Described by keyboardist and composer-in-chief, Tuomas Holopainen, as, "a duel between the Devil and Mother Gaia." (Mother Gaia is the goddess who the ancients believed represented Earth). He explained to Metal Hammer magazine: "Since this is a dramatic album about the celebration of life and existence, you need the dark side as well. I love the dark side and I love all kinds of evil stuff, so we needed a few songs to describe those. 'Ghost River' and 'Rest Calm' are the two songs that are talking about the dark side of life."
Emppu (guitarist) never stays in one place very long - he's always moving around the stage and doing funny things. He often will touch other band members on the arm or hand when he goes by in a gesture of comradery and support.
I initially thought this song followed I want my tears back and the prank. Emppu with his hands up like "See, I'm not doing anything!" And standing with Tuomas "What? I Didn't do anything wrong"
1. Nice your new intro, love it 💖 2. The lyrics written by Tuomas are poetic and metaphorical, leaving room for the listener's interpretation. For me, the river is the road of life, full of meanders, and we, the "children", follow its course, from the springs to the discharge into the sea. On the way, we are under the antagonistic influence of the traps and dangers evoked by Marco on the one hand, as well as Floor's encouragement on the other hand, to dare, to experience life in its fullness, even taking risks. "Let it bleed / Leave a footprint on every island you see.." For me, the structure of the song is interesting, because the voices of Floor and Marco follow different paths until the end of each verse, when they meet. Another step in your journey, Red. I have a feeling that we will make a metalhead out of you :) 🤘
I love your interpretations. I can see how spending more time with these songs is important. Also, I think you so eloquently described what I was scrambling for words to say. lol thank you!
Just to augment what has been said above, there are many interpretations and there are your’s. Tuomas (per interviews) has invited listeners to have their own take/interpretation of his music. Although clearly he has his own vision, he recognises that each of our own individual life experiences will shape how we hear/interpret the music. As always, this is just my opinion, very happy for others to disagree ❤. Anyway, loved your reaction ❤
Marko's character in the song takes on the roll of living in fear. Where Floor's character is approaching life with fearless optimism. Life offers us many things to be fearful about, and it also offers us great inspiration, optimism and joy. I think its really about making a choice on how you want to live.
This is definitely one of their darker songs, and even the staging, with the light shining up on Marko's face (like a kid holding a flashlight) adds to the feeling. You asked about the guitarist, Emppu, in the beginning and what he was doing. Two things about that. Number one, Emppu is the trickster of the band. If you watch you will see that both Floor and Marko kind of keep an eye on him as he walks behind them. The shrug he gives is simply to show that he doesn't have any guitar part in that segment so he is kind of just hanging ou.
My all-time favorite Nightwish moment is Emppu doing the bunny-hop in the breakdown. He's quite the character and keeps everybody in a good mood on stage - he's the glue!. Just a perfect moment. Incredible song! BTW - that's Floor growling during the chorus with Marko, not him. He's singing clean.
"That was weird." Great reaction. Our cute red-headed neighbor is trying to figure out heavy metal music. I can't figure it out either. I just crank it up when I need to drown out the vacuum and the dishwasher while I am doing my chores. No need to understand...just enjoy.
That was Emppu joking around about not having a part to play on guitar at that point in the song. 😂 Marko and Floor sang so well together, it's such a shame he left the band. If you want to see him sing one on his own with a little band accompaniment near the end have a look at The Islander live from Tampere. He plays acoustic guitar and sings the song. Also well worth adding to your list if you don't have it down is How's The Heart live at Planet Rock (I think that's the video name) It's Floor And Troy only singing. You can really hear her vocal power in that video. I believe Tuomas wrote the song for Floor after she had her first child.
That intro riff always reminds me of Van Halen... Great song, thank you!, ow and nothing happend with Empu.. he had nothing to play at that moment haha
Hello lovely Red, greetings from UK You are my favourite reactor now, I really look forward to seeing the expressions on your face when you react to nightwish songs, so good. Thank you for taking this journey and allowing us to share it with you 🥰 You make me smile so much 😁
Don't be disturbed by the dark lyrics from Marko. He is doing the metaphorical lyrics of the dark journey we all must take to live life to its fullest. The Ghost River is an allegory of the spiritual and physical journey of life. We must all cross the river to pursue our dreams. Floor is playing the role of the spirit of encouragement. Take a chance. Notice how Marko sings "Live as we scream", and Floor sings "Live as we dream". You got it.
Great reaction! Concerning your questions: Emppu likes to make jokes on stage. His gesture seems to say "I have nothing to do at this moment". I think the song is about life - Marko sings about the dark sides, danger and death (or does he personify death?), Floor sees hope, love and opportunities for good things (does she personify life?). The lyrics of Tuomas are always not easy to understand und I think everyone sees other things in them.
