Date: Fri, 22 Dec 1995
From: Bill Bourn (bbourn@usa.nai.net)
While I agree that the indigo and blue is most likely about an astronaut's view of space, a whole lot more convincing will be required to get me to believe that there is *any* apocalyptic message in any TMOT song. A couple of other items seem to be well explained in this from some correspondence with a botanist:
"The problem with common names is that they often get made up by nurserymen trying to sell something. Then you have to go looking through all sorts of arcane references to find them... Then there is always the problem of common names going out of fashion..."
"Moonlight holly is Ilex aquifolium cv. Flavescens. This is a cultivated strain of English holly, all female (so it would have the red berries) and with the leaves tinged with soft yellow."
"Angel's Tears is Narcissus triandrus. The genus Narcissus includes daffodils and jonquils, so I imagine this plant is roughly similar. My book says it has white to pale yellow flowers."
Date: 3 Jan 1996 04:31
From: raptor98@ix.netcom.com (Shaun Earsom)
I talked it over with the poetry club on my school campus. Here's what we feel the meaning of the lyrics are.
First Stanza (please refer to your booklet included in the Cd so I can save you time retreving this file)
The gives her idea, at first of what heaven is. A tree is described along with a Humming bird (or was it butterfly) the Sappho Commet, along with Dew on the grass.
Second Stanza:
The person she's speaking to gives their description, which Enya tells us. The person's vision is of a sunrise. (words like Aurora, Crimson cloud, and key of heaven are clearly describing the sunrise) "one love carved in acajou" We, believe to be also describing the sun rise, as acajou is a dark rich wood, its colour could be in the reflection of the clouds. clouds that have been subject to high winds can appear to have a "carved" look.
Third Stanza:
She says here that someone told her heaven was night, comparing the night with china roses she leads us to believe that this arguement is right.
Fourth stanza:
She goes to bed and has a dream, she relizes that her dreams are her own world, formed in her own head, she thinks more on the opening question.
Fifth Stanza:
She finally dicides that She should'nt want heaven, because earth is heaven.
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 1996
From: "Anthony L. Cermak" (CERLAW@vom.com)
What of "China Roses" themselves? Also called "Tea Roses", they were first imported to England from the Orient in the very early 1800's. Their smell is rather like green tea, with tarish over-tones, like that of good Green Tea. They are still available in later forms, though have mainly been supplanted by the Hybrid Tea Rose, their descendants. They are chiefly noteed for their blooming throughout the Summer and Fall, unlike English Roses. Their original flowers were double or barely more.
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996
From: Richard Hines (aa100701@dasher.csd.sc.edu)
Could not help but wonder what Sappho Comet meant in the lyrics of "China Roses" on the TMOT album. I'm an amateur astronomer and thought at first it would be a famous comet in the night sky. Did a search on the WWW and did not find any such reference. Instead the most likely candidate found was a hummingbird from a huge list of birds that can be seen in Argentina, South America. Here is an excerpt of the listing:
FAMILY: TROCHILIDAE (Hummingbirds)
Giant Hummingbird, Patagona gigas
Green-backed Firecrown, Sephanoides sephanoides
Blue-capped Puffleg, Eriocnemis glaucopoides
Red-tailed Comet, Sappho sparganura
If this is the correct reference, can't help but wonder how Roma Ryan would come know such things. It is kinda cute to suggest a bird might hold the answer to heaven.
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996
From: bbourn@usa.nai.net (Bill Bourn)
We (of this list) had come to understand that the Sappho Comet had only names in common with the ancient Greek poet and astronomical bodies. We were also pretty sure that the Sappho comet was a hummingbird. It is great to have confirmation of our suspicions, especially to find that it is a South American species. This really puts a cap on our supposition that the hummingbird appearing in an Enya video may actually be the Sappho Comet. Were there any pictures at the site you found? Anyone care to capture the video frame of the hummingburd for comparison?
Date: Thu, 01 Aug 1996
From: Brian Baranoski (baranosk@umbc.edu)
The hummingbird that flew out of Enya's hand in the video is NOT a Sappho Comet. Back when this topic first came up, I went to the main public library to find some information about the bird. The Sappho Comet has two wide tails which are blunted and not tapered (i.e. they are about the same width at the base (of the bird) as they are at the end). The tail feathers are red in appearance with about 3 or 4 dark horizontal bands equally spaced along the length of the tail. Hummingbirds do not have red pigment in their plumage. The red iridescent color is caused by the scintillating and interference of light waves. Other colors on the body of the bird are green, yellow, and cinnamon. The length of the tail is about 6 inches long and about one and a half times the length of the body. The bill is very slender, long, and straight, as is true of most hummingbirds. It is native to Bolivia, Argentina, and Peru.
