Thanks for the post, TemptationTwo. I've loved this track since I purchased the 2006 re-release. Funny how I've owned the original single disc edition since 1994, but I didn't like the whole album like I do now.
Anyway, I have moved to Australia, and took a walk today on Saturday morning (For you westerners, this means I am ahead of you if this is Friday to you). I managed to photograph some wild cockatoos, and hum this song at the same time.
Wild cockatoos are enormous, as large as bald eagles, or other birds of prey. I had no idea they grew this big, free from cages and pet shops.
Cockatoos are very noisy, these ones flew up to each other's branches to squawk at each other. I imagine this would also sound like when the animals scream in The Hanging Garden. Enjoy.
I was daunted and haven't ventured over to Kiss Me yet, but I feel I can start here after the very recent post. I used to say it was my favorite album when I was very young and then just young. And I still love it. My mother always skipped to this song, and she played it a lot in the car on our many drives. The opening sound brings the picture in my head of many old cans tied together, rattling in the surf. And the sun is almost below the horizon. Then comes the guitar notes, and the drums and then keyboard. Then the bass! The music sets a night scene for sure. Love that it also ends with the rattling metal, this time being pulled back out in the waves. The song is about loneliness, and not being able to connect. For me now it will always remind me of my mother, who was dark and mysterious, and on those drives the only part of her I could see was her blue-shadowed and black-lined eyes reflected in the rearview mirror.
This quote is taken from the Impressions of Sound site.
The title obviously comes from the Patrick White book, but the song has nothing to do with, and has no relevance to the book at all, but the sound on the beginning of it was actually supposed to be a string section on the emulator and I just played through the different sounds and thought "That sounds like, if you imagine, like a big flock of birds taking off" and I thought to myself "It's like cockatoos". (Promotional 12" interview 1987)