NOVA, Larence G.

1BSA-2

This song's lyrics and imagery depict Vincent Van Gogh's life, career, and death. The first line,
"Starry, starry night," refers to one of the Dutch impressionist's most famous paintings, A Starry
Night. The lyrics, "Paint your palette blue and gray," represent the painting's popular colors and
are most likely a nod to Vincent's habit of sucking on or chewing his paintbrushes while
working. Van Gogh's charitable efforts and love of the economically outcast are expressed in his
portraits and sketches as "ragged men in ragged clothing" and "how you tried to set them free."
"They would not listen, they did not know how," Van Gogh's relatives and several friends who
were dismissive of his generosity to "the wretched," are referred to. The phrase "How you
fought for your sanity" refers to Van Gogh's schizophrenic illness.

McLean was going through a tough patch at the time he wrote this album. He was in an abusive
marriage that was tormenting him. He said to have been tortured. He wasn't in as bad of shape
as Vincent, but he wasn't happy either.

One thing I'd like to point out is that music, in certain respects, is similar to poetry. You have wit
and irony and comedy and pathos and rage, and all of these things combine to form the hidden
instruments that an artist, a successful stage artist, employs. Regrettably, this has all but
disappeared from music. But that makes someone like me a relic, and I do stuff and people like
me do things that use all of the traditional modes of emotional communication."