The Music: Difference between revisions

From Battlestar Wiki, the free, open content Battlestar Galactica encyclopedia and episode guide
Browse history interactively
VisualWikitext
mNo edit summary
No edit summary
Line 3: Line 3:
Once the Fleet arrives at the Ionian nebula, '''the music'''<ref>{{bsgwiki term}}</ref> reaches a piercing shrill. The Colonials affected not only hear the music complete, but begin to add lyrics as well. As the Fleet plunges into darkness, losing electrical power for reasons unknown, the music compels the four to meet in an isolated room.
Once the Fleet arrives at the Ionian nebula, '''the music'''<ref>{{bsgwiki term}}</ref> reaches a piercing shrill. The Colonials affected not only hear the music complete, but begin to add lyrics as well. As the Fleet plunges into darkness, losing electrical power for reasons unknown, the music compels the four to meet in an isolated room.


The four are able to assemble the lyric fragments with the intact music to form a strange song. The musical experience is associated with a "switch going off" in the minds of the four, who suddenly become aware that they are [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. The source or cause of the music is not known ([[Crossroads, Part II]]).
The four are able to assemble the lyric fragments with the intact music to form a strange song. The musical experience is associated with a "switch going off" in the minds of the four, who suddenly become aware that they are [[Cylons (RDM)|Cylons]]. The source or cause of the music is not known, but [[Final Five]] Cylon [[Samuel Anders]] recalls that in a past life on [[Earth (RDM)|Earth]], he used to play the song for [[Tory Foster|the woman he loved]] ([[Crossroads, Part II]], [[Sometimes a Great Notion]]).


At the end of the episode the song starts playing as background music for the viewers to hear. These are the complete lyrics that are sung:
At the end of the episode the song starts playing as background music for the viewers to hear. These are the complete lyrics that are sung:

Revision as of 07:01, 18 January 2009

As the Fleet approaches the Ionian nebula, four people, Saul Tigh, Samuel Anders, Tory Foster and Galen Tyrol, begin hearing fragments of strange music that only they can hear. The music becomes more distinct and distracting as the Fleet gets closer to the nebula.

Once the Fleet arrives at the Ionian nebula, the music[1] reaches a piercing shrill. The Colonials affected not only hear the music complete, but begin to add lyrics as well. As the Fleet plunges into darkness, losing electrical power for reasons unknown, the music compels the four to meet in an isolated room.

The four are able to assemble the lyric fragments with the intact music to form a strange song. The musical experience is associated with a "switch going off" in the minds of the four, who suddenly become aware that they are Cylons. The source or cause of the music is not known, but Final Five Cylon Samuel Anders recalls that in a past life on Earth, he used to play the song for the woman he loved (Crossroads, Part II, Sometimes a Great Notion).

At the end of the episode the song starts playing as background music for the viewers to hear. These are the complete lyrics that are sung:

There must be some way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There's too much confusion
I can't get no relief
Businessmen they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line
Know what any of it is worth
No reason to get excited
The thief he kindly spoke
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that
And this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now
The hour is getting late
All along the watchtower
All along the watchtower

Several of the lines appear in dialogue throughout the episode:

Anders: That song you're hummin'. What is that?
Tyrol: Oh, uh. Ah you know I don't even know, it's just something I can't get outta my head. Some way outta here.
Racetrack: Yo, Anders! Do you need a frakking invitation? Move it!
Anders: Alright. No reason to get excited.
Saul Tigh: You'll look into it? You'll look into it? I am here telling you there is Cylon sabotage aboard our ship.
William Adama: Sabotage? With music?
Saul Tigh: I know, I know. I can't quite understand it myself. There's too much confusion.
Saul Tigh (to self, after Adama exits): There must be some kinda way out of here.
Tory Foster (while washing her hands): I can't get no relief.

The music is heard again during a standoff between Galactica and the rebel basestar. It draws Tigh, Tyrol and Anders to Kara Thrace's Viper, which causes the three to believe there's something special about it. Thrace investigates their claim, and discovers a clue that ultimately leads the Fleet to Earth: a Colonial emergency locator beacon signal. Upon the Fleet's arrival at Earth, they land and survey a radiated wasteland of crumbled skyscrapers and a collapsed bridge with which many viewers perceived a similarity to real-world New York City, as viewed from near the east tower of the Brooklyn Bridge, specifically the site of the Jehovah's Witnesses office building known as "The Watchtower" (Revelations).

Notes[edit]

  • The music is, indeed, a version of Bob Dylan's song, "All Along the Watchtower," specially arranged by series composer Bear McCreary, the lyrics sung by his brother, Brendan McCreary (known professionally as Bt4) [2]. The song is available on the Season 3 soundtrack.
  • The song is not intended to indicate that the Colonials have picked up an Earth communication. Series executive producer Ron D. Moore considers the song to be an invention created by a Colonial citizen in a curious parallel to what had or will develop on Earth. The series creators have intentionally avoided citing whether Battlestar Galactica occurs in the the series' Earth's past, present, or future. Moore offers that "things that happened on Galactica were tied into our reality here on Earth in some way, in the past or the future, or some other connection"[3].
  • Over 25 notable bands have performed cover versions of "All Along The Watchtower"; the definitive cover was performed by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Many people are unaware that his version was not the original [4].
  • Bob Dylan has indicated that the events in the song's lyrics are "in a rather reverse order", beginning logically in time with the "All Along The Watchtower" verse and ending with the now-famous opening lines, "'There must be some way out of here,' said the Joker to the Thief." [5]
  • The version used in the series omits the final stanza, though the full song (including this stanza) is included in the season soundtrack:
    All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
    While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
    Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
    Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl
  • The rhythm of the Colonial emergency locator beacon's signal matches the rhythm of the Music.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ This is a Battlestar Wiki descriptive term.
  2. ↑ Bear McCreary's Blog (backup available on Archive.org) . (March 25, 2007).
  3. ↑ AV Club interview with Ronald D. Moore (backup available on Archive.org) . Retrieved on April 22, 2007.
  4. ↑ Song Stats for All Along the Watchtower at DMBAlmanac.com (backup available on Archive.org) . Retrieved on April 22, 2007.
  5. ↑ http://bobdylan.com/songs/watchtower.html

External links[edit]

Re-imagined Series definition: all-purpose vulgarism; Colonial version of "fuck" (see: frak)

Retrieved from "https://en.battlestarwiki.org/w/index.php?title=The_Music&oldid=170479"