For those of you who have read my previous installments of "My Musical Fixations" I apologize but for those who haven't a brief explanation is in order
I plan to write a series of reviews, not on certain full albums but upon those songs within that I obsessed on for a period of time, songs that no matter how many times I played them I never got tired of them. I'm sure you've had similar circumstances where certain songs got under your skin. You know, those songs that really grabbed you for two weeks or two months or more. The songs that you just couldn't get enough of and you had to play over and over and over and over .......... and still you never got sick of them. The ones you had on vinyl but you went back and bought again on CD if it was available and probably never played much - it was dated - just to know you had the best copy of it that you could get. And the funny thing is most of the time the song wasn't even by one of your favorite artists. This is the 5th installment about one of those songs. The band is Styx and the song is "Castle Walls"
The year was 1978 and I kept hearing this fairly long, really nifty song on the radio. Of course the disc jockey never bothered to say what was playing, they never do(blessed is the DJ who announces what you just heard and liked). The song was not really a radio type song being long and not that poppy, so I was worried that they would stop playing it and that would be it, buried in antiquity. I'd never be able to find out what this song, I was enthralled with, was. So I broke down and called the radio station, as I had done with, I believe three songs since, all of which, are fixation songs(one written, two to go)and asked the DJ what song he had played, two songs ago, It took a little time to get through. You'd think a guy that talks for about thirty seconds between commercials and songs and sits on his thumbs otherwise, would remember the song he played six minutes ago but he didn't and he doesn't use playlists etc.
Of course I was a dunce for not knowing what it was. I guess everybody but me has ESP. Well I can't/don't sing so I tried humming a little and finally mentioned something about a castle. Oh! you mean "Castle Walls" by Styx!
Of course I thought it was Sticks but I figured it out and bought the album The Grand Illusion and was pleased to find out that it was a pretty good album(unusual for my fixation songs), with several Top 40 hits. Of course nothing was as good as "Castle Wall" though, after all I was fixated. Of course I became a fan, semi-fixating on future releases such as "Blue Collar Man" and "Suite Madame Blue".
The Grand Illusion was Styx's first platinum-selling album and anchored the band predominantly in the domain of Album Oriented Rock. Built on the strengths of the biggest hit "Come Sail Away"'s ballad / rock style, which gained them their second Top Ten hit, and on the soaring harmonies of newest member Tommy Shaw on "Fooling Yourself," The Grand Illusion deposited Styx at the gates of commercial stardom. The arrival of the precocious Tommy Shaw seemed to be a catalyst for creativity as both the quantity and quality of the songwriting improved. From the aggressive growl of "Miss America" to the drama of "Castle Walls", the group's guitar-savvy approach to six-string rock, took off. While De Young exhibits his singing prowess throughout, It is Shaw's incorporation into the band that contributed most to this monumental success, and his guitar work, along with that of James Young's, is clean and extremely sharp. Reaching number six on the album charts, The Grand Illusion was the first of several albums to display the complimentary accomplishments of both Tommy Shaw and Dennis De Young in tandem.
MEMBERS OF STYX
Dennis DeYoung - Synthesizer, Keyboards, Vocals
Tommy Shaw - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Guitar (12 String)
James Young - Guitar, Vocals
Barry Mraz - Engineer
Chuck Panozzo - Bass, Guitar, Guitar (Bass), Vocals
John Panozzo - Percussion, Drums, Vocals
SONG / TRACK LIST
1. The Grand Illusion (DeYoung) - 4:36
2. Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) (Shaw) - 5:29
3. Superstars (DeYoung/Shaw/Young) - 3:59
4. Come Sail Away (DeYoung) - 6:07
5. Miss America (Young) - 5:01
6. Man in the Wilderness (Shaw) - 5:49
7. Castle Walls (DeYoung) - 6:00
8. The Grand Finale (DeYoung/Shaw/Young) - 1:58
"Castle Walls" is a little of everything, it's atmospheric, it's Grand, it's Regal, it's mysterious, it's intriguing, it has variable tempos and a catchy melody that stays with you. "Castle Walls" starts with a slow beat from a guitar or bass, joined after a few seconds by a church sounding synth. At about the 40 second mark DeYoung starts to sing while in the background some very subtle, pretty guitar work takes place. The chorus is a highlight(hell everything is a highlight)with Tommy Shaw and the other band members joining in and let me tell you they harmonize beautifully. The most impressive highlight is next with the ultra dramatic instrumental interlude led by Tommy Shaw's twangy guitar and some sensational percussion(kettle drums etc) and synth work. Incredible! If you've never heard "Castle Walls" or if you did but concentrated on one of the other hits on the album, give it another try. Even 25 years later it's an impressive work.
