DECODING THE LYRICS
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The Lyrics
[Verse]
She was born on a magic island
There's a certain mythology
I was already on the outside
I wanted to be what I wanted to be
She took me to illumination night
To pass on a legacy.
[Chorus]
Crazy ladies in gingerbread houses
Light the lanterns for the shipwrecked sailors
Celebrate the homecoming
Celebrate the moment when
The will to live collides with love
Lights the lanterns everyone
And pray that the rain won't come.
[Bridge]
She left me with Grace the next year
She went away, I don't know where
Grace got drunk in a Chinese restaurant
So all I saw were the lights extinguishing
I'm going back on illumination night
To see if I can light the lights
[Chorus]
[Instrumental Break]
[Chorus]
* * * *
Two Contrasting Perspectives and a Third Possibility
Over the years of Lostwave searching on the various social media forums, there have been two basic perspectives on the meaning of the LTL lyrics:
One group firmly believes the lyrics are about the Martha's Vineyard Grand Illumination Night. They say -- "The meaning is obvious. It's about the Martha's Vineyard Illumination Night. That's sorted. Now let's move on to finding the singer. The lyrics are irrelevant".
Another group believe the lyrics are symbolic, allegories and metaphors, inspirational poetry. From those in this group there have been innumerable interpretations advanced including: LTL is about lost lesbian love; biblical redemption through the Light of Christ; an allegory for losing The Light in One's Life; Grace is not a person but "grace" per se; a movie soundtrack from a children's movie. Just last week I was lambasted for being too literalist -- "The rain is a metaphor. Anyone can see that". But maybe, as Groucho once quipped -- "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar".
But I'm not denying the song has allegorical undercurrents, rather that it doesn't help the search to dismiss any rationality about the lyrics.
My Perspective. Dissenting from both the above perspectives, I have long believed that the lyrics are both literal and research-relevant to finding the singer and players, and that the story told has nothing to do with Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts. This has become a kind of blasphemy in the Lostwave community. So I've now split from such forums to concentrate on serious factual research.
I believe we must use all the cryptic telltales of information in the lyrics plus the musicality of the song itself to piece together this vintage jigsaw puzzle to eventually identify the singer.
For deeper context about the songwriting and the musical production as they have been applied to hunting down our singer, see my RESEARCH ARCHIVES, Pages 7 - 10.
But first we must deal with the elephant in the room.
* * * *
Why the Martha's Vineyard Grand Illumination Night Has Nothing to do With Light the Lanterns
This is a particular bugbear of mine -- the persistent belief and repetition all over the web that the lyrics of LTL describe the Martha's Vineyard (MV) Grand Illumination Night event. It is demonstrably untrue, as the following analysis clearly proves.
Six years ago, adherence to the MV scenario flooded the search commuunity simply through Googling the terms: island; Illumination Night; gingerbread houses; lighting lanterns. This is a classic example of "internet truth by popularity" and has nothing to do with accurate research and deductive analysis. It's just because so many people have propogated this belief, over and over, like an unarguable fact.
But in fact, the supposed Martha's Vineyard connection to LTL is a simplistic, coincidental red herring. It is clear that people who believe there's a connection have never actually looked into all possible explanations for the lyrics. They have never unlinked MV from all the other telltale signs in the lyrics pointing elsewhere.
Below are 8 solid, fully researched, factual reasons why the MV explanation is just not feasible. Note: The song lyrics are quoted below in bold italics.
1. Statements from Institutions, Locals, and Authors
- The Martha's Vineyard Historical Society and the Martha's Vineyard Camps Meeting Association have replied to numerous inquiries from LTL searchers confirming that the song lyrics have no historical or present day relevance to their event.
- From just a cursory listen, it is patently clear that the song's context -- the somber tone, the specific lyrics about "shipwrecked sailors", "crazy ladies" or "an extinguishing legacy" -- just does not align with their MV event. [1] It just makes no sense.
- The Martha's Vineyard Grand Ilumination Night participants -- actually only 315 of the 11,300 houses on the island in 6 streets near "Tabernacle Headquarters"; which is 10% of the village of Oak Bluffs; which is only 0.7% of the island land mass; and 1.5% of permanent island residents (315/20,500) -- are all well-known to each other within their tight-knit religious community. A song written about their neighborhood event would have been immediately relatable to the community. Some have been approached but have not acknowledged any connection with the song's lyrics. It makes no sense to them. Lostwave posts mention asking a MV Radio Station, a local band, a nearby recording studio. Dead ends. All of them.
- Novelist Alice Hoffman has confirmed to several inquirers that the song has nothing to do with her 1987 novel, Illumination Night. Her book is a work of fiction set on Martha's Vineyard, using the island's annual Grand Illumination Night as a backdrop for a story about her characters' relationships. While she acknowledged the coincidence of the name, she saw no link to either her work or the MV ceremony she knows well. [2]
2. The Tone and Specific Purpose of the MV Event and The Song Narrative are Complete Opposites
- The Martha's Vineyard event is a grand, public, end-of-summer celebration that attracts thousands of people, started in 1889. It's an advertisement for the Methodist community spirit, underwritten by the Martha's Vineyard Camps Meeting Association. Their Mission Statement: "To perpetuate our religious and historical heritage, engaging all in education and spiritual growth in a welcoming faith community". [3]
- The LTL song lyrics describe (at least overtly) an intimate and enigmatic story involving three women, a Chinese restaurant, and some under-the-radar lantern ritual. The song's story is both celebratory and tragic, befitting a far smaller illumination night that was in danger of being forgotten, unlike the century-old, thriving MV celebration.
- While Martha's Vineyard is an island with maritime history, the song's thematic focus on "shipwrecked sailors" clashes with context of the MV community history and mood. The MV event is about community building and fun, sharing cookies and lemonade on the verandahs, sing-songs and hymns in the Tabernacle.
- I mean, just look at the pictures below [5] [6] of the ditsy technocolor cottages by day and night. Do you seriously think the Chinese restaurant singer is talking about THIS illumination night? Do these kitsch gingerbread houses represent the mood of a dying lantern CELEBRATION for shipwrecked sailors? It just makes no sense.
3. The Type of Lanterns Used and Their Lighting Method Are Totally Different
- At Martha's Vineyard, the event involves thousands of colorful Japanese paper or silk lanterns which are often heirloom items passed down through generations. [4] While the tradition of the Grand Illumination (which began in 1869) originally involved candles or oil lamps inside paper lanterns, the switch to electric lights began soon after electricity became available in the early 20th century. By the 1960s, safety was paramount due to the dense concentration of old wooden cottages in near proximity.
- Following the post-World War II commercial boom, strings of electric Christmas tree lights were widely available and affordable for general decorative use . Although, some traditionalists may have still used candles up until Council fire regulations banned them in 1974. Since then, all the delicate paper lanterns and highly flammable wooden cottages have been illuminated with electric light strings.
- The Martha's Vineyard event involves the ceremonial lighting of the first lantern in the Tabernacle -- an ancient Judeo-Christian custom -- which then prompts everyone to turn on their pre-strung electric lights simultaneously. It is a coordinated, mass illumination, an easy "flick of a switch" moment for the thousands of lanterns, in a pre-planned lighting display. The illumination night mentioned in the song was about actually "lighting the lanterns", not switching them on! [6]
- In the song, the lyrics "to see if I can light the lights" implies a personal struggle with the light sources for the singer. Whatever lights she is talking about, she clearly draws the distinction between her own competence and that which the older, "crazy ladies" on some mysterious magic island would have had no trouble with. Furthermore, if they were kerosene lamps, they are not always easy to light in the wind or rain, say on an exposed seaside bluff -- hence her lyrics "pray that the rain won't come" is a premonition that the whole occasion might be snuffed out if she fails in her mission to "light the lights". The rain is not going to inhibit the switching on of the lights at Oak Bluffs. It just makes no sense.
4. The Term Gingerbread Houses Can Have Very Different Cultural Meanings
- At Martha's Vineyard, yes, the cottages are famous "gingerbread houses". But they are brightly painted, and then lit-up like a Hansel and Gretel fairy tale only for their annual show day. They are part of a kitsch religious and social context. [5] [6]
- The singular interpretation of gingerbread houses having to mean the dressed-up confectionery style like MV is infantile. Millions of other Americans live in what they affectionately call a gingerbread-style house.
- In many other contexts, the term "gingerbread house" is just shorthand for the steep-pitched roof, late 1800s Victorian, Queen Anne, Eastlake, or Carpenter Gothic styles of architecture. This style is very typical of many dwellings on coastal headlands where shipwrecks might occur.
- The term "crazy ladies in gingerbread houses" is very unlikely to refer to the established, family-oriented community of Oak Bluffs. It just makes no sense.
5. The Commercial Context and The Dying Light are Completely Incompatible
- The Martha's Vineyard Illumination Night event was originally a commercial advertisement in 1869 to promote the area. It is a social event, focused on neighbors sharing cookies and lemonade, a high point of the summer social season.
- The illumination event mentioned in LTL is more a private, family legacy with a memorial tone. It suggests the remembrance of something heroic -- a major shipwreck.
- In LTL, the singer's primary concern is the fading away of a worthy and beautiful tradition. That is the complete opposite of a robust, commercialized social event like the Martha's Vineyard Grand Illumination Night which has run for over 150 years.
- The song's tragic thread is that this tradition, the allegorical "light of remembrance" was dying out --"All I saw were the lights extinguishing". The women in the Chinese restaurant clearly felt their small, barely patronized memorial gathering needed passing on.
- But the Martha's Vineyard community event is anything but a dying light. It is a vital, thriving tradition that continues to this day, stronger than ever. No-one would or could ever need to "pass on the legacy" of the Grand Illumination Night. It just makes no sense.
6. Geographical Dislocation and Logistical Absurdity
- The LTL cassette demo tape was found in an LA office. Judging from the song's famous "San Francisco Sound," the singer/band were most likely from the SF Bay Area music scene canvassing for a recording deal in LA.
- It just makes no sense that a West Coast artist -- living far from MV, writing about a hyper-local East Coast event -- would record such a song, and then promote it in LA.
- Since the tape was found in LA, and the singer was "going back on illumination night", either she was making music on the West Coast and was intending to travel 3,000 miles for a one-night supposedly dying event, or she lived near MV but mysteriously left her demo tape in LA where the song would have had no cultural significance to Martha's Vineyard.
- The singer says "she took me to illumination night." Did she pay for two flights LA to Boston for a look at a bunch of electrified candy-houses with thousands of other local tourists, and came away thinking: "Yeah, this 100-year-old celebration needs saving"? And why would it be Grace or "She" who had the authority to"pass on the legacy" of the Martha's Vineyard Grand Illumination Night? It just makes no sense.
- The song lyrics, clearly being about a small, private, even secret illumination event, belies any likelihood that its participants would travel any great distance to participate.
- In short, any connection between Martha's Vineyard and Los Angeles just makes no sense.
7. The Climatic Details Do Not Align
- The MV Grand Illumination Night is held annually in mid-August (a dry summer month). The event is almost guaranteed good weather. But the lyrics "pray that the rain won't come" suggests an anxiety about weather conditions, which makes no sense for the typical mid-summer conditions of MV. Besides, MV has a back-up day just in case it does rain on the 3rd Wednesday in August.
8. The Term Illumination Night
- It should by now be crystal clear to anyone endowed with critical thinking that we are clearly talking about two different illumination nights. Whereas the MV event is capitalized as a special event, "Illumination Night", I would bet that the one mentioned in the song was simply penned as "illumination night", lower case, a less formal thing amongst those who knew of it, as befitting 3 people discussing its impending demise in a Chinese restaurant where the ritual's matriarch got drunk.
- It may not even be a term that her hosts used themselves. It could have been the singer's own poetic nickname for what she witnessed -- just the once. She may even have dubbed it illumination night after the famous one she'd heard about in Massachusetts -- hence the term cannot be found in any historical records elsewhere in the country. That doesn't mean it didn't exist. It just means it was too small and under the radar.
- Besides, the term illumination night has been used over millennia in innumerable memorial and celebratory settings. This is the fundamental flaw made by all those who have attached to the MV event. They Googled the term and, as Google often does, it tossed up the most popular return in their own culture and time. For a broader view, try this AI search: "What are the global and historical origins of public lighting celebrations, including terms like "illumination" and "lighting the lanterns"? You'll see that the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association (MVCMA), who run the Grand Illumination Night, don't have any copyright on such ceremonies or naming rights.
