Vincent: Starry Night (Untold story)

03-13-22 | Eurydice

NOTE: THE PROLOGUE WAS WRITTEN YESTERDAY (SATURDAY). DON'T GET CONFUSED.

I'm so tired today because we started our class at exactly 8:00 in the morning and ended at exactly 4:00 in the afternoon. The breaks and vacants are already counted between that hours. We are vacant between 12:00-2:00 pm. I'm so tired and my mind is out of words upon writing this article. However, I have a goal to write 1 article per day and I can't afford to break that goal. (na break ko na, hays)

For today's article, I will share to you what I have learned earlier during our last class at 3:00-4:00pm. Last week, we were tasked by our teacher to listen to the song "Vincent" by Don Mclean. I guess, some of you here are familiar with this song. To refresh your minds, watch the video below.

Earlier, we tackled the mysteries behind that song. At first, I wasn't interested to know but as I do my research for academic purposes, I have found out a lot of interesting information about that song which gave me an idea to share it here.

DISCLAIMER: The following contents were based on my research as well as my understanding to our discussion earlier, if you think I mistakenly interpreted the song, I'm encouraging you to do a research as well. The more sources you can have, the legit it can be.

I'll start by giving you some facts about the song's inspiration, the renowned famous painter "VINCENT VAN GOGH".

• The song starry starry night was inspired to Van Gogh's paintings most specifically the Starry Night Painting.

• He painted this while he was hospitalized at St. Remy because he have mental disorders including severe depression, hallucinations and delusions.

• Starry night was painted based on his imaginations and memory because he was not allowed to go outdoors to witness the beauty of the night.

• Even if he was confined in the asylum (a mental facility), he still made a lot of paintings.

• His family and the people around him didn't recognized his greatness as a painter during his lifetime except from his brother Theo Van Gogh.

• Van Gogh attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest, which led to his death two days later.

• According to Mclean, the line from the song "you took your life, as lovers often do" maybe about Van Gogh's relationship with life and his passionate love for the world that simply wasn't for a man like him.

• The song emphasizes the story of Van Gogh's eternal struggle: Unrecognized as an artist until after his death.

For those who didn't know, Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch Painter. He became famous after his death.

THE STARRY NIGHT PAINTING

This painting was the inspiration of Don Mclean (The original singer of the song "Vincent").

UNDERSTANDING THE LYRICS OF THE SONG " VINCENT" BY DON MCLEAN

VERSE 1

Starry, starry night Paint your palette blue and gray

Based on my research, Vincent Van Gogh is a painter who preferred to use dark colors, but as time passed by, lighter colors such as blue and gray dominated his works.

Look out on a summer’s day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

Since he was hospitalized to the asylum (a mental facility), he really wanted to free himself from that facility instead of being allowed only to watch the outside world from the inside.

Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

These lines were inspired from Van Gogh's other painting namely Two Peasant Women Digging In a Snow-Covered Field at Sunset”

CHORUS

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they’ll listen now

As what I have learned in the interaction between my classmate and professor, One of the reasons why Van Gogh became mentally ill is because of social pressure and unsupportive family. When Van Gogh started painting, the only person who supported him through the end was his Brother Theo. He thinks that all of his artworks are not worthy because nobody was interested about it. Infact, during his time, he only sold one painting with the help of his brother Theo who was an art dealer that time. This maybe the reason why he chose to end his life through suicide. From this, I can say that the people will only recognize you when you're already gone.

VERSE 2

Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand

This time, the inspiration of these lines was his other paintings.

• Starry, starry night

• Flaming flowers that brightly blaze

• Swirling clouds in violet haze

• Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue Colors changing hue

• Morning fields of amber grain

• Weathered faces lined in pain
  Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand

BRIDGE

For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could’ve told you Vincent
This world was never meant for
One as beautiful as you

The "LOVE" meaning in this part of the lyrics is the undying love of Van Gogh to underprivileged people in his community as well as the rejections from the women he loved because of poverty. Some people say, this also implies the feeling of Van Gogh that he loves to do paintings but it seems like his paintings couldn't love him back. He was able to think of this because his paintings was not recognized by other people and he thinks that his paintings were not beautiful. This also the reason why he became depressed and killed himself.

VERSE 3

Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frame-less heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can’t forget
Like the strangers that you’ve met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
The silver thorn of bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

The “portraits hung in empty halls” are there, but no one is noticing them and that solitude echoes the loneliness of all those self-portraits: Van Gogh was his only constant subject. Those poor canvasses without any recognition idle unframed: they will be at an exhibition only after his death.
Van Gogh’s artistic legacy is contained in his paintings, drawings and writings. They are everlasting and will never “forget” the style that created them. They are Van Gogh’s eyes watching the world.

OUTRO

Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they’re not listening still
Perhaps they never will

The lyrics suggest that Van Gogh was trying to “set [people] free” with the message in his work, a message that is now clear to McLean: “And now I understand what you tried to say to me.”
It is this eventual understanding that inspired McLean to write the song.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I have seen a lot of Van Gogh's works but I never realized that he encounted these sad experiences. This made me think that people will only recognize you when you are gone.. Nevertheless, Van Gogh's masterpieces gave us an inspiration to pursue the things that we love even if no one recognizes it. As long as we are happy, we must do it with love because time will come, even if you're gone, your hardworks will be paid off with legacy.

THAT'S IT! THANK YOU FOR READING.

Sources:

https://wordsmusicandstories.wordpress.com/2019/08/01/vincent-starry-starry-night-2-analysis/

Lead image:https://tattooartfromtheheart.com/tattoo-history/starry-night-master-piece-painting-in-the-tattoo-culture/

All images are from google.com