Now here is the odd thing. "Castle Walls" is not available on any other albums! A half dozen Best of / Greatest Hits anthologies and no "Castle Walls". This their best song, ever, (it is my review)is nowhere to be found! Am I going crazy! It's a conspiracy! No it's a travesty!
Now, just to show you that I'm not the only one who ever fixated on "Castle Walls", in my cyber-travels, I came across an open discussion on the meaning of the lyrics of "Castle Walls". Now that's an Obsession, why it's almost a form of stalking. You will find some of the better of these open comments following the lyrics.
"Castle Walls"
Written by Dennis DeYoung
Lead Vocals by Dennis DeYoung
Once in a dream
Far beyond these castle walls
Down by the bay where the
Moonlit water falls
I stood alone while the minstrel sang his song
So afraid I'd lost my soul
There in the fog his song kept calling me
Leading me on with its haunting melody
Deep in my heart a voice kept echoing
I knew I'd soon be wandering
Far beyond these castle walls
Where the distant harbour meets the sky
There the battle raged like hell
And every dove had lost its will to fly
Far beyond these castle walls
Where I thought I heard Tiresias say
Life is never what it seems
And every man must meet his destiny
Interpretation
"Probably based on the epic Greek poem The Odyssey, by Homer. However, there are a few other interesting interpretations that may also be valid. Read on for a sampling of these additional viewpoints."
"Who was Tiresias anyway?"
"Tiresias was a blind prophet in the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex. When Oedipus was born, Tiresias told his father, the king of Thebes, that the boy would grow up to kill him, marry his wife (Oedipus' own mother), and take the throne. The king therefore had the infant Oedipus taken far away from Thebes and chained up in the woods to die."
"A woodsman found him there, and his family raised Oedipus, who eventually rose to power in his own right. Years later, Oedipus returned to Thebes; outside of town, he met with the king on a bridge. Neither man would humble himself and let the other pass. Not having any idea that the man was his father, Oedipus drew his sword and killed him. He then entered Thebes, where he was well received. When it became known that the old king had been killed (no one knew by whom), the people made Oedipus king. By this time the former Queen had fallen for this new warrior; when Oedipus accepted the throne she took him for her new husband."
"When it was later revealed to Oedipus what he had done, he plucked out his own eyes for having been so blind."
"One of the biggest messages behind Tiresias' prophesy is that by trying to avoid it, the old king helped it come true. I think maybe that's part of what Dennis was getting at in the lyrics to "Castle Walls." Of course, I could just be an English major with way "too much time on my hands" . . ."
"Just wanted to make some quick comments after reading some of the interpretations for "Castle Walls". Everyone has locked into Tiresias's appearance in the story of Oedipus but Tiresias was a prophet that appeared in more than one "legend". I figured I hit the nail on the head when I discovered that Tiresias is also in "The Odyssey", the epic poem about Odysseus and his adventures. I haven't read the Odyssey in almost 20 years so I currently can't do a side by side comparison of the lyrics and the events in the poem. I do recall that at the time I could do that and have subsequently assumed that the song was a "short" musical telling of Odysseus's adventures. Quick off the cuff examples: Odysseus did a lot of wandering; his wanderings included the Trojan War; and of of course the encounter with Tiresias."
AUTHORS NOTE I may be wrong but I believe that day I called the radio station was the last day I can remember hearing "Castle Walls" on the radio. Close call heh?
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