Alan Parson's 'Eye in the Sky' Foretold It, Like GO's 1984

Never before had those lyrics hit me in such a way, but maybe I am just slow. Maybe it took me years of research in conspiracies to finally make the connection. But the reality of those lyrics just hit me like a ton of bricks. It's all there, what has been happening for years. And this song was written back in the early 80's.

And then I go on to wiki and look:

The song is in part a reference to George Orwell's classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, regarding a possible future in which individual privacy is virtually non-existent due to the ever-watching eye of Big Brother. In the novel, citizens are constantly monitored by hidden video recording equipment.[2][3]

It has also been noted that Eric Woolfson, the songwriter and vocalist of this song, spent a lot of time in casinos and in commercial districts, fascinated by the hidden security cameras that monitor gamblers and shoppers, hence the theme of the song. See "Eye in the Sky."[3]

en.wikipedia.org...

Read over the lyrics again: (with new meanings I derive)

Don't think sorry's easily said - He speaks to the government, and reminds them that the crimes have been bad.
Don't try turning tables instead - a note about government deception, covert psyops programs
You've taken lots of Chances before - yes, they have
But I ain't gonna give anymore - the rage of a population
Don't ask me
That's how it goes
Cause part of me knows what you're thinkin' - that part of us that always warned us something was terribly wrong

Don't say words you're gonna regret - talking to himself now, a warning to self control
Don't let the fire rush to your head - more talk to self, not to lose it
I've heard the accusation before - false accusations by government, like we saw after 9/11, Iraq, all that
And I ain't gonna take any more - he has seen through the government veil, and has had it.
Believe me
The sun in your Eyes - the deceptive partial truths that are put out, but yet with a sinister agenda behind them.
Made some of the lies worth believing - bingo, score! The scheme is uncovered!

Chorus:
I am the eye in the sky - cameras, satellites, drones
Looking at you - spying
I can read your mind - mind control, preemptive justice
I am the maker of rules - the government
Dealing with fools- that would be us, cause we really are damn fools
I can cheat you blind - and they do cheat us blind. Rob us legally
And I don't need to see any more - and neither do I. The time has come.
To know that
I can read your mind, I can read your mind - more control. Programs now analyze the social intent.

Don't leave false illusions behind
Don't Cry cause I ain't changing my mind
So find another fool like before
Cause I ain't gonna live anymore believing
Some of the lies while all of the Signs are deceiving

I leave you to do your own interpretation on that last verse. But wow. Timeless lyrics. And so dead on. Just thought I'd share this for any that may not have made the connection before.

And finally:


A salute to you, Eric Woolfson! You da man.

Yeah man, that was an obvious one, I didn't see it either, until I saw it. Like with everything else.

I post that video here a lot, it's one of those "the radio is talking to me" songs. If we all listened more carefully to the radio in our cars and homes, we would hear "Hello? McFly!?!?" messages in the lyrics of many songs.

Some bring a tear to me eye.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
I post that video here a lot

You turned me into an APP fan! I think it was you who got me listening to Eye in the Sky. Then I found it in a bargain bin one day. Now I have the entire collection (except for Freudiana.)

All of the Parsons/Woolfson albums are concept albums--and Eye in the Sky is about "belief systems" I think I read in the liner notes.

There are a lot of nods to a dystopian society if you ask me

Children of the Moon:
"No one to turn to/ Nowhere to run to even if we could"

You're Gonna Get Your Fingers Burned:
"Watch me closely catch my eye /If you do I beg you to remind me who is stronger/ Who is weak of those who seek /And don't know where to find me"

Psychobabble:
"I can't turn to the left or the right/ I'm too scared to run and I'm too weak to fight"

And let's not forget the other albums in APP's body of work that seem to follow this dystopian motif: I Robot, Eve, The Turn of a Friendly Card, Ammonia Avenue, and Vulture Culture

He dresses up the song into being like a romantic love song, but the lyrics sure tell another story.

