With their debut, Yerself Is Steam, the band gained an underground following, particularly in the UK. 1993's Boces was critically acclaimed for its alternative sound, and the band's next album, See You on the Other Side, begins a shift away from the extremes of sonic experimentalism towards the elaborately-orchestrated classic rock blueprint of their later work.
With their early records, Mercury Rev offered experimental, psychedelic rock, which gradually shifted to a melodic, ornate sound. Mercury Rev is often compared to The Flaming Lips, and in fact share close ties: soon after the band's formation, Donahue also joined the Flaming Lips as second guitarist and appeared on two of their albums; and since the 1990 album In a Priest Driven Ambulance, Dave Fridmann has co-produced every Flaming Lips studio album to date except 1993's Transmissions from the Satellite Heart.
Despite considerable critical acclaim, their early releases never gave Mercury Rev more than cult popularity, though they appeared on the smaller second stage at some 1993 Lollapalooza stops. Baker left after their second record, Boces (1993), citing musical and personal disputes; he later recorded an album as Shady. With his departure, the darker, more experimental and less accessible features of their music began to disappear.
The band's first post-Baker album, See You on the Other Side (1995), found them in transition, and the 1998 release of the acclaimed Deserter's Songs (which featured appearances by Garth Hudson and Levon Helm of The Band) made Mercury Rev unexpected pop stars. In the UK, NME Magazine made Deserter's Songs their Album of the Year. Donahue's earnest, high-pitched vocals and concentration on relatively concise, melodic songs gave the band's material an entirely new feel and much increased popularity (Deserter's Songs spawned three UK top 40 singles).
All Is Dream was issued in 2001. It managed a UK top 20 single, "The Dark is Rising," which reached #16 in the UK Top 40.
Mercury Rev's much-anticipated The Secret Migration was released on January 24, 2005. This was followed up in 2006 by a compilation album called The Essential Mercury Rev: Stillness Breathes 1991-2006 and the film soundtrack album Hello Blackbird. More recently, the band released a pair of albums on September 29, 2008: Snowflake Midnight, and a free MP3 album of instrumentals, Strange Attractor.
In 2011 the band performed Deserter's Songs in it's complete form live at several festivals in the UK.
Tides Of The Moon
Mercury Rev Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hang from your sleeve
Wind through your soul
The kind you can't control
The kind you can't conceive
The kind you can't believe
But wish you could break
Wish you could weave
It ties you to me
And you fly in the face of the sun
And you float in the tides of the moon
The paths that run from your dark
Climb through the trees
Wind like a snake
The kind you can't escape
The kind you can't conceive
The kind you can't believe
With prickly little thorns
Sharp tiny teeth
They are hungry for the threads
Hanging from your sleeve
Waiting on a path
The kind you can't conceive
But wish you could take
Wish you could leave
I wish you could see
It leads you to me
The song "Tides Of The Moon" by Mercury Rev captures a bittersweet and mysterious love story that is expressed through poetic verses. The song opens with the lines "The threads that run through your life, Hang from your sleeve, Wind through your soul" which refer to the intangible, but powerful connections that bind the two lovers together. These threads are beyond the control of the lovers, and they can't conceive or believe it. The singer wishes they could see how these threads tie them together.
The chorus, "And you fly in the face of the sun, And you float in the tides of the moon," describes how the lovers are on an emotional rollercoaster ride with ups and downs, highs and lows. They are like the tides, which are influenced by the gravitational pull of the moon. The lovers are also pulled towards each other, like the moon's gravitational pull on the tides.
The second verse - "The paths that run from your dark, Climb through the trees, Wind like a snake, The kind you can't escape, The kind you can't conceive, The kind you can't believe" - is about the darker side of oneself that is always present, waiting to be explored. The thorns and teeth refer to the difficult journey of self-discovery and how it intersects with the lover's journey. The ending lines - "It leads you to me" - suggest that the two are bound to meet, even though their paths may be difficult.
Overall, "Tides Of The Moon" is a haunting, beautiful song that is open to interpretation. The lyrics evoke a sense of longing, mystery, and passion for a love that cannot be controlled but binds two people inextricably.
Line by Line Meaning
The threads that run through your live
Your experiences and choices are the foundation of who you are
Hang from your sleeve
They are transparent to everyone since they are always on your display
Wind through your soul
They shape your innermost feelings and beliefs
The kind you can't control
You cannot change your past or the person it has made you be
The kind you can't conceive
You cannot imagine what you would be like without these threads
The kind you can't believe
You might question why you had to go through certain things
But wish you could break
You may regret some of your choices and experiences
Wish you could weave
You might want to rearrange your past to be a different person
I wish you could see
I want you to understand that your past has made you beautiful and unique
It ties you to me
We have shared experiences and that has connected us in a special way
And you fly in the face of the sun
You defy what is deemed possible and chase your dreams
And you float in the tides of the moon
You are poetic and mystical, and draw inspiration from the world around you
The paths that run from your dark
The consequences of your hardships and mistakes
Climb through the trees
They affect your thoughts and actions, and manifest in your life
Wind like a snake
They are unpredictable and can take you by surprise
The kind you can't escape
You cannot run away from their effects on your life
With prickly little thorns
They are painful and difficult to deal with
Sharp tiny teeth
They can cause harm and suffering
They are hungry for the threads
They feed on your negative experiences
Waiting on a path
They are always there, lurking in the background
The kind you can't conceive
You cannot predict when they will surface and affect your life
But wish you could take
You may want to confront and overcome these issues
Wish you could leave
You may want to escape their hold on your life
I wish you could see
I want you to see that you are strong enough to overcome them
It leads you to me
No matter where you go or what you do, our shared experiences will always connect us
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JEFFREY MERCEL, JONATHAN DONAHUE, SEAN MACKOWIAK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind