Concept
Promenade can be interpreted as a concept album about two lovers who spend a day at the seaside. There are many different interpretations of the story, but it may run something like this: "Bath" is about the female character taking a bath, and "Going Downhill Fast" is about the male character bicycling over to her house. "The Booklovers" is about the two discussing their favourite authors. "A Seafood Song" is about them enjoying a meal comprising different types of fish. In "Geronimo" they get caught in the rain as they head back to his place, and they go on a Ferris wheel ride in "Don't Look Down". Later, in "When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe" (the title alluding to the famous World War I quote "The lights are going out all over Europe") they see a French film, and in "The Summerhouse" they reminisce about their childhood. The girl almost drowns during an evening stroll in "Neptune's Daughter", they then get drunk in "A Drinking Song", and "Ten Seconds to Midnight" is about counting down to the New Year and the anniversary of the time when they first met. Finally, in "Tonight We Fly", they transcend everyone through their ecstasy.
One recurring element in Promenade is water. Water is mentioned in one way or another in the following songs: "Bath", "A Seafood Song", "Geronimo", "The Summerhouse", "Neptune's Daughter", and "Tonight We Fly". Another recurring element is gods from mythology. Aphrodite is mentioned in "Bath". Mercury is mentioned in "Going Downhill Fast". Neptune is in the title of "Neptune's Daughter".
References to French New Wave cinema occur in two of the songs. "When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe" alludes to François Truffaut's Jules et Jim, contains excerpts of dialogue from Jean-Luc Godard's À Bout de Souffle and contains the line "and when she asks for his ambition, Jean-Pierre replies 'My mission is to become eternal and to die'", describing a scene in À Bout de Souffle in which a novelist character played by Jean-Pierre Melville replies "devenir immortel et puis, mourir". This song also contains a reference to Éric Rohmer's Claire's Knee. "The Booklovers" contains the line "Tu connais William Faulkner?", also a quote from À Bout de Souffle.
Read more about this topic: Promenade (album)
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