alan lives in Santa Barbara, California with his wife Lisa and her two daughters, Tabitha and Brittni, four dogs, a lop-eared rabbit, and an 18-hand Clydesdale called Dante.
Oh Life
Alan Parsons Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Out to sea
Tasting the saltwater
Tears upon her cheek
Morning breaks
She's not there
Who could ever find her?
No one heard
No one came
No angel of mercy
Appears to know her name
Where is hope
When words fail
All the colours running
Inside when life turns pale
In the dick the boats are harboured
Where the water's cold and still
Oh life, she cries, I've lost the will
>From the bridge she sees a lifetime
Oh life, she cries
There must be more...
Tides roll in
Waters rise
Any change of reason
Only clouds her eyes
Arms of grace
She won't feel
All the wounds inside her
That time can never heal
The city lights shine seaward
Swirling in a trance
Her eyes upon the water
Alone in her last dance
>From the docks the boats are leaving
As she cries into the dawn
"Oh life, I'm barely holding on"
And she sees her future falling
Til it finds the ocean floor
Oh life, she cries
There must be more
There must be more
And with the early light
She'll sail into the clear
The winds are all behind her
The hour's almost here
>From the bridge she hears the voices
Turn into a roar
Oh life she cries
there must be more
On the dock her soul is sinking
But her spirit longs to soar
Oh life, she cries
There must be more
There must be more
There must be more
Oh life I'm barely holding on
There must be more
There must be more
Oh life there must be something more
The song “Oh Life” by Alan Parsons touches on the theme of hopelessness and despair. The song tells the story of a woman who seems to have lost everything and does not see the point of continuing with her life. The first verse establishes the setting by describing the waves rolling out to sea and a woman crying tears on her cheek. The next verse reveals that the woman is missing and nobody seems to be looking for her. The third verse asks where hope is when the words fail to provide comfort in a difficult time. In the fourth verse, the woman is looking towards the future and sees nothing. In the bridge, the woman hears voices and turns them into a roar, indicating a change in her perception. She realizes that there must be more to life than her current situation and her spirit longs to soar.
The song is a commentary on the human experience and the emotional highs and lows that come with it, particularly during difficult times. The lyrics are open to interpretation, but they seem to suggest that, even when we feel hopeless, there is always a chance for redemption and renewal. The woman in the song ultimately realizes that there is more to life than her current situation, and that there is hope for the future.
Overall, “Oh Life” is a poignant and introspective song about the search for hope and purpose in times of despair.
Line by Line Meaning
Waves roll out
The ocean waves move away from the shore
Out to sea
The waves go towards the vast sea
Tasting the saltwater
The waves carry saltwater into the shore
Tears upon her cheek
She is crying
Morning breaks
It's morning
She's not there
She's missing
Who could ever find her?
It seems unlikely she will be found
Who would ever care?
Nobody seems to care about her
No one heard
Nobody listened to her
No one came
Nobody came to help her
No angel of mercy
Nobody came to help her as if she were a fallen angel
Appears to know her name
Nobody seems to know who she is
Where is hope
She is desperate for hope
When words fail
She can't express how she feels in words
All the colours running
Her emotions are overpowering
Inside when life turns pale
Her mind is overwhelmed when life becomes dull
In the dick the boats are harboured
The boats are docked in a place where they can be protected from the others
Where the water's cold and still
The water is calm and cold in that place
Oh life, she cries, I've lost the will
She has lost her motivation to live and calls out to life in despair
From the bridge she sees a lifetime
She sees scenes from her long life while standing on a bridge
There must be more...
She hopes there's more to life than what she has experienced
Tides roll in
The tide comes in and the water level rises
Waters rise
The water level increases
Any change of reason
She cannot think clearly
Only clouds her eyes
Her eyes have blurred with tears and confusion
Arms of grace
A gentle embrace
She won't feel
She is numb to any feelings of comfort
All the wounds inside her
She has been deeply hurt emotionally
That time can never heal
Those emotional wounds will never heal with time
The city lights shine seaward
The lights of the city shine towards the sea
Swirling in a trance
She is in a daze watching the swirling lights
Her eyes upon the water
She is staring at the water
Alone in her last dance
She feels like she's about to die
From the docks the boats are leaving
The boats are departing from the docks
As she cries into the dawn
She cries until the morning comes
"Oh life, I'm barely holding on"
She is barely able to hold on to her life
And she sees her future falling
She sees a hopeless future ahead of her
Til it finds the ocean floor
Her future seems to be sinking down to the ocean floor
There must be more
There has to be something more than what she is seeing now
And with the early light
As the sun rises
She'll sail into the clear
She sees a clear path ahead of her
The winds are all behind her
She feels like the winds are pushing her from behind
The hour's almost here
The moment she's been waiting for is almost here
From the bridge she hears the voices
She can hear people's voices from the bridge
Turn into a roar
The voices become louder and louder
"Oh life she cries"
She cries out to life again
There must be more
She is pleading for something more
On the dock her soul is sinking
She feels like her soul is sinking down into the ocean
But her spirit longs to soar
Her spirit is still eager to fly high
Oh life, she cries
She is still calling out to life
There must be more
She holds on to the hope that there's more to life
There must be more
She is convinced that there's more to life
Oh life I'm barely holding on
She is barely holding on to her life
There must be more
She is certain that there's something more to life
There must be more
She holds on to the idea that there's something more to life
Oh life there must be something more
She can't accept that this is all there is to life
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ALAN PARSONS, ANDREW POWELL, DAVID PACK, IAN BAIRNSON, STUART ALEXANDER ELLIOT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind