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Thread: What Was Dio Really Talking About?

  1. #1

    What Was Dio Really Talking About?

    Fun stuff here, because his lyrics are so cryptic.

    If a rainbow can't be seen in the dark due to lack of sunlight, then what is a Rainbow in the Dark?

    How can one Follow the Tears?

    What's a Holy Diver?

    Why are we the Last in Line?

    What are Neon Knights?

    Why are Children From the Sea?

    What is Love, Who is Love, Why is Love?

    What the hell is a Sunset Superman?

    Why DID All the Fools Sail Away? Where did they sail away to?

    Why did Dio tell us to Lock Up the Wolves? As if that was bad advice to start with?

    Why should I have Shame on the Dark? What did it ever do to me to shame it?

    Why do I have too much time on my hands to think about this crap?
    Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000

  2. #2
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    What about all the stuff that Geezer had Ozzy yelling about?

  3. #3
    Jazzbo manqué Mister Triscuits's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheLoony View Post
    What the hell is a Sunset Superman?
    Donovan at dusk.
    Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
    https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
    http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx

  4. #4
    Member zravkapt's Avatar
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    None of it may mean anything but a lot of it sounds cool anyway.
    The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off

  5. #5
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by zravkapt View Post
    None of it may mean anything but a lot of it sounds cool anyway.
    Right - do octopus's have gardens? Can time slip into the future?

    I did think the OP was kind of funny though. Holy Diver! I guess it's a priest who thrown, chained, into the ocean?

  6. #6
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    Although Ronnie James Dio is my favorite vocalist of all time, as a songwriter / lyricist I found him incredibly inconsistent. He wrote some fantastic stuff, “Heaven And Hell” being a great example, but he also wrote a lot of gibberish that sounded grandiose, but actually said basically nothing. I found him to be both brilliant and frustrating from a songwriting perspective.

  7. #7
    If it rhymes with night, bone, star, black or you, it's in a Dio song.
    "And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision."

    Occasional musical musings on https://darkelffile.blogspot.com/

  8. #8
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Right - do octopus's have gardens? Can time slip into the future?
    Can oceans be topographic?

  9. #9
    When you can sing like this, I can't imagine it matters ...


  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    Right - do octopus's have gardens? Can time slip into the future?

    I did think the OP was kind of funny though. Holy Diver! I guess it's a priest who thrown, chained, into the ocean?
    I happen to think it's about a priest who doubts, who see's the corruption of the church but it may be about linoleum.

    Heaven and Hell is a masterpiece, lyrically and musically. Such a killer riff. And it makes sense.

    Yes, octopus's have gardens, where they tend to small sea anemonies and the coral reefs.
    Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000

  11. #11
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    Rainbow in the dark - analogy for an impossibility
    Holy diver - rapture of the deep, surviving underwater when you should have died?
    Neon knights - wordplay with nights perhaps, nights lit by neon?
    Children from the sea - ancient folklore from many cultures.

    Bottom line: songwriters, in fact all writers, can write what they want, let their fantasies run riot i.e. poetic licence to write all sorts of fantastical lyrics as long as they fit with the music and rhyme where they need to

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave (in MA) View Post
    Can oceans be topographic?
    Yes, because in its true sense topography describes the features of the Earth's surface, land AND sea. But in the narrower sense for mapping only describes the features of land.

  13. #13
    Fell in love with a Country Girl... a couple of time to be honest!
    "Always ready with the ray of sunshine"

  14. #14
    Member viukkis's Avatar
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    I remember reading somewhere that The Last in Line was inspired by the Bible verse about those who are the first becoming the last and those who are the last becoming the first.

  15. #15
    "Children Of The Sea" was about the environmental predicament where mankind is destroying itself. If you read the words, it's some pretty brilliant stuff.

    As mentioned, "Heaven and Hell" is also a gem.

  16. #16
    Member StevegSr's Avatar
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    I don't know and probably don't care, but the late Ronnie James Dio was one of the nicest people that I've had the pleasure to meet in any genre. It does seem that only the good die young.
    To be or not to be? That is the point. - Harry Nilsson.

  17. #17
    Highly Evolved Orangutan JKL2000's Avatar
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    His penis?

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    His penis?