* * * *
Conclusion: The Turning Point
The weight of these 8 factual and lyrical contradictions makes it impossible to sustain the Martha's Vineyard theory, other than by a minor lyrical coincidence. The narrative elements of the song simply do not align with it in any way. As well, my insistence that the whole Martha's Vineyard connection should be abandoned is based on the evident fruitlessness of that proposition. Over five years of diligent searching by thousands of fans, not a shred of real life connection to Martha's Vineyard has turned up. Is it not wiser to look elsewhere in the USA for an island, some lighting of lanterns, some gingerbread houses, some lesser-known illumination night? That's what real research truly is. You don't lock-in to one theory if the facts contradict it.
So, the question remains:
What DO all the lyrics in this mysterious song mean?
The key to every word and phrase above lies in one specific, well-documented and overlooked act of heroism from the 1940s on the California Coast. It involves a family of "light-keepers" whose personal tragedies culminated one night in front of an idealistic young hippie troubadour who has since disappeared into the mists of time. The next page provides the verified historical details that finally solve the song's central thematic riddles:
What Magic Island?
What shipwrecked sailors?
What was the homecoming?
Who was Grace and who was the She in the story?
Who were the crazy ladies?
What was the true Illumination Night all about, and why was it dying out?
And where was the Chinese Restaurant?
* * * *
Page References
[1] Marthas's Vineyard Historical Society
https://mvmuseum.org/mission-history/
[2] Alice Hoffman
https://alicehoffman.com/books/illumination-night/
[3] MVCMA Mission Statement
https://www.mvcma.org/history-1
[4] Japanese Lanterns
These are the typical Japanese silk (or paper) lanterns, illuminated by electric Christmas tree lights that adorn the Oak Bluff gingerbread houses on Martha's Vineyard for one fun-filled night per year.
https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+silk+and+paper+lanterns&num=10&sca_esv=579435e9b1f4aa6c&udm=2&biw=360&bih=606&sxsrf=AE3TifNe5zR3Y-gEEjEhNZwF3g9oTGGdtw%3A1766738199741&ei=F0lOafKALYjS1e8Pp4-D0AM&oq=Japanese+silk+and+paoerlanterns&gs_lp=EhJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWciH0phcGFuZXNlIHNpbGsgYW5kIHBhb2VybGFudGVybnMqAggAMgQQIRgKMggQABiiBBiJBTIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBEjN5gFQhg5Yu9YBcAJ4AJABAJgBrwKgAeovqgEIMC41LjIxLjG4AQHIAQD4AQGYAh2gAvAxqAIFwgIKECMYJxjJAhjqAsICChAAGIAEGEMYigXCAgoQLhiABBhDGIoFwgILEAAYgAQYsQMYgwHCAgUQABiABMICDhAAGIAEGLEDGIMBGIoFwgIIEAAYgAQYsQPCAggQLhiABBixA8ICBRAuGIAEwgIGEAAYBxgewgIHEAAYgAQYDcICBBAAGB7CAgYQABgNGB6YAxKSBwgyLjQuMjIuMaAHsm2yBwgwLjQuMjIuMbgH1zHCBwcyLTE2LjEzyAf6AYAIAA&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img
Pictures of the Martha's Vineyard Gingerbread Houses by Day and Night
[5] Daytime: https://www.google.com/search?q=oak+bluffs+gingerbread+cottages&num=10&sca_esv=f517df8b24517ced&udm=2&biw=360&bih=606&sxsrf=AE3TifNKFeTxpCLIEUtkdBu6bTQ-_xtfBA%3A1763171741812&ei=nd0XacWtMdWO4-EP55Hh4AQ&oq=oak+bluffs+Martha%27s+Vineyard+fairytale+gingerbread+houses&gs_lp=EhJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWciOW9hayBibHVmZnMgTWFydGhhJ3MgVmluZXlhcmQgZmFpcnl0YWxlIGdpbmdlcmJyZWFkIGhvdXNlcyoCCAQyBxAjGCcYyQIyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYogQYiQUyCBAAGIAEGKIESKxoUABYAHAAeACQAQCYAeUBoAHlAaoBAzItMbgBAcgBAJgCAaAC7AGYAwCIBgGSBwMyLTGgB68FsgcDMi0xuAfsAcIHAzItMcgHBw&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img
