The term Various Artists is used in the record industry when numerous singers and musicians collaborate on a song or collection of songs. Most often on Last.fm, compilation album tracks appear under the name of Various Artists erroneously because the individual artist is not listed in the album's ID3 information.
Compilation albums, for example.
Sometimes, single releases may be credited to Various Artists when their profits are going to charity and, usually in high-profile cases, are sometimes known by a group name. Examples include Band Aid with their releases of Do They Know It's Christmas? and USA for Africa with We Are The World.
Various Artists is also an actual performance name for Torsten Pröfrock, who runs the German DIN label. Torsten performs also as Dynamo, Erosion, Resilent, Traktor besides some others. He's a good friend of Robert Henke and since the Fall of 2004, he is a member of Monolake.
Various Artists was also a short-lived Bristol punk band formed by brothers Jonjo and Robin Key (originally from Birmingham). Other members were also simultaneously in Art Objects who went on to become The Blue Aeroplanes, the latter the Key brothers also co-wrote some songs and were involved in. When Various Artists imploded, the Key brothers went on to form Either / Or.
Various Artists also appear on tracks from musical theater soundtracks, due to the nature of having many cast members on one song, as well as an ensemble in some cases.
The Wheel
Various Artists Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She drinks up a bit but floats it up to the sky
Now what she takes from our lake
will make her a storm cloud, rumbles and tumbles rain
From up high, high, high
It's a wheel Winnie
This journey of ours
rain back to the lake below
And you'll ride that wheel wherever you go
Not a minute or moment is the same
The wheel keep you guessing
And everything around you is along for the ride
The pond, the bullfrogs, the birch trees, and hound dogs plus people, all people ebb and flow
With the tide, tide, tide
It's a wheel Winnie
A ripple in water
Girl to wife to mother to daughter
Like all your kinfolk
Come and gone
Can't stop rowing, growing, changing then moving on
Once you drop an anchor, the boat gets stuck and it could stay forever
Just floating on top
Watching life pass it by
Just floating up top
Show me how to climb back on the wheel
I'd be there slick as a slingshot
Prepare to get off at the end
And share with someone my spot
You can't have living without dying
so you can't call this living what we got
We just are
We just be
No before
No beyond
A rowboat anchored in the middle of a pond
it's a wheel
A ripple in water
Girl to wife to mother to daughter
Like all your kinfolk
Come and gone
It's a wheel
A circle in motion
Can't stop rowing, growing, changing and moving on
Can't stop rowing, growing, changing then moving on
The lyrics of "The Wheel" by Various Artists describe the cyclical nature of life and the interconnectedness of all things in the universe. The first verse uses a metaphor of the sun drinking water from a lake and then releasing it as rain through storm clouds. This is compared to the journey of life, which is like a wheel that keeps turning and taking us on a journey from birth to death and beyond. The chorus reinforces this idea, stating that life is a journey that we must ride, and that everything around us, including nature and other people, is along for the ride as well. The second verse uses the image of a rowboat anchored in the middle of a pond to illustrate the idea that we must keep moving and growing, or else we risk becoming stagnant and disconnected from the flow of life.
The song's message is one of acceptance, urging listeners to embrace the cyclical nature of life and to find joy in the journey itself rather than focusing solely on the destination. It celebrates the interconnectedness of all things and encourages listeners to live fully and authentically, constantly growing and evolving as they ride the wheel of life.
Line by Line Meaning
I bet you didn't know that the sun took a shine water
The sun draws its energy from water, which she takes from our lake and returns to the sky to form storm clouds.
She drinks up a bit but floats it up to the sky
The sun evaporates some of the lake's water and lifts it up into the atmosphere.
Now what she takes from our lake will make her a storm cloud, rumbles and tumbles rain
The evaporated water from the lake will form a storm cloud that produces thunder and rain.
From up high, high, high
All of this happens in the sky, far above the ground.
It's a wheel Winnie
The natural process of water cycling from the sun to the lake to the cloud and back to the lake is like a perpetual wheel that keeps turning.
This journey of ours
Life is a journey that we're all on.
Sun to lake to cloud that showers rain back to the lake below
The cycle of water involves the sun, lake, cloud, and the rain that falls back into the lake below.
And you'll ride that wheel wherever you go
We're all part of this cycle, and we can't escape it.
Not a minute or moment is the same
Life is always changing and never static.
The wheel keep you guessing
We can never predict what life will bring us next.
And everything around you is along for the ride
Everyone and everything in our lives is affected by the cycle of life.
The pond, the bullfrogs, the birch trees, and hound dogs plus people, all people ebb and flow
Everything around us is subject to the natural rhythms of life.
With the tide, tide, tide
Just like the tide, everything in life ebbs and flows.
A ripple in water
Life is like a ripple in water, constantly spreading outward.
Girl to wife to mother to daughter
Women go through different stages of life, from being a girl to a wife to a mother and possibly a grandmother to a daughter.
Like all your kinfolk come and gone
Our ancestors went through the same cycle of life that we're going through now.
Can't stop rowing, growing, changing and moving on
We can't prevent the natural progression of life and must continue to evolve and adapt to our changing circumstances.
Once you drop an anchor, the boat gets stuck and it could stay forever
If we give up and stop progressing in life, we can get stuck in one place indefinitely.
Just floating on top
If we stop progressing in life, we can become a passive observer of events happening around us.
Watching life pass it by
If we don't actively participate in life, we can feel like we're not really living at all.
Show me how to climb back on the wheel
We can get stuck in life, but we can also learn how to move forward again.
I'd be there slick as a slingshot
We can move with great speed and momentum once we get back on track.
Prepare to get off at the end
We must eventually accept that our time in life will come to an end.
And share with someone my spot
We can leave behind a legacy and pass on what we have learned to others.
You can't have living without dying so you can't call this living what we got
Death is an inevitable part of life, and we must accept that in order to truly live in the present.
We just are
We exist in the present moment, and that's all that matters.
We just be
We don't need to constantly be striving for something in order to truly live.
No before
The past is gone, and we can't change it.
No beyond
The future is not yet here, and we can't control it.
A circle in motion
Life is a continuous cycle that keeps moving forward.
Contributed by Mackenzie A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.