What: The sweeping single “The Whole of the Moon,” from the Waterboys’ 1985 album This is the Sea. The studio version can be heard here, but for the full experience, watch this live clip:
Why: Not all songwriting subjects are created equal; for example, you’re likely to write a terrible song if your subject is “the first dance at my daughter’s wedding.” But there are three subjects which are almost assuredly pure songwriting gold, all of which I intend to write about eventually. The first is the moon, which has been mesmerizing poets since poets began being mesmerized. The moon has many lyrical facets, and in “The Whole of the Moon,” the Waterboys focus on the moon as an object of contemplation: the narrator can only see the crescent, but the subject of his admiration can see the totality of it all. The subject sees things in ways the narrator wishes to see them; where he can see only a rain-dirty valley, the subject can see Brigadoon. Since it is a song about revelation, singer Mike Scott starts out with a manageable set of enveloping instruments: guitar, electric piano, high-strung snares, bright violin strokes. But as the song progresses, new instruments barge in: a rolling bass, two contrapuntal trumpets, a waiflike singer, a comet crash, a brazen sax solo. By the cacophony at the end, you can see the whole of the Waterboys’ creativity.
Impact: Released three albums into the Waterboys’ career, “The Whole of the Moon” became the band’s signature song just as it was falling apart. After This is the Sea, keyboardist Karl Wallinger left to form the band World Party, and later was Peter Gabriel’s collaborator on the Big Blue Ball project. Scott continued to morph the band around a never-ending sea of session musicians, never having as big a success without Wallinger as a foil. Meanwhile, “The Whole of the Moon” was covered by artists such as Jennifer Warnes and Mandy Moore, and remains the thinking man’s pop classic.
Personal Connection: I came to this song through an unlikely path: my longtime interest in Greenpeace. In 1989, Greenpeace released the double-album Rainbow Warriors, which has to go down as the greatest charity record in history. Look at this tracklist: there isn’t a clunker on there. Overshadowing everything on the record was track 23, “The Whole of the Moon,” which I now always associate with Greenpeace. I think the Waterboys would be okay with that.
Other Contenders: Audrey Hepburn’s moon is an obstacle in the Breakfast at Tiffany’s heartstring-tugger “Moon River”; Neil Young’s moon is a governor of the rhythm of life in “Harvest Moon”; Nick Drake’s moon is a harbinger of doom in the 22 unique words of “Pink Moon”; Los Lobos’ moon is a demonic tempter of children in “Kiko and the Lavender Moon”; Jonathon Coulton’s moon is a comforting presence to the newly demoted Pluto in “I’m Your Moon”; Ernie’s moon is a desolate destination in Sesame Street‘s finest song, “I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon”.