@@redheadedneighbor hey Redhead, please after a pause can you go back a bit b4 resuming for continuity ans so none of the many transitions NW is known for will not be missed, your viewers will appreciate it :) cheers
@@redheadedneighbor np, your doing great,another good way to do some reactions is to invite a friend and spread the word about NW & Floor , viewers love those type of reactions,cheers
Hey Red, @Dsleep66 explains pretty well what the song is about. 3rd or 4th song from this Wacken concert - now the audience is really getting how amazing Floor is!
"Death by a thousand cuts" probably doesn't refer to paper cuts 😉 The expression has several meanings depending on context, but the origin of the phrase is a very torturous method of execution used in parts of Eastern Asia up until the early 20th century. Thanks for checking out this excellent song, with a guitar riff that's _very_ inspired by Van Halen!
They are all over the spectrum with everything when it comes to their music. It's not your average lyrics, like what is out there today. It's a storyline that would make authors of books be either jealous or weep with envy. All I can say is the rabbit hole has no end it just keeps going.🌹
🇫🇮you two for entertaining us with your reaction to this song about finding hope (Floor) despite adversity (Marco). The lyrics follow a person struggling against the wild, unpredictable nature of life and the dark forces of oppression (Marco). The first verse describes the wild and unpredictable nature of a river and the courage and perseverance necessary to navigate it. The pre-chorus emphasizes the pain of being a “child of rape” and how the power of hope (Floor) can provide strength, while the chorus focuses on how the river brings suffering (Marco) but also the potential to rise above it (Floor). The second verse is a reminder not to forget hope even in the midst of great adversity, while the bridge encourages perseverance despite the pain and suffering of life. Ultimately, this song is a call to persevere (Floor's vocals) despite the chaos and darkness (Marco's vocals) of life in order to find hope.
Another nice reaction :) . Your face says it all..... This magic Nightwish brings , you are feeling it. Greetings from Bulgaria, Redhead Gorgeous :) . Hope to see many more Nightwish reactions
I'm so happy that I have the album "Showtime, Storytime", on which is that show at Wacken in 2013 on CD. It is so cool and I love it. Please do more reactions of this show. The 10th Nightwish album "Yesterwynde" will be released on September 20th and the first Single will be realesed on May 21rst. If there is a chance, react on the release day of the first single!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE….. Marko! Such presence, talent…still mourning his departure from Nightwish! I 🙏 that he’ll be back! And name a more bad-ass duo than Floor & Marko!?
This song is from "Imaginaerum" (the seventh studio album from Anette era). Marko has great menacing tone here , and Floor Growls ( only few will notes this ). Plus, for Me personally, this song has a crazy Van Halen Vibe to it, especially opening riff ( Van Halen - Aint Talkin' Bout Love comes to mind ). This song took me several listens and deep dive at first , and now I listen this song daily . Love this song !!! NWSU/FloorFan/Epican/Ayreonaut/TWA 🤘😎🤘
For an expanded explanation, one which actually fits in with the overall theme as opposed to a disembodied, standalone story, understand that this album, Imaginaerum (originally Imaginarium), was released along with a professionally scripted and acted, feature-length movie of the same title. The story of the movie (and album theme) is an aging composer, named Thomas Whitman, lying on his deathbed, mostly unconscious, dreaming his life flash before his eyes from childhood to present. The movie (which is definitely worth watching) seems to take place mostly in his comatose dreamworld. Tuomas often uses the metaphor of a river as representing life: it has a beginning and definitive end when it meets the sea, and it flows on relentlessly whether we like it or not. Ghost River is one of those songs. In this allegory, he is using it to show that, along the way, we pass many "islands" of interest both good and horribly scary. But regardless, "Leave a [bloody] footprint on every island you see," for you will never pass this way again. Don't let the experience pass you by. And, yes, the river wild will take every child. He will drown, drown deeper down when he meets the sea. Inevitably.
Your expressions were priceless!!! Especially during my favorite part - beginning with Emppu’s solo. They just bring the FILTH, and then all of a sudden it cuts to nothing…and Floor’s voice shreds your heart with beauty “Beautifully shy, as you are…”
Hello again redheadedneighbor. Loving your reactions to our beloved Nightwish live performances with Floor. Since other commentors have already explained the context of this song, I will merely say, Thank You. Keep these Nightwish reactions coming.
There are many many interpretations for this song and none of those will ever be confirmed as the official interpretation because Tuomas (the songwriter / composer) has declared that he prefers to allow any interpretation even though he personally had some specific interpretation for the song. Here's my interpretation that I wrote about a year ago: Female voice (obviously played by Floor) is luring children to the river with the intent to kill them. She sells the idea with adventure and possible greatness that can result if you're brave enough to take the change. The male voice is like an overcautious parents trying to scare the child to avoid taking too much risks. This is similar to old folklore character Nixie ("Näkki" in Finnish) that was used to scare children to stay away from lakes and rivers in Finland for a long time - nowadays parents are using more fact based approach but the scare based tactic was used for centuries here in Finland. That is, the female voice is like the Nixie luring children into danger and the male voice is the parent that tries to scare the child to avoid the danger by telling scarytales about Nixie and its victims (ghost river and ghost town). I think this interpretation would suit the theme of the whole album pretty nicely.
It seems to be about facing your fears in order to live life to the full and get what you want - "If you want me, do come across." There is a dark side to life but it is, in a way, a part of that very life - "We live as we dream/scream." No dark side, no life - "Its a scary ride we'll give anything to take.""
Marko's voice is fear and the fearful things of life; Floor's voice calls you to keep moving on the path, to cross the bridge even though you are scared of the troll beneath it. "Leave a footprint on every island you see." Keep going. Leave your print. Keep going. Take heart, hear my voice: You are loved, you are held, no matter how separate and alone you feel. Keep moving. Stagnation is the enemy of life. You are loved. I LOVE you..... That's the message of the song, as I hear it.
A couple of friends have stated the same thing you have to me, "I need to digest this and figure out what I'm hearing". Might I suggest a different path. People tend to get wrapped up in Floor and her amazing vocals and stage presence. This rightfully earned by her amazing abilities. A different path that I have found is to look at each individual amazing musician in that band. Listen to just one song and only listen to the drums. Listen to the same song and only the bass and so on. Once you have completed that one song, you will hear all the instruments in every other song. That in turn will match Floors instrument and you will hear Nightwish differently. Peace
Ah, my favorite Nightwish song, if I had to pick one. The melodies, the buildup, the interaction between band members, the alternation between Floor and Marko, it's just perfect.
It's a struggle on the surface between Hades and Gaia at a river crossing where Hades finds pleanty of souls to grab, and Gaia revels in the fearless nature of people willing to chance anything to take the next steps where they need to go...to leave a footprint on every island they see. Deeper it's a juxtaposition between taking life as it comes , taking your chances and living vs. living in fear , timidity and soul crushing stagnation. Him scary vs her wrapping you in comfort is exactly what its meant to be. It takes a few listens to really get the full impact of this one. It gets better with every listen 😃
6:49 , if you still ask yourself if you are an Metalhead allready:) Wonderfull emotional Ride, thy for letting Us whitness it. LAte to the Show, so most Things are already said. Stay healthy.
My understanding of this song, which could be completely wrong, is that it's a battle\contest between Marko (the Devil) and Floor (Gaia) about which is going to have the biggest influence during your life. You have to cross the river to get to your life's goals on the other side, but the river represents the trials and tribulations that you will have to go thru to achieve those goals. Marko is the Devil who is trying to tell you that the river is too hard and you'll drown and to give up on your dreams. It's better to not even try to cross the river. Floor is Gaia who is encouraging you to try and take the chance and to try to get across and achieve your dreams and really get what you want out of life. Basically, they're the devil and the angel on your shoulder. Those little voices we all have inside us. One that tells us it's too hard and to just give up and the other that tells us to get up, get back on our feet and to keep fighting. Whether you win or lose depends on which you listen to. And who wouldn't listen to Floor 😇😉🤣
What I love about many of the song lyrics by Tuomas is that one get different thoughts and feelings about them. For me, and somewhat staying within what Toumas said, this song is about good and evil, or bliss and agony, whatever you want to call them, competing for the soul of a child going down the river of death.
Which also happens to be the river of life. Floor's part is telling you to enjoy the ride, while Marko (the troll under the bridge) wants to frighten you with the dangers you'll face. Either way, there's no escaping the ride: they both sing "Do come across."
Enjoyed your reaction! Others have explained the meaning far better than I could. I think this one Tuomas left the lyrics even more poetically vague so that we can each interpret based on our own experiences. One of my favorite parts of the video is when Floor comes up to the microphone stand just before she sings that beautifully resonant solo section "Beautifully shy..." She looks like a panther stalking it's prey as she strides up to the microphone. Powerful and beautiful.
In the lyrics Marko tells it like it is, Floor lures you across the Ghost River anyway - who is evil? (Emppu taking a brief break *shrug "What?"... then Marko kicks his pedal for him and Emppu says Thank You.) Every adventure has a bit of "what-if" or the unknown - can be scary but worth it! Imminent danger has a way of making people feel alive for real! This was 3rd song on Imaginaerum - part of the movie too. Supposed to be spooky and creepy, like the movie! Well, another fine reaction!TY!
I see it as two celestial forces playing with humans who they neither understand nor care about - Marko has the darkness and Floor the light, but they both want their playing piece to come across the river of life, and also note that Floor wants the addressed person's kind heart to bleed (if she is Gaia then that will feed the Earth, there's a lot of nourishment in blood).
This is one of my favourites from that Wacken concert. Absolutely love everything Emppu does. When he throws his picks out into the crowd apparently he aims for the cleavage, so maybe I’d be in with a chance (at least that’s what my wife tells me 😂). Floor really lets loose in this one too, her dancing is hypnotic, and this is the first time I heard her growl. If you really want to hear her growling, look for Wild Card from her ReVamp days. An excellent example.
Nice reaction to this song😘 I have been watching your comments since the beginning but never responded! Now I am also on RU-vid and can like and comment to your reactions🤘
You now understand the appeal of Nightwish. It is never music you just hear and forget. Its layers get under your skin and are implanted in your brain.
I've always wondered if "Jerusalem" by William Blake had any influence on Tuomas when he wrote this.The poem is somewhat jingoistic and leans on an old myth that Joseph of Arimathea once visited England. There's a line in the poem "Among these dark Satanic Mills" which is about building a better society in the middle of the horrors of the early Industrial Revolution. It seems to me that Tuomas is wrestling with the same theme as Blake: the better life vs. being drowned in the mills of a river bed ghost town. Live your dreams or merely exist as somebody's wage slave.
As you might have noticed in the comments, there are 2 schools of thought to the meaning of this one. 1 is that Floor is the encouragement to try whereas Marko is the fear, and 2 is that Floor is the being doing the tempting to take dangerous risks whereas Marko is the warning. Personally I see it as a bit of both.
Could have been the theme music for a "Pirates of the Caribbean".it's that cool! Reminds me of some of Ozzie's early music with " Black Sabboth"!!! Oh...the drummer at that time was Jukka...the pirate drummer!!! 😂😂😂 ..
To put it simply, Marko is a river demon trying to lure children to their deaths, and Floor is Gaia, the spirit of the earth, trying to safely lead them across. A classic struggle between good and evil.
Ostensibly about the river god trying to seduce Mother Gaia, it is, as so often with Tuomas, a metaphor. In this case it is essentially, as you astutely picked up, about the "river of life" and all the temptations that await. (And of course a lot more thrown in.) My usual summary of the sound is Floor soaring legato over Marco's gritty bass. Notice several things though: 1 Floor being slinky and sultry in her movements 2 A small growl from Floir in this song 3 Emppu as ever playing the joker and shrugging his dhoulders - "nothing for me to do at this point" 4 The sudden drop from full band to a child choir - very effective 5 Just after that Floor goes into a long-held note. She starts it completely straight and halfway through, slowly introduces increasing vibrato, a level of control rarely seen outside classical music Jeff at Stratele Studios reacted to this and then felt he needed to do 2 follow-up videos analysing just Emppu's guitar part, which tells you something. (They are worth watching ) Overall this is a hidden masterpiece - a favourite of many fans but sadly overlooked by a lot of reactors. Glad you watched it.
The song is a metaphor for the river of life, "the river wild will take your only child" isn't in a physical sense, it's you loosing your childhood as you travel down the rivers twist and turns of your life as you are growing into adulthood. Marco's character wants you to fail, Floor wants you to succeed
yep , for me the "golden Time" beginns with Wacken2023.. they are gone to hell and back (😉 loosing Singer on tour) and start new with Floor and are back better than ever And now loosing Marko for his health is ok, we say THANK YOU Marko for so mutch great moments you give and giving!
Hey, you should definitely check out Toumas Holopainen A Lifetime of Adventures of Scrooge McDuck official video, the woman singing not Floor Jansen but his wife Johanna? Request thanks.
The Ghost River is a river of no return that leads to oblivion and death. The song is part of the concept album/film music Imaginaerum. The main character is dying and tries to say goodbye to the world peacefully. But his personified trauma doesn't allow this and oppresses him. He will have to fight it one last time and does so in Last Ride of the Day.
So I just need to say the best explanations are already in these comments but Tuomas lyrics are never ever clear cut. They are poetic emotional stories meant to be interpreted so never be afraid to do so. This song has many sides to it and its fun to hear peoples ideas of what is going on.
Forgot to say. I expect 1,000,001 people have already mentioned this to you, but the new Nightwish track release is on May 21st, and the new album (Yesterwynde - yes it is a made up word) is released on September 20th. Very, very excited about both!
The river wid will take your only child - no matter how many children you have! Tuomas’s Dead Boy. Mine is a Lost Boy hiding in a remote part of Neverland (Peter didn’t take kindly to boys that start to grow up.). Probably too late now to go and rescue him?
