9. HESITATING BENEATH THE MARQUEE MOON

9. HESITATING BENEATH THE MARQUEE MOON

A Gaze at Marquee Moon by Television

I said that I would review something completely different but this album, it just hypnotized me. I was completely captured by it and on a whim last night, I decided to investigate. What about this album draws me in? I only read the lyrics yesterday but this album has been in my rotation for a week now. With lyrics and sound in synergy, I have an even deeper understanding of this album which I want to share with you, reader.

LAYER 1: SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL… BUT I HEAR SOME GOOD MUSIC

There’s no better place to start than the scene of the crime, the sonic level. This is where the album initially impacted me. I’m not very good at describing music, I can talk about the stories they carry through them but the music that acts as the vehicle is difficult for me to discuss. I will still try my best because it is crucial to this investigation. 

At times punk, at times dreamy, and at times eerie; this album manages to be so sonically rich and layered and each layer is coated thickly in fun. This album is fun to listen to, I can hear it over and over again, and it never gets old. I’m listening to it right now actually to try and get a better feel for the soundscape. I’m pretty much feeling around in the dark here while trying not to reveal too much of my hand so soon. The core of this album is felt through its instrumentation, lyrics, and atmosphere which makes it effective as well as difficult to pick apart. 

I’m trying to pick off tiny pieces but the whole thing comes with it. I suppose I can make a pointless comparison to Talking Heads, it feels almost like a sinister version of Remain In Light, let’s make another useless comparison; Remain In Light is Lil B and Marquee Moon is Space… okay this is just absurd. I clearly don’t know how to talk about this instrumentation beyond the fact that it’s just really good and I can understand how important this album is. 

The only way to explain this importance to you would be to reveal my dark past. I used to be… an indiehead. It was literally all I listened to. I had a 700-song playlist entitled “Indie Rock Dream” If you think I’m lying… good. Maintain that positive image of me. Hearing this album is like reaching the end of a long breadcrumb trail. There are traces of Marquee Moon in every indie song I remember listening to. I don’t say this to discredit the album because I know some people aren’t too fond of the music which this album inspired but I say this to show you the influence that one little art-punk album has on the current indie scene.

Can I finally talk about this album on a deeper level? The poet in me needs to talk about the imagery and the symbolism here.

LAYER 2: BENEATH THE MARQUEE MOON

Why don’t we start with the title (and by extension the title track)? That is a rhetorical question, you don’t have a say in this. When you don’t know where to start, try the title. What first impression did the artist want to give? If we look at Marquee Moon, it immediately creates an atmosphere and setting, it’s nighttime. A marquee is one of those huge, white tents they use at weddings. It has to be big enough to keep a crowd of people beneath it comfortably. That seems simple but I think there’s more to be said here.

The moon is described by the word ‘marquee’ so it’s covering everyone. The moon isn’t a supermoon or anything, I just think it’s used to represent the night. Due to timezones when it’s nighttime in New York, it’s not nighttime everywhere else. What matters is that the night sky and atmosphere, this metaphorical marquee moon covers everyone in New York, essentially everyone in the world of Tom Verlaine. 

Is this Marquee Moon so massive that it can cover Tom’s world or is Tom’s world so small that it allows itself to be enclosed by this Maquee Moon? I would assume it’s the latter. The nighttime can represent some sort of uncertainty felt by the members of Television. We can also look to the title track for further examination. 

The song is 10 minutes long. Each minute is necessary to create this thick, fog-like atmosphere. Through it all shines the looming, Marquee Moon like a finger through the hole in your fence. Here in the song, the moon is a… a moon. Who would’ve guessed but it’s something of a light source. Light is usually hope or ambition but this album is really angsty so the speaker in this song is hesitating to do something. Hesitating beneath the Marquee Moon. Whatever the moon is, it’s so big but it’s so far away. The climax of the song involves the speaker deciding to do something, to take action. That actually reminds me of something… I just can’t put my finger on it…

ACT 1, SCENE 3: HUH? WHY THE FORMAT CHANGE?

I figured out what it reminded me of; the Shakespeare play, Hamlet. My 2nd favorite literary work ever and my favorite character in all of fiction. Both Marquee Moon and Hamlet are angsty works about uncertainty. Hamlet deals more with inaction than Marquee Moon does but at its very core, Hamlet is about uncertainty. The problem with life is that nobody has all the answers and that means that we need to take risks and experiment. The first two songs depict this beautifully, they show the speaker carelessly fumbling around in the dark to find answers to life. They use drugs, find love, and just have fun as the objects in their way start to take shape.

I especially love this line in the second track, Venus about how the speaker falls into the arms of Venus De Milo and that sculpture does not have arms. This line goes to show that he is high as a kite and also that he’s on his own. The first two songs are about drugs and drug addiction but the title track acts as a bit of a volta, giving us similar themes and experience but we get a more sober evaluation of it. 

How about the turning point itself? I spoke about the symbol of the moon but not the actual song and its place in this album’s story. Marquee Moon is (to me at least) a cautionary tale about fear. It’s scary to be young sometimes, especially being in this sort of limbo but despite all the uncertainty, you need to do things! You’re only young once. I think that’s also what Hamlet’s message is. He has a very normal fatal flaw and the play often depicts how much more severe regret can feel in comparison to failure. I can go on and on but someone reading this is still busy with Hamlet, so no spoilers.

LAYER 4: FRICTION

I know… I know… you really wanted me to talk about Hamlet for the remainder of this review. Believe me, I do too but I can offer a broader discussion of the uncertainty that comes with growing up in relation to this album. 

Essentially it’s about growing up but not just that. The stage between teen years and adulthood, that limbo. It’s confusing. Nobody tells you what to expect and at first, it’s fun, it’s freeing, and there’s a wave of relief which we see in the carefree first two songs. Just fun experimentation, there’s nothing to it. Then Marquee Moon comes around and after that, the uncertainty only grows. 

Before Marquee Moon, however, there is Friction, a very desperate song about not wanting to grow old. The speaker has friction with his growth and Marquee Moon is then the reluctant acceptance that time marches on and he has to move forward eventually. I won’t be lazy and just explain each song on the album but it all furthers these ideas of growing up, transitioning between life stages, and the fear and uncertainty packaged with that.

Some of the songs on this album involve the speaker trying to find answers to his uncertainties but to no avail, like in Torn Curtain or Prove It. Prove it follows a detective who instead of solving a murder is solving philosophical questions, trying to make meaning out of life’s absurdity. Sometimes you just need to roll with the punches and be ready for whatever life throws at you, which I think is the message of Torn Curtain, trying to find all these answers only leads to more questions. It’s okay to think about life and to be curious of course but also not to get weighed down by uncertainty.

LAYER 5: ELEVATION, DON’T GO TO MY HEAD

I have all the sufficient evidence, I know exactly why I love this album so much, it hooked me because… I am in that limbo, between two life stages. I’ve been more confused and scared than I have ever been in my life. I feel like I’m in the dark. I don’t know how to move forward in life but what else can you do but feel around and hope that the elevation won’t go to your head. 

What an angsty, eerie, little album but it’s also comforting. It’s comforting to hear all these thoughts, insecurities, and fears be put to music and this is from the 70s which makes it even more comforting to know that I’m not the only one going through this, nobody my age has it figured out and that’s okay. 

EPILOGUE:

This one took too long. I’ve been having hand strain or something. It might be carpal tunnel. Should be fine. I’ll figure it out. I want to review a movie next week but please don’t take my word for it, I might just not. Thank you for reading by the way. It is much appreciated.