Yeah, one of those obvious messages you wouldn't get unless you were a fan of the music artist and read about the connection. I never liked that song though I liked some of the Allen Parson Project.

They used to play this song a lot on the radio when it was first released.
I think the song is about a guy who knows his girlfriend is cheating on him and lying to him about it, but he doesn`t believe her lies anymore, he knows shes cheating even though she won`t admit it.

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have heard that song on the radio over the years and NEVER have I bothered to actually listen to the words.

I always assumed it was a love song.
It sounds like a sappy love song. Great harmonizing for sure..

But who in the hell writes a song like that?
Who in the hell writes lyrics like that and slips it into a sappy love song like some sort of song writing ninja
and plants those seeds into an entire generation of young people's brains only to detonate at some later point in life like some sort of truth grenade?

Encoding his music with secret messages that are in plain sight for everyone to see/hear yet no one does.
Like some sort of modern day song writing Da vinci.
Ohh he's good.
He's REAL good.

Well played sir,
Well played.

Now I am left to wonder just what in the hell else is on the easy listening station that has invaded my subconscious all of these years.

reply to post by Screwed


It's kind of funny that you say that with such debonaire. The Alan Parsons Project actually has NO romantic/ love songs in their entire catalog!

Alan Parsons HATED love songs and he modeled Pink Floyd's style and totally rejected any "love" songs that Woolfson brought into the studio.

reply to post by NarcolepticBuddha


Ya learn something new everyday.
Here I was, getting ready to go to bed thinking this would be the day that I went all day without learning something and then I find this little nugget.

reply to post by Screwed


I'm just sayin'...the music itself does not sound like pop romance music to me. The lyrics certainly don't point to a romantic story. (Maybe in their vagueness, one might look in that direction.)

I think the OP is spot on with his interpretation--ALTHOUGH...it was kind of obvious because Woolfson (the songwriter) himself said what the song and the album are about.

It's not like it was a special, hidden secret that the OP just stumbled upon by happenstance.

You know,looking back into those bands,those songs and the lyrics,what were they really saying?
I don't know,was there a message there are not?
I guess it would be up to the listeners interpretation.

Originally posted by kdog1982
You know,looking back into those bands,those songs and the lyrics,what were they really saying?
I don't know,was there a message there are not?
I guess it would be up to the listeners interpretation.

You know, I asked that question after listening to Manfred Mann's "Blinded By the Light" and decided that there was never any big message in rock and roll lyrics. It's all just sex, drugs, and poetic-lyrical abstractions.

I mean, when "Go-kart Mozart" starts "checkin' out the weather chart"...you have to stop interpreting the lyrics. And I think that's how a lot of lyrics from that era go. They just sound good with very little meaning behind them--inspiration, sure! but meaning?...naw, not so much.

reply to post by NarcolepticBuddha


I remember getting some with that song,so,yeah that is all it was about.

reply to post by NarcolepticBuddha


Well 'Eye in the Sky' had haunted me forever, believe me. But I could just never put my finger on it. It literally was only a few minutes ago that I made the connection, mostly because of other stories I am reading about spy drones that can see with 1 meter resolution. And then the title popped into my head.

No man should be allowed to have that kind of wanton spy power over the population. NO MAN, OR NO MEN. It's a declaration of war on the public.

reply to post by NarcolepticBuddha

You turned me into an APP fan! I think it was you who got me listening to Eye in the Sky. Then I found it in a bargain bin one day. Now I have the entire collection (except for Freudiana.)

I am terribly sorry if my postings have had any effect on you here.
I will be banned from ATS in time, until then I can only apologize for any influence I have on folks.

I don't apologize for helping anyone see what is hiding in plain sight.
I do sometimes, it's like force feeding the red pill. At the same time, it's like opening a jail cell.

reply to post by Screwed

But who in the hell writes a song like that? Who in the hell writes lyrics like that and slips it into a sappy love song like some sort of song writing ninja and plants those seeds into an entire generation of young people's brains only to detonate at some later point in life like some sort of truth grenade?

Who the Hell questions such an obvious connection from lyrics to occult terminology?
A "Conspiracy Theorist" nutjob, that's who!

What's wrong with you? And why do most people on ATS agree with your posts??
Maybe you want a red sticker on your mailbox.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Hey, it's cool I'm not saying you're wrong at all. In fact, you're just reaffirming what that song really was about--it was NOT a sappy, love song like some have misinterpreted it to be.

This is transcribed from the liner notes in the 2007 pressing, CD version:

"Eric Woolfson recalls hearing the "Eye in the Sky" expression used three times in one day in different contexts which inspired the title. Firstly, he was in Las Vegas and a friend was marketing manager of the Tropicana Hotel & Casino and took him to see their surveillance system, a small picture of which is on the inside album cover. This surveillance system was known as the "Eye in the Sky," although these days they are apparently much larger installations. In Eric's room in the hotel, listening to the news, there was a reference to an "Eye in the Sky" spy satellite which had picked up some military installation and at the end of the same bulletin, the program went over to the "Eye in the Sky" weather helicopter. So the phrase really stuck! Somebody also pointed out that on the back of a dollar bill, there is an eye in the sky on top of a pyramid which made an obvious link."

continued:

"In more general terms, the album is really about belief systems, either political or religious without being in any way judgmental or preaching, as Eric is a confirmed, but respectful atheist. There's also an obvious connection to the gambling theme of the earlier Turn of a Friendly Card album"

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Here are some other APP tunes that I think will haunt you as well --In my opinion, they continue with this "dystopian" motif that I have mentioned:

Pay special attention to the lyrics in the first video I will include a link to the lyrics as well..



www.azlyrics.com...


www.azlyrics.com...


www.azlyrics.com...


www.azlyrics.com...

It's funny, when I first read the title to this thread most of the lyrics popped into my head even though I haven't heard that song since..well the early 80's lol. Never really thought about it, that was around the time I started getting into music with a little more pronounced anti-gov't sentiments. I turned 13 in '82 and became fascinated with politics, gov't, and law. The more I looked at the system, the more I realized there was something going on behind the scenes, and it stank! Did then, smells worse today. I got into the hardcore punk scene around that time, it was a lot more (anti) political then people think, we called for revolt and saw how things were a mess back then. I can't really post lyrics or videos because most of it is NSFW. I can suggest a few that will kind of shock you with the lyrics in how some of us saw things back then. Look up Dead Kennedy's "California Uber Alles" "Holiday in Cambodia" "Moral Majority" The lead singer from DK still does spoken word performances, check out Jello Biafra's spoken word on you tube. One of my favorites is "Die for Oil Sucker"

reply to post by NarcolepticBuddha


Amazing. Eric was a "conspiracy theorist" it seems long before the term was even coined! And I suppose the same could be said for any number of other artists.

We warned them with music
But no avail
We warned them with votes
But they stole the pail

We warned them with protest
They beat us back with bullets
We warned them with constitution
No choice but bloody revolution

Possibly one of the man' best album....

Thanks OP for mentioning Mr Parson.


youtu.be...


I am totally addicted to his works and his technicalities as I am sound engineer as well lean and enjoy the master work.

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
reply to post by NarcolepticBuddha

 

Amazing. Eric was a "conspiracy theorist"

Now you got me pouring over his lyrics trying to find more evidence of his conspiratorial nature. Here's just a few tidbits:

Let's Talk About Me
I never learned to read the signs
Let's think about what it all means
I never seem to have the time

Money Talks
Money doesn't lose in the money game
It drags you down like a ball and chain
So money don't come with a guarantee
It make a fool of you, it make a fool of me

--Oh yeah, this guy WAS a conspiracy theorist!