Marbles by Marillion

Hey guys!

So for class this week we learned about Johnny Cupcakes and his blog and what makes his brand and his products popular. After reading about him and watching an interview, something that I really like about his brand is that he is original and when he prints T-shirts, he makes sure he limits his designs so they are “limited additions”. People enjoy feeling like they are one in a million. 

After this I got thinking about my tattoo. April 20, 2012, my father and I got matching marble tattoos. The reason behind the tattoo comes from an album by Marillion called Marbles. On the cover there is a boy holding up two marbles that cover his eyes. On this CD, there is also a song called Marbles IV and the song is very innocent and it goes from talking about when he was little and he physically lost his marble but when he grows up, he is “losing his marbles” or losing his mind so with the marble on our arm, it’s reminding us that even when life is crazy, we can’t lose our marble, because it’s tattooed on our arm! We can never go crazy right?! Haha. (That is now debatable).  

This might sound silly to get a marble, by my father and I have really bonded over this CD. My tattoo is on my right forearm so everyone can see it when I have a T-shirt or tank top on. When people ask me what it is, I explain to them that it’s from a band that my dad and I love by Marillion. Most people I talk to do not know who Marillion is (I mean they only have 203,284 fans on Facebook).Since the 80’s Marillion has sold over 15 million albums so they have gotten their name out there and thats impressive so it’s crazy to me that some people don’t know about them! Let me tell you, you are missing out! 

They are a neo-progressive band from Aylesbury, England and they have been around since the 80‘s. So here I am. After Johnny Cupcakes, I am trying to get Marillion's music out there to people who might not know them. I’m not trying to pressure you to listen to their music, or appreciate it for that matter, but if you take anything from this blog, just remember their name. I know for some that listening to a 16 min long song sounds like eternity but a 16 min song tells a story and that’s something I think music today is missing. On top of that, I believe their is a lot of emotion in their lyrics. One of my all time favorite songs is called Ocean Cloud (I’m planning another tattoo based off of that song as well) and I believe the only way to listen to that song is loudly. There are so many elements to the song and it’s beautiful and tragic. In the song Marillion uses ocean sounds like birds, radio talk, and waves. When I think of this song, it reminds me of Life of Pi because the story is about a man and his boat traveling around the world. To me, it sounds like he is trying to get away from some very hurtful memories so he makes the ocean his new wife. He ends up going to all of these beautiful places and seeing beautiful people but there is still something that saddens him. All of a sudden, a storm comes (there is a really cool progression in this part of the song about 12 min into the song, and if you have made it 12 min into the song, you are awesome!) After storm ends and they leave the listener wondering what happened to the man, is he alive, is he dead, is he hurt, what happened? I think it’s very powerful and has to be on my top 5 favorite songs of all time. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLLMmjXgbrU (Here's a link to Ocean Cloud.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByH09K2jvWI (Marbles IV.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZh17m2IBbk (Neverland.)

Marillion has taught me to make a change in the world and preeminently put my foot print on the world. If you are physically capable, go travel the world. Don’t have enough money? That’s ok. Think of ways to find it. Don’t waist life, time, and money on physical things, spend it on experiences. So Marillion may just be a neo-progressive 80’s band, but to me, they have really inspired me to be a better person. 

With this I leave you with one last Marillion quote. 

“ I want to be someone someone would want to be”

~Chloe