The Sargasso Sea

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by michelej1

You love to be twisted, but maybe if you fought the wind and the cold and the rage and made your way to the heart and love that's in the middle of it all, you might have survived as a couple.

Michele

I love you Michele!

[michelej1]

Seriously, even though we've had that song title for a while now, I never thought about how the phenomenon of the Sargasso Sea fit so well into the theme of Stevie's lyrics until just today. I just thought, "Hm. Pretty title," but this thread has made me realize it's more fitting than I could have imagined actually. Indeed the energies of those Sargasso currents could have something to do with the disappearances in and mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle, which take us all the way back to HAHTF.

And the idea of those currents swirling in a direction that is counter to the ocean around the sea is a lovely metaphor for Stevie and FM.

Michele

[Hawkeye]

You know who also mentions the sargasso sea is none other then fellow Mac member Bob Welch, in at least one live performance of Bermuda Triangle, in his long spoken part in the middle who speaks of the Sargasso Sea.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

You know who also mentions the sargasso sea is none other then fellow Mac member Bob Welch, in at least one live performance of Bermuda Triangle, in his long spoken part in the middle who speaks of the Sargasso Sea.

Way down in the triangle, where the sea was smooth as glass, giving you one answer to a question that you never thought you'd ask . . .

There's beauty in them thar magnetic fields.

Michele

[mezzoforte]

I'm basically obsessed with the novel. I first read it in ninth grade, not long after reading Jane Eyre, and it inspired me to read The Blue Hour (biography of Jean Rhys), see After Mrs. Rochester (a play about Jean Rhys and Bertha Mason), and take several college courses on the art, history, and literature of the Caribbean). I honestly can't think of another novel that's led to such an ongoing interest. So when I found out Stevie, too, was inspired by it, I pretty much did a happy dance.
The sea itself doesn't come up much in the novel--I really didn't know about the properties of it. But hearing about how unique it is--it certainly fits. Jean talks a lot, as Bertha and in her personal letters, about the isolation she feels in England. That travelers and travel guides made so many assumptions about her homeland but really never understood how different it was from England. On a symbolic level, it really works: a sea without shorelines, a culture defined by a history no outsider could understand. A gulf between the Caribbean and England that was hard to define.
It seems like something that would work for Stevie. She writes about isolation, frustration and anger well. I can't wait to hear the full version.

[Djwidow]

The shortest part, Part Three, is once again from the perspective of Antoinette, now known as Bertha, as she lives in the Rochester mansion, which she calls the "Great House". It traces her relationship with Grace, the servant who is tasked with 'guarding' her in England. Narrating in a stream of consciousness, Bertha decides to take her own life as she believes it to be her destiny...

it appears that the Smoke and the fire...will be apart of the song, but I do believe that Stevie writes about such subjects as going insane or death...this album seems to be very dark...

[CreepingDeath]

Originally Posted by Djwidow

The shortest part, Part Three, is once again from the perspective of Antoinette, now known as Bertha, as she lives in the Rochester mansion, which she calls the "Great House". It traces her relationship with Grace, the servant who is tasked with 'guarding' her in England. Narrating in a stream of consciousness, Bertha decides to take her own life as she believes it to be her destiny...

it appears that the Smoke and the fire...will be apart of the song, but I do believe that Stevie writes about such subjects as going insane or death...this album seems to be very dark...

This would have given me a boner if I had a wiener.

[fringed n fab]

Originally Posted by Tango

I looked at the map:



No shores as it's really part of what we call the Atlantic Ocean.

Good pick up on Planets Jamie!

Louie, does it have to do with the currents?

Yeah I'm in Florida so to me the east coast is just the Atlantic and the west coast you have the Gulf.

Been a Florida Forum member for a few years now and I have never heard anyone call the Atlantic ocean side "The Sargasso Sea".

W hat you do hear a lot of, especially during hurricane season from tv news and weathermen, is "The Bermuda High" or "We're keeping an eye out on this newly formed tropical depression in the Atlantic or the Gulf"

[David]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Oh and for song and romantic purposes, the difference in temperature too. I mean, if you're shipwrecked and drowning and on the verge of freezing to death in the frigid ocean, maybe if you can find the warmer, calmer Sargasso sea in the midst of that ocean you will survive.

You love to be twisted, but maybe if you fought the wind and the cold and the rage and made your way to the heart and love that's in the middle of it all, you might have survived as a couple.

Michele

Mish, you been nippin' at the cooking sherry?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by David

Mish, you been nippin' at the cooking sherry?

Well, the water is about 68 degrees Farenheit, compared to the freezing ocean water around it. It is a haven. Some sea life specifically go there to spawn, due to the heat.

But you know what I was actually thinking about when I wrote that? Jack and Rose in Titanic and his death.

Michele

[Tango]

This song is one of my favorites on the album. Stevie watched the 1993 version of Wild Sargasso Sea movie, starring Karina Lombard and Nathaniel Parker. Some might want to see the film--I bought it cheap on Amazon, then found later it was up on youtube in 10 parts:

As others have mentioned elsewhere (I think on this site), Jane Eyre was written first by Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855), and Wide Sargasso Sea is an imagined prequil, written by Jean Rhys (1890-1979). There are reviewers that think the Wild Sargasso Sea movie is quite off the book, and misses the absolute sad plight of women (in this case Antoinette/Bertha--who was essentially placed in an arranged marriage, etc), the poor care of the mentally ill, treatment of people in other cultures, and many other subjects that could have been developed more poignantly--and focuses more on erotica. I do see the point of the reviewers. Still, this song picks up on the whole feel of the film, and, I think, the book.

If you haven't read Jane Eyre or watched any of the movie versions (one is out right now), I do recommend watching the 1944 version starring a young and fairly intimidating Orsen Welles ("we will serve no wine before it's time")--it's available "On Demand" if you like really old films.

I think the combined team of Nicks & Stewart do an amazing job in capturing the whole story in a 5 1/2 minute song--via the music, with it's driving beat, blazing guitars, Stevie's, Sharon & Lori's harmonies, and even the clapping at the end. I would love to have seen this song being made in person! The performance video we have seen is captivating.

I think it's one of the most powerful songs on the album.

[markolas]

I've read the book, and the '93 film really is just basically soft-core porn. Which is fine, if that's what you're in the mood for, but not the point of the story at all.

Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books, and I loved the character of Mr. Rochester, so I was not thrilled with the way he was essentially eviscerated in Wide Sargasso Sea.

I didn't know there was an older film version - I might have to check it out.

[TrueFaith77]

PotU is a song about Lindsey

[crtrofthenight]

Never knew it was off the fla. coast!! I'm always going down to Fla. and then that map says it's in the tropic of Cancer and I'm a Cancer/Moon Child! No wonder I'm attracted to going there all the time.

[Morgana]

Originally Posted by Tango

I looked at the map:



No shores as it's really part of what we call the Atlantic Ocean.

Good pick up on Planets Jamie!

Louie, does it have to do with the currents?

Hmmmmm...interesting, looks to be in the area of the infamous Bermuda Triangel where ships and planes disappear