In the final lyrics of the song “That Time of the Night”, Fish writes of a buying a round “for that boy over there. A companion in my madness in the mirror the one with the silvery hair”.
Does anyone know if this is a description of Torch, or is it possibly one of the “broken angels” or another heavenly figure he drinks with?
I’ve always been curious.
Thanks!
Never thought about it too much, but I always took it to mean his alter ego or stage persona. - You maybe have a point though, in that it could have been Torch.
Was interested to read this comment from Fish about the track:
Fish: “We’d all banned powders from the farm and were doing well with our limited amounts of alcohol until John Arnison, our manager arrived for a night out with the boys. After the usual arguments and sorting out all our problems, both existent and non-existent, into the early hours of the morning I headed for bed and spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling unable to sleep and considering my options. I wanted to go. I wanted a life. I was so tired of the touring and felt trapped by the machine we’d created. It was ‘That Time of the Night’, a lyric that still reads like my resignation statement.”
I had read that comment from Fish previously somewhere on the 'net. He may have even mentioned on the blog on his website in the past. It was pretty obvious to the listener that this was in fact Fish’s point of resignation from Marillion.
Sadly, I still love the musicians that comprise Marillion. I just have never really been able to love them like I did without Fish at the helm. Hogarth has a decent voice, but Fish is a master of vocal inflection. You feel his pain deep in your heart and in your bones. The angst flows through his lyrics like warm blood from a slaughter. You become so connected with him at times that you feel the pain in your teeth, then realize your are clenching you jaws so tight that it hurts.
There is always a presence on stage when Fish takes to his craft. His soul is ancient and his verbal expertise is mystical. Thank God he did not give up on the music biz as a result of his burning out at that point in his career.