By the time of their debut album, 1980's Crocodiles - a moderate UK hit - the drum machine had been replaced by Pete de Freitas. Their next, the critically-acclaimed Heaven Up Here, reached the Top Ten in 1981, as did 1983's Porcupine and '84's Ocean Rain. Singles like "The Killing Moon" (later used in the soundtrack to Donnie Darko, a film whose imagery owed much to the artwork of the band's early records.), "Silver," "Bring on the Dancing Horses," and "The Cutter" helped keep the group in the public eye as they took a brief hiatus in the late 1980s. Their 1987 self-titled LP was a small American hit, their only LP to have significant sales there.
McCulloch quit the band in 1988. De Freitas was killed in a motorcycle accident one year later. The others decided to continue, recruiting Noel Burke to replace McCulloch on vocals in Reverberation (1990), which did not generate much excitement among fans or critics. Burke, Sargeant and Pattinson split after that, but the surviving three fourths of the original band reformed in 1997 and released Evergreen (1997), What are You Going to Do with Your Life? (1999), Flowers (2001) , Siberia (2005), and the latest addition, The Fountain (2009). The group's old audience liked the return to their classic sound, and they also managed to gain a number of new, younger listeners.
Echo and the Bunnymen were managed early on by Bill Drummond, who went on to be a founder member of The KLF.
Shroud of Turin
Echo & the Bunnymen Lyrics
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He saw me
That Turin-stained shroud
In Rimini
He cried
And I cried
We both died
Laughing
Why me?
Why Rimini?
I want you
You want me
We both want
The things we'll never be now
We see now
It's sad how
Some things aren't meant to be
For we
Are just you and me
It never happens when you want it to
It never does what it's supposed to do
It's never good enough to see me through
See me through
I love that shroud that you're in
I love that you're maturing
I love that sweet sack you're in
I love your saccharin
I love that shroud that you're in
I love that you from Turin
I love that sweet sack you're in
I love your saccharin
It never happens when you want it to
It never does what it's supposed to do
It's never good enough to see me through
See me through
He saw me
I saw him
We both saw
Beneath each others'
Skin deep-
Er than deep
We both sleep
To dream of what could be
For me
And sing hymns for him and me
It never happens when you want it to
It never does what it's supposed to do
It's never good enough to see me through
See me through
I love that shroud that you're in
I love that you're from Turin
I love that sweet sack you're in
I love your saccharin
I love that shroud that you're in
I love that you're maturing
I love that sweet sack you're in
I love your saccharin
The lyrics of Echo & the Bunnymen's song Shroud of Turin tell a story of unrequited love and longing. With the shroud of Turin as a metaphorical backdrop, the song is about two people who see each other from a distance, but are unable to be together. The first verse speaks of two people who meet in Rimini and both see the shroud of Turin, which is believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. They both cry and laugh, and feel a deep connection, but are unable to be together. The second verse speaks of the pain of wanting things that are out of reach and not meant to be. The chorus repeats that sentiment and tells us that things don't always go the way we want them to.
Line by Line Meaning
I saw him
I caught a glimpse of him
He saw me
He caught a glimpse of me
That Turin-stained shroud
The cloth from Turin that bears an image of Jesus
In Rimini
In a coastal town in Italy
He cried
He shed tears
And I cried
I too shed tears
We both died
We both felt overwhelmed
Laughing
As if it was funny
Him and me
Both of us
Why me?
Why did this happen to me?
Why Rimini?
Why did this happen in Rimini?
I want you
I desire you
You want me
You desire me
We both want
We both desire
The things we'll never be now
The things that will never come to pass
We see now
We understand now
It's sad how
It's unfortunate how
Some things aren't meant to be
Some things are not meant to happen
For we
For both of us
Are just you and me
We are only each other
It never happens when you want it to
It doesn't happen at the time you desire
It never does what it's supposed to do
It never fulfills its intended purpose
It's never good enough to see me through
It's never sufficient to help me persevere
I love that shroud that you're in
I love the cloth that bears the image you're part of
I love that you're maturing
I love that you're growing up
I love that sweet sack you're in
I love the body you inhabit
I love your saccharin
I love your sweetness
I love that you from Turin
I love that you come from Turin
Beneath each others'
Underneath each others'
Skin deep-er than deep
Deeper than surface level
We both sleep
We both rest
To dream of what could be
To imagine what could happen
For me
For myself
And sing hymns for him and me
And praise together
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: WILLIAM SERGEANT, IAN STEPHEN MCCULLOCH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind