Heather Nova is the Bermudian Songwriter who grew up on a boat in the Caribbean and went on to sell over 2 million albums in her 15 year career to date. She has released seven albums and has opened for artists like Van Morrison and Neil Young as well as performed with artists like Sarah McLachlan. She has also had hit records with co-writes featuring artists like ATB (Renegade), and Eskobar (Someone New).Her brother is the Reggae singer Mishka.
By the end of the 1980s, after leaving RISD, Heather moved briefly to New York City (where she unsuccessfully tried to interest some major labels in a demo including Columbia , who rejected her, only to sign her five years later ), before moving to London, England. She has British citizenship due to her Bermudan origin. In 1990, she released her first recording, an EP called 'Heather Frith' — she had not yet changed her name by then. The name change came a year or so later after several gigs in the Netherlands, where, after finding out that the Dutch have trouble pronouncing "Frith," she chose a name that would be easily pronounceable in every European language, "Nova," her Canadian mother's maiden name.
The new name debuted in 1993 with her second EP 'Spirit in You' and her first full album, 'Glow Stars'. The success of the album led her to record and release her first live album, 'Blow', the same year, which she supported by a tour of Europe. A year later in 1994 she released what many consider to be her finest work to date, the emotional yet jagged album 'Oyster', for which she toured for almost two years. Another live album, 'Live from the Milky Way', was released in 1995, and after its release she toured for nearly three years straight, twice joining Sarah McLachlan and others on the North American Lilith Fair, which is a music festival with only female performers. Heather is also a frequent performer at European music festivals such as Roskilde.
In 1998, the long-awaited follow up to 'Oyster' was released. After the release of 'Siren', Heather took a break while various television show and film soundtracks licensed some of her songs and her record company (Sony Records/The WORK Group) released various singles from the album, which received only moderate play on America's MTV2, Europe's MTV and Canada's MuchMusic and on mainstream radio, although she was popular on college radio. Also during this time, she recorded a version of the often covered Billie Holiday song, 'Gloomy Sunday', for the German WWII drama Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod. In 2000, she released yet another live album, called 'Wonderlust'.
Over the years, Heather has written and recorded over a hundred songs, so that her albums are selected from work that has often already been performed live, rather than being conceived during rushed songwriting sessions. Half the songs on 'Siren' had been written during the 'Oyster' sessions and were frequently played live prior to being committed to a studio session, and most of the songs for 2001's 'South' were written between 1999 and 2000 while she was on hiatus from touring. With the release of 'South', she returned to the international spotlight with an appearance on the soundtrack of the John Cusack movie "Serendipity", a couple of music videos, and a collaboration with Swedish band Eskobar, for a song called "Someone New", also released as a video, which proved so popular that it was played primarily on America's MTV, not just MTV2 (which is normally reserved for less-popular songs). 'Storm', Heather's fifth studio album, was released in late 2003 on Big Cat Records, as was 'Redbird', released in 2005.
In 2002, she self-published 'the sorrowjoy', a 72-page book of her poetry and drawings. An album of the same name was released in March 2006, which featured Nova reading the poems from her book set to ambient music. The album has only been available for purchase at concerts beginning with the Intimate Evening tour, from the fan-run websites, HeatherNova.Net and HeatherNova.De, and from the official website, www.heathernova.com.
The album Storm was released in 2003. It was a more refined album, using Mercury Rev as Heather's backing band. The album was Top 5 in Germany and Top 10 across Europe. It was an album of dark ballads, marking a step away from the polished sound of South. It was also Heather's first release on her own record label, Saltwater Records. Despite being pregnant, she toured hard with a new line up and band, before returning home to Bermuda. (A live DVD was made of these concerts (live at the Union Chapel)
Blind
Heather Nova Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I've been diving in the sea
I've been haunted by the shadows
Of what we could have been
And its not that I'm broken
And it isn't that I bleed
But when you pulled the stars from the heavens
And where would I put my hands now?
Its over now
We had our time
Its over now
We had our time
But you leave me
Blind
Will you leave me
Blind
Dove for the treasures
We went deep down for the pearls
And we could have cracked it open
Yeah, it could have been so good
And where would I put my hands now?
Its over now
We had our time
Its over now
We had our time
I feel this pain
I know I'm alive
If love is wrong
Then I'm doing time
I feel myself
Small like a child
My love has gone
How will I survive
It's everywhere
It's in the trees
All those stars and I can't see
I'm blind
I'm blind
I'm blind
And how will you think of us
A crease along your hand
Lying at these temple doors
Beautiful and sad
And where would I put my hands now?
Its over now
We had our time
Its over now
We had our time
But you leave me
Blind
Will you leave me
Blind
Its in the trees
All those stars and I can't see
Oh, you leave me, you leave
You leave me
Blind
Blind
Ooh, you leave me, you leave me
Its in the trees
You leave me, you leave me
Blind
The song "Blind" by Heather Nova is a reflection on a past relationship and the pain that comes from the end of that relationship. The lyrics reveal a sense of regret and longing for what could have been. The repeated line "you leave me blind" signifies the feeling of being lost and alone without the person who was once a significant part of the singer's life.
The lyrics describe the search for answers and the feeling of being haunted by the shadows of what could have been. The singer has gone deep down and dove for treasures, but in the end, it seems they were unable to find what they were looking for. The line "if love is wrong, then I'm doing time" suggests that the pain of the breakup is akin to a prison sentence.
The chorus of the song reinforces the idea that the relationship is over and they had their time together. However, it's hard to move on when the pain of the loss is still being felt. The line "all those stars and I can't see" expresses the idea that the world around the singer is filled with beauty, but they are unable to appreciate it because of the pain they are feeling.
Overall, "Blind" is a deeply emotional song that reflects on the pain of losing someone you love. It's a song that many people can relate to, and the lyrics are beautifully written and full of rich imagery.
Line by Line Meaning
I've been searching for the answers
I've been trying to figure out what went wrong between us
I've been diving in the sea
I've been digging deep to understand the root cause of our issues
I've been haunted by the shadows
I've been tormented by the memories of what we could've had
Of what we could have been
Of the potential we had as a couple
And its not that I'm broken
It's not that I'm damaged beyond repair
And it isn't that I bleed
It's not that I'm physically hurt by our breakup
But when you pulled the stars from the heavens
But when you took away everything I loved about us
It got so hard to see
It became difficult for me to see the way ahead without you
And where would I put my hands now?
Where do I go from here without you?
Its over now
Our relationship has ended
We had our time
We had a good run
But you leave me Blind
But you're leaving me with no direction or guidance
Will you leave me Blind
Are you intentionally leaving me lost and uncertain?
Dove for the treasures
We searched for the good things in our relationship
We went deep down for the pearls
We explored the depths of our love for each other
And we could have cracked it open
We had the potential to break through our issues and make it work
Yeah, it could have been so good
Our relationship could've been amazing
I feel this pain
I'm hurting emotionally
I know I'm alive
This pain is a reminder that I'm still living
If love is wrong
If loving you was a mistake
Then I'm doing time
Then I'm paying the price for that mistake
I feel myself
I'm starting to understand who I am
Small like a child
I feel vulnerable and helpless
My love has gone
My love for you is fading away
How will I survive
How will I move on without you?
It's everywhere
The pain of our breakup is all around me
It's in the trees
Everywhere I look reminds me of you
All those stars and I can't see
Everything that once brought me joy is now overshadowed by my pain
I'm blind
I am lost and confused
And how will you think of us
How will you remember our relationship?
A crease along your hand
A memory etched in your mind
Lying at these temple doors
A place of significance for us
Beautiful and sad
Our relationship was both beautiful and heartbreaking
Ooh, you leave me, you leave me
You're abandoning me
Its in the trees
My distress is all around me
Blind
Lost and deprived of direction
Contributed by Madelyn G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
sticksman1979
Beautiful, beautiful song.
Bryan McLean
pure pleasure to listen to.
Markus R
one of her strongest tunes - sadly, she never did it live...
damsche
now she does :)
Isobel Whittaker
a crease along your hand
actiongal
and it's not that i'm broken..