Talk:Touched by the Crimson King

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Albums, an attempt at building a useful resource on recordings from a variety of genres. If you would like to participate, visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.
The article has not been rated for quality and/or importance yet. Please rate the article and then leave comments here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article.

[edit] The Dark Tower

There are more references to The Dark Tower-cycle than you say. So is Love's Tragedy Asunder inspired on Susan, Rolands true love, as stated in the fourth book. In Seize The Day, he clearly sings "The tower knows who you are" and other references. And if I'm correct, Down Where I Am is also about these books, this being the birth of Mordred.

I think that "The Gunslinger" alludes to more than the 5th book in the series. In terms of tone and content I think it's more of an allusion to the end of the 7th book, from the point where Susannah leaves Roland behind and Roland continues to the Tower alone. After all the voice of the Beam/Tower beckoned him in the vernacular of the Calla folken, and they reference the Beams being safe. They also say that "to touch the Rose will not bring release" which I believe is a reference to Roland mediating over the roses on the passing of Susannah from his world.--Grammar Vigilante 14:28, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

"The Gunslinger" is some kind of conclusion to Roland's yourney. The first part of the song (the slow-paced part) is trough the eyes and toughts of Susannah (And perhaps Detta too), while the faster part is about Roland reaching The Tower. "The sacrifice of innocence; The hailing of the gun;My way was death and madness;Now let the tower come" This part is about where he runs toward the Tower and shouts the name of his death friends. So about the most parts I agree with Grammar Vigilante, but the part of "To touch the rose, it will not bring release" is about how he grabs the rose to die the eyes of the Crimson King and cuts of his finger.

Antoher thing about Seize The Day is that it has the end in it. Altough I'm not sure wether it should be stated or not. You see, the first words of the song (On and on this is my way) don't only stand for the road seeming to last forever, but (according to my interpretation) that he is send back to the dessert by The Tower/Gan each time he reaches him... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.174.13.96 (talk) 12:53, August 20, 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sources

My source for the lyrical references is this interview with Hansi. If you have more information for the lyrics please extend --DB0 20:18, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

"I think 70% of the lyrics are inspired by something else, than The Dark Towers, but those books had a huge impact on me."

How does that assertion dovetail with the statement that "most" of the songs were inspired by The Dark Tower?

Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that most of the songs were inspired by some fantasy element, or piece of literature?

Ruthfulbarbarity 00:02, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

Ruthfulbarbarity is correct, Hansi has actually has stated that only "Touched by the Crimson King", "Terror Train", and "The Gunslinger" are the only songs on the album that are direct references to The Dark Tower series. "Beneath the Waves" is about Moby Dick, "Seize the Day" is about LOTR, "Love Tragedy Asunder" is about man committing suicide after his wife becomes terminally ill, "Wicked Witch" = Wizard of Oz, "Dorian" = The Picture of Dorian Gray, "Down Where I Am" = father's torn feelings towards his son born with Down's Syndrome...It seems some Dark Tower junky got a little carried away with the song allusions. Despite of the album's name, TBTCK is not a concept album and not all songs have any direct connection to the Dark Tower series. I'll change the song descriptions, though there's no definite source, since Hansi nor Jon have publicly explained the lyrics- the descriptions are from the overall fanbase lyrical analysis. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.62.104.175 (talk) 07:38, 9 January 2008 (UTC)