Unfortunately, I do not have access to a color scanner, and so can not post a picture of it (the picture in the book is a painting and not a photograph). The title of the book in which I found my information is: The Life of the Hummingbird by Alexander F. Skutch. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York: 1973. Dewey Decimal call number: QL 696.A558.S55 (unfortunately I could not find a Library of Congress or British call number and it did not have an ISBN since it was published before ISBN became mandatory (I think)). I had to look at quite a few books on hummingbirds before I was able to find a picture of it. This is probably because most of the books in North America focus on hummingbirds native to the northern hemisphere and not to hummingbirds native to the southern hemisphere.
Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996
From: Brian Baranoski (baranosk@umbc.edu)
I too like this piece of music. It is nice and slow moving like a waltz that you could dance to with your girlfriend/wife. It is very similar to Caribbean Blue, except that that has more of a pizzicato background theme to it (a pizzicato waltz?). There are about 4 or 5 notes in the beginning of China Roses (just before the "piano" comes in) which remind me of the instrumental sounds played in Tea House Moon.
An interesting aspect to the album is that two of the pieces have titles which conjur up the Far East (i.e. Asia). China Roses is a vocal while Tea House Moon is an instrumental. I believe that someone has said that the China in China Roses referes to porcelain so that these are artificial roses and not a variety of real roses like "American Beauty" tea roses. However, I don't recall anyone ever mentioning the derivation of Tea House Moon. To me, it likely is a take-off on an actual restaurant in Okinawa, Japan called "Tea House of the August Moon". That restaurant was showcased in a movie from a long time ago by the same title and stared Marlon Brando. Hideki (Tanaka), could you please correct me if I am wrong on the location of the restaurant? I believe also that Stefano (Toria) noted that this piece does have an oriental musical scale to it. With these two pieces of music entitled with Asian themes, I wonder what our friends in Asia think of them. Do many of the Enya fans there like either or both of these pieces of music? Were they played on Enya's tour of Asia when she was promoting The Memory of Trees?
While I am on this album, I might note something else. The "theme" of this album seems to be international. Enya's first album (since re-released as the Celts) had an obvious Celtic theme. Her second album had, what Jim (Jokerst) had discovered, a water theme. (I also had discovered that point a long while back, but neglected to post it and so I can't lay claim to the 'discovery' :-( ) The third album's theme escapes me. This fourth album is international, at least as far as song titles go.
There's the very very beautiful Gaelic "Athair Ar Neamh"; the Oriental "China Roses" and "Tea House Moon"; the Spanish "La Sonadora"; the "Italian" -- read Latin -- "Pax Deorum"; and the rest are English; although you could put "The Memory of Trees" in the "Druid" category, except that they don't exactly exist today (as Druids). So, we have all of these nations represented on this album. Hey, why not call it the "Olympic Games Album"? Am I going down a beaten path with this "discovery" that others have traveled before, or am I going into uncharted territory? Would Roma (Ryan) like to tell me if I am wrong?
Date: Fri, 09 Aug 1996
From: "Mark Tom Q. Mulingbayan" (marktqm@engg.upd.edu.ph)
I don't think Tea House Moon sounds Asian at all. Well, this is my opinion and not of the other Asians in this list. And I'm from the Philippines where Western music prevails...
First, the instrument/sounds used were made to sound like a Chinese string instrument (samisen?), but that doesn't make it Asian.
The melody sounds very Western, and the harmonic pattern is obviously Western.: Bb, Gm, Bb, Gm, Eb, F Gm, Eb, F, Bb...
The scale seems like an Asian scale but I think that's debatable.
But I love it nevertheless. There's nothing wrong with pastiche. I enjoy playing it over and over...
La Soñadora, on the other hand, sounds Spanish enough, esp. the verse parts. (The Philippines was under 300 yrs of Spanish rule)
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 1996
From: MDWongII@aol.com
Your Spanish and Asian background would appear to give you a unique perspective of TMOT. I'm of entirely Chinese heritage, but my family has been in the U.S. (both sides) since the early 1900's. I grew up in Oakland, California, and have had more exposure to black music growing up than to asian music. I revisited my asian heritage somewhat by taking alot of asian studies courses at U.C. Berkeley, where I went to school. So the term, "Asian" can refer to a rather broad spectrum of thinking. Currently, I'm listening to "Jerusalem" from the Chariots of Fire soundtrack, and enjoying it.
What do I think of Tea House Moon? I think that it's a rather decent song, that takes getting used to. You're right, it doesn't sound quite Asian to me either. It seems to be more of an attempt at sounding as such. When I think of Asian music, I think of the mandolin and of the Chinese opera house that I used to pass by while we used to visit my grandmother in S.F. Chinatown. I must admit that I haven't payed attention to Asian music for a while. I have Asian friends and relatives who don't listen to that music either. Perhaps your discussion of Enya's "Asian" music may kindle this interest. Tea House Moon is Ok after a while, but I think that it would be great to hear a Far East song that has a beauty akin to La Soñadora, coming from Enya.