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by JKL2000 View Post
    His penis?
    Ah, so that's what Holy Diver is about. Thanks.
    Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000

  20. #20
    Some of Dio's writings are based on a certain style of occult related literature. Poems, spells, and ancient manuscripts. Often contradicting and luring. Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, both, were interested in the occult. Particularly , (it seemed), they shared a common interest in the spirit world. In Ritchie Blackmore's case, his personal interest in paranormal phenomena or the occult may have derived from his mother who was a gypsy. Dio and Blackmore struck a bond and they held seances a few times. The most popular account is the encounter of a bad spirit during the recording of "Long Live Rock n' Roll." They were so seriously tied in with the underworld...it actually became eerie. I assume they may have taken on different roles in order to raise the dead. I am curious just how deep they did go.


    Within the underworld related culture many poetic phrasings of words in occult literature can be interpreted as spells. In this case, stylistically, lyricism is sometimes based off the structure of words in a spell. The crossing of the two boundaries is often evident in Rock music. One particular sentence can often be a contradiction to another. Some sentences contain a hidden meaning that is masked and require research to figure out what secret knowledge it reveals. Obviously a human can interpret several meanings from a sentence in a lyric , but in Blackmore and Dio's case the occult is connected to the undertone of it all. Some witches, (which is what they profess to be), create their own rituals/spells based on their knowledge of other cultures and not necessarily ...always..a spell, word for word, from an ancient book. I always got the impression that Blackmore and Dio were like that.



    "I love you so much, you are the sun to my moon and we can dance in my shadow till the dawn of time" This sounds romantically poetic..but also deceitful. Even self-indulgent. It has that mind control aspect to it and can be luring.

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by JeffCarney View Post
    "Children Of The Sea" was about the environmental predicament where mankind is destroying itself. If you read the words, it's some pretty brilliant stuff.

    As mentioned, "Heaven and Hell" is also a gem.
    Just listened to Children and remembered what you said here, I kinda think you are right. I think I got this one wrong, which happens more than occasionally.

    ETA: How i remembered some random comment from a thread five years old is pretty amazing. I haven't got dementia just yet.
    Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by SteveSly View Post
    Although Ronnie James Dio is my favorite vocalist of all time, as a songwriter / lyricist I found him incredibly inconsistent. He wrote some fantastic stuff, “Heaven And Hell” being a great example, but he also wrote a lot of gibberish that sounded grandiose, but actually said basically nothing. I found him to be both brilliant and frustrating from a songwriting perspective.
    I find the same kind of inconsistency in his whole career in music. He was a tremendous singer with a very expressive voice, and he somehow painted himself into a corner with his love for generic metal, cheesy artwork and grandiose lyrics.
    (Yes, I know there's a lot of good stuff in the Dio catalogue, but I think he limited himself a bit too much. YMMV.)

    Another Dio rhyme that comes to mind : "fire" / "higher".

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Interstellar View Post
    I find the same kind of inconsistency in his whole career in music. He was a tremendous singer with a very expressive voice, and he somehow painted himself into a corner with his love for generic metal, cheesy artwork and grandiose lyrics.
    (Yes, I know there's a lot of good stuff in the Dio catalogue, but I think he limited himself a bit too much. YMMV.)

    Another Dio rhyme that comes to mind : "fire" / "higher".
    Dio's rhyming scheme was monotonous. Particularly so, because his occult themes seemed to always include rhymes with black, white, night, bones, stone, star, sky, sun, day, fire, etc. Great singer. Lyricist? Not so much.
    "And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision."

    Occasional musical musings on https://darkelffile.blogspot.com/

  24. #24
    Who shot the deputy?

    Was Bobby McGee a girl or a boy?

    Lick WHAT up?!

    Walk what way?

    And does anyone realize that song they danced to at their wedding reception was actually about stalking, not romance?!

  25. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Enid View Post
    Some of Dio's writings are based on a certain style of occult related literature. Poems, spells, and ancient manuscripts. Often contradicting and luring. Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, both, were interested in the occult. Particularly , (it seemed), they shared a common interest in the spirit world. In Ritchie Blackmore's case, his personal interest in paranormal phenomena or the occult may have derived from his mother who was a gypsy. Dio and Blackmore struck a bond and they held seances a few times. The most popular account is the encounter of a bad spirit during the recording of "Long Live Rock n' Roll." They were so seriously tied in with the underworld...it actually became eerie. I assume they may have taken on different roles in order to raise the dead. I am curious just how deep they did go.
    Joe Lynn Turner told a story on That Metal Show about how Blackmore effectively fired Rainbow's bus driver (who was filling in for their regular driver, who was taken a scheduled vacation or whatever) because "he had a dark aura". The driver in question was one Andrew Aycock. Aycock, as it turns out, was also a pilot, and he went from working for Rainbow, to working for Ozzy, and so help me, if I have to tell the rest of this story...

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