"One of my earlier memories of music is my mom sitting at the piano late at night, playing us to sleep with Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata,'" Marc says. With a father who preached and led worship and a mother who led the church choir and played piano, Marc was raised in a music-intensive environment.
His parents instilled a love for music in him that followed him throughout his childhood through eight years of piano lessons, through Disney duets he would sing with friends, through hours he spent alone teaching himself guitar all the way to a small college in Saskatchewan, where he formed the band Downhere with his roommate Jason Germain and a few close friends in 1999.
"Our friendship was always based around music," Marc says. "We really hit it off musically... we realized we shared a lot of the same taste in music, while also bringing different influences."
Downhere developed their sound while touring on behalf of the college, which would send them out on the road with production, lighting, sound, and even a vehicle and trailer. After four years of college, the band left their Canadian roots behind and relocated to Nashville, TN, where they signed with Word Records. Downhere has since gone on to win multiple Juno Awards and a Dove Award. They have released 10 albums, including their latest release, On the Altar of Love, which reflects a different approach to songwriting than their previous releases.
"For me it used to be all about being musically complex and artsy," Marc says. "And then I had a real perspective-shifting experience. At one of our shows there was a little girl standing front-center with her mother. When I said the next song was "How Many Kings," her face lit up as she looked up at her mom and grabbed her hand. She sang along to every word. I thought to myself, 'I've got to write more songs like THAT.'"
In September 2011, Marc entered a competition to join Roger Taylor, original drummer for the legendary rock band Queen, on stage for the Queen Extravaganza Live Tour. Throughout his career with Downhere, concertgoers have often approached Marc insisting he sounds just like Freddie Mercury, legendary singer of the rock band Queen.
"I don't think I've done a show in the last five or six years where five to ten people haven't come up to me and said, 'Hey, anyone ever tell you that you sound like Queen?' or 'that guy from Queen' or 'Eddie Mercury,'" he says laughingly. "In the list of great rock signers, he is considered one of the best if not the best and it's always just a huge compliment when people tell that to me."
It seems that Downhere concertgoers aren't alone in their thinking, as Marc's entry for the Queen Extravaganza contest, a video of Marc singing along with the Queen classic "Somebody to Love," generated more millions of views on YouTube after being up for only a few days.
Whether it's onstage with Downhere or on a computer screen, Marc has a message and a voice that has captured millions for the past decade. Through music, Marc is after the one thing people are always looking for a connection.
"There is always time for exploring new soundscapes and interesting arrangements…but the song has to connect with people or there's not much point to it. I'm really trying to stay in that magic equilibrium now as I write, the union of intriguing artistry combined with strong human connection."
Our Love Remains
Marc Martel Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Our love remains
Our love remains till the end of days
Our love remains
Our love remains
Our love remains till the end of days
Time stretches on like a marathon
You can try to be the break of dawn
But beauty always dulls in the halls of Babylon
In the halls of Babylon
When the cities fall like water to a waterfall
When the oceans rise and the sun can barely shine
Our love remains
Our love remains
Our love remains till the end of days
Our love remains
Our love remains
Our love remains till the end of days
The echoes shout from a broken vow
We tiptoe round the fallen now
If forever is a passing cloud
You're gonna get wet when the rain comes down
When the rain comes down
When the cities fall like water to a waterfall
When the oceans rise and the sun can barely shine
Our love remains
Our love remains
Our love remains till the end of days
Our love remains (Our love)
Our love remains
Our love remains till the end of days
And if all we have is this fleeting moment
Let's make it last so we'll always own it
Our love remains
Our love remains
Our love remains till the end of days
When the cities fall like water to a waterfall
When the oceans rise and the sun can barely shine
Our love remains (When the cities fall)
Our love remains
Our love remains till the end of days
Our love remains (When the oceans rise)
Our love remains
Our love remains till the end of days
Till the end of days
Our love remains till the end of days
Our love remains
Our love remains till the end of days
In "Our Love Remains" by Marc Martel, the lyrics seem to be about the endurance and stability of love. The phrase "Our love remains" is repeated several times, driving home the idea that love persists even as time passes and the world changes around us. The lines about memories fading and beauty dulling in the halls of Babylon suggest that nothing on earth remains constant and unchanging except for love. The song also references the idea of passing clouds and the ephemeral nature of life, but encourages the listener to make the most of the present moment and cherish the love they have while they can. Overall, the song seems to be urging the listener to remember that the love that they have can be a steady and reliable force in their lives, even when everything else is shifting and uncertain.
Line by Line Meaning
Our love remains
No matter what happens, our love continues to exist
Our love remains till the end of days
Our love will last forever, until the end of time
Time stretches on like a marathon
Time seems to go on forever, like a long race
Memories fade like a jester's song
Memories can fade away easily, like a song sung by a jester
You can try to be the break of dawn
You can try to bring hope and light to a situation
But beauty always dulls in the halls of Babylon
Even beautiful things lose their luster eventually, especially in times of trouble
When the cities fall like water to a waterfall
In the face of destruction and chaos, cities can crumble like water flowing over a waterfall
When the oceans rise and the sun can barely shine
When the world is in turmoil, the increasing sea levels can make it hard for the sun to shine through
The echoes shout from a broken vow
The memory of a promise that was broken can come back to haunt us
We tiptoe round the fallen now
We walk carefully around the things or people that have been destroyed or hurt
If forever is a passing cloud
If eternity is fleeting and temporary
You're gonna get wet when the rain comes down
Difficult times will come and it's inevitable that you will feel the effects
And if all we have is this fleeting moment
If this is all we have, this brief, transitory time
Let's make it last so we'll always own it
Let's make the most of it, hold onto it, and cherish it forever
Till the end of days
Until the end of time
Writer(s): William Mc Auley Iii, John Randall Fields, Marc Martel
Contributed by Thomas W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.