The Bruuuce.com community has been busy on Facebook! Here is their interpretation of Bruce Hornsby’s “Indigo Park” single, and then we’ll give you Bruce’s subsequent clarification.
Thanks to Jennie for starting the conversation with a near-flawless transcription of the lyrics (below).
Bruce’s press release confirms: “In the title track, the first song he wrote for the album, Hornsby looks back on a 10th grade party at the Indigo Park Pool in Williamsburg, Virginia, when a “great big entrance” went awry. A seemingly mundane event that now feels revelatory when filtered through the present state-of-mind.”
Indigo Park community take
The community added this additional colour:
Jennie: “What about Carter Braxton Navarro Finn?? Carter Braxton was a US founding father, a Virginia landowner and slaveholder. Makes sense. I’m thinking Navarro and Finn must be two different people (??) for a total of three in the reference.”
Vic: “Carter Braxton was a representative from Virginia and a signatory on the Declaration of Independence. He was born to a wealthy family but lost everything as a result of the war. Braxton was a member of the House of Burgesses. In 1775, he went to the Continental Congress, where he stayed for two years. During the Revolution, Braxton loaned £10,000 pounds sterling in support of the war and used his wealth to sponsor shipping and privateering. The debt this caused ruined his finances.”
Katrina: “When considering names in the song you need to remember Bruce has always had nicknames for lots of people. Growing up with the Hornsby boys you knew you would eventually get one… Indigo Pool is in my neighborhood. One of the reasons why I bought a home here, when I moved back, was because of all the memories I have of teen parties because so many of our friends lived in this part of town. I love the lyrics. Just beautiful imagery.”
Carwyn: “Just a general comment, I love the whole sentiment of these lyrics. Like many, I am often plagued by self-doubt and unfairly comparing myself to others. As so often with Bruce, going back to 1988 for me – this song has landed at a perfect time in my life.”
Vic: “Kimberlite is composed of at least 35% olivine, together with other minerals such as mica, serpentine, and calcite. Geologists call it an ultrabasic rock, which means it does not contain any quartz or feldspar, the two most common rock-forming minerals. ”
Ol: “The bit in the middle @2.49, I’ve heard similar before from Bruce at end of one of his songs played Iive, but I can’t recall what one it is! So Whatever…. its all good and it’s an outstanding song- even the single ending chord creating great anticipation for next song!” (Timothy suggests Stander on the Mountain, and Si, Spider Fingers).
Indigo Park: Meaning of the song
Bruce says:
“The great Jean-Luc Godard said, ‘I like the irrelevant, the tangential, the sidebar excursion to nowhere that suddenly becomes revelatory.’”
“And that’s kind of what this song is about. It’s about this sort of rather mundane, anodyne, quotidian event in my early years – 10th grade, to be exact, 16 years old. I was invited to a party, a pool party at the Indigo Park pool in Williamsburg, Virginia – an older crowd, except for me. I was let into the club. So I thought I’d try to make a big appearance, a great entrance.”
“I knew this guy who had an old ’41 Chevy, and I asked him to teach me how to drive a stick shift because I didn’t know how to do that. So he did that. And I practiced with the car and drove it into the pool area.”
“And the song goes: ‘I made my great big entrance, greeted by the collective indifference of the neighborhood pool. I may be slipping, sliding back, faded away, away from your view.’”
“So that’s what happened – and I felt like an idiot.”
“But this Indigo Park idea is sort of a philosophical thing. As you get older, you think back on these memories and realize, you shouldn’t beat yourself up for that. You’re just some young idiot and things like this happen.”
“And so the chorus goes: ‘Oh, let these days be your delight, captured in rhythm and rhyme. Watch these drawn lines trace your life’s most scintillating times.’ And it goes on to say, ‘It’s only life and life is enough.’”
Those lyrics in full:
Indigo, roses in spring
The air was heavy as the thunder did sing
I take a plunge in the old-time dark
Pulled her on in and put her in park
There’s a heightened sense of possibility
When you don’t know shit and you’re young and you’re green
Turbulent twinge, it won’t ease
And I’m in with you only in my dreams
Oh let these days be your delight, captured in rhythm and rhyme
Watch these drawn lines trace your life’s most scintillating times
Falling, flying, up, down, lit up like a diamond hiding in the rough
Succeed or fail it’s all the same
It’s only life, and life is enough (so whatever, it’s life and life only)
Learned how to drive an old ’41 car, first time stick shift
Carte, Braxton, Navarro, Finn taught me how to enter with a big big hit
I made my great big entrance
Greeted by the collective indifference of the neighborhood pool
I may be slippin’, slidin’ back, fading away, oh, from your view
Oh let these days be your delight, captured in rhythm and rhyme
Watch these drawn lines trace your life’s most scintillating times
Falling, flying, up, down, lit up like a diamond hiding in the rough
Succeed or fail it’s all the same
It’s only life, and life is enough (so whatever, it’s life and life only)
Pushing up through, kimberlite blue
Underground root, in a turbulent flow
Pushes up through, through the ground blue
Sunlight diamonds water there at the concrete’s end
Sharp edges, looking out for you
Diving in head first, jackknife
Perfect ten- hope it never never never ends
Oh let these days be your delight, as if you’re living in a dream
Watch these drawn lines trace your life’s most scintillating scenes
Falling, flying, up, down, lit up like a diamond hiding in the rough
Succeed or fail it’s all the same
In the end life is enough
Captured in rhythm and rhyme (never quite get there)
Falling, flying, up, down, lit up like a diamond hiding in the rough
(Oh but wait til I get there)
Succeed or fail it’s all the same
In the end life is enough
So whatever, whatever
Pre-order Indigo Park
(Commission goes to Bruuuce.com)