The Hills Are...ALIVE!!!!

From Ask Figaro:

There is a line in a song that intrigues me. I have been pondering its meaning and wondered if you could help. The song is by Nightwish. The lyrics are written by Tuomas Halopainen.

Finally, the hills are without eyes
They are tired of painting
a dead man’s face red with his own blood

Dreamer Deceiver

Dear D.D.,

Apparently, Mr. Halopainen (the stress is on the “painen”) employed a kind of poetry software called LyricShop and slid the bar all the way toward Pretentious.

The song commits the bathetic fallacy, attributing inappropriate emotions to an inanimate object. Figaro’s advice to those tired hills: quit painting.

Fig.

Comments

[Finally, the hills are without eyes]

O

[C.B.]

What a shame that I didn't notice this post before. But it's never too late.

First, his name is Tuomas HOLOpainen. Second, he doesn't need to employ any LyricShop to write lyrics. Actually, these lines are pretty clear if you just try to understand them. But of course you need to know something about the reason this song has been written for: obviously it must have been too difficult to think before speaking. Try again, you'll be more lucky next time.

[Jimbo]

And being a Finnish name the stress will be on the FIRST syllable: HOLopainen, as it is for HELsinki and every word in the Finnish language.

[starlight]

You have to know something about the band and its history to understand this song. It is a sort of "farewell" to the band's old female vocalist Tarja, and an explantion as to why they promptly fired her at the end of their 2005 tour.

"The hill's eyes" would be the media and fans, and the constant badgering/speculation/rumors the band dealt with after firing Tarja. People eventually grew tired of the lack of anymore drama, freeing the band up to finally appoint a new lead singer - Anette - in a way that would give her a chance to be accepted by Nightwish's fans. (go to youtube or fan forums to see how well that worked out...people are still complaining 4 years later!)

"Finally, the hills are without eyes" = Finally, people are done watching and criticizing our every move.

"They are tired of painting a dead man’s face red with his own blood." = Tarja is gone, she's never coming back, it's a dead issue. The media and fans are finally tiring (sort of) of trying to give a dead issue "life". It's not unlike the concept behind the phrase "beating a dead horse" just said more poetically.

Hope this was at least somewhat helpful...