Castle Walls

 

Castle Walls
Written by Dennis DeYoung
Lead Vocals by Dennis DeYoung

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Once in a dream
Far beyond these castle walls
Down by the bay where the
Moonlit water falls
I stood alone while the minstrel sang his song
So afraid I'd lost my soul

There in the fog his song kept calling me
Leading me on with its haunting melody
Deep in my heart a voice kept echoing
I knew I'd soon be wandering

Far beyond these castle walls
Where the distant harbour meets the sky
There the battle raged like hell
And every dove had lost its will to fly

Far beyond these castle walls
Where I thought I heard Tiresias say
Life is never what it seems
And every man must meet his destiny

Interpretation

Using classic fantasy imagery, we hear a tale of a man's introspection and pondering of life's meaning.

Castle walls represent safety and security.  To live within such safety and yet dream of the dangers outside reveals the insecurity that we all feel to some degree inside.

Is this the afterlife? Is he in hell, having lost his soul? The minstrel's song is alluring, calling the dreamer to move beyond the boundaries of comfortable familiarity.  A life of wandering stands in contrast to the comfortable life in a castle.

Having traveled far enough, the scene shifts to a distant battle. War is aptly likened to hell, as it is filled with fear, anger. despair, and death. Even the dove, a symbol of peace, loses its will to fly. 

At the end of the journey, we encounter Tiresias. the blind prophet from Greek mythology, who reveals to us the theme of this song with his parting words, "Life is never what it seems, and every man must meet his destiny."  This fits into the Grand Illusion theme.

That's my take on the lyrics. 

Here's what Dennis DeYoung  said in a 2017 interview:

"The character in the song does not want to go beyond the castles walls. It was written from a very dark place in my life from around the time of Crystal Ball. Inside the castle walls was a metaphor for where I felt protected. Who is the minstrel singing that song? It was me. I was talking about the ominous feeling that comes from venturing away from the protection you surround yourself with, which, to me, is a symbol for home and family."

Read on for a sampling of several other interesting viewpoints...

[The following interpretations were excerpted from e-mails sent to the Styx Internet Mailing List in December 1996 and again during February of 1998 during discussions of the meaning(s) behind the lyrics to Castle Walls.]

In listening to "Castle Walls", and reading the lyrics, do you think (I won't bore you with how I analyzed this, and or what conclusion I came up with) that this is a song about:

1.) An individual going off to war (the battle raged like hell).

or

2.) An individual waging a private war with drugs (life is never what it seems).

Your thoughts please, oh fellow listees (is listees a word ?).

Titus

I think that Castle Walls is about a personal or private war, but not necessarily with drugs. It can be about whatever you are battling at the time. A restrictive home environment, peer pressure, a confusing relationship, or any number of societal pressures.....

That's one reason why styx is so cool, their music can adapt to whatever life situation you find yourself in. :)

Kelly

I always wondered who Tiresias was. Anybody know?

Michael

Tiresias was a blind prophet in the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex. When Oedipus was born, Tiresias told his father, the king of Thebes, that the boy would grow up to kill him, marry his wife (Oedipus' own mother), and take the throne. The king therefore had the infant Oedipus taken far away from Thebes and chained up in the woods to die.

A woodsman found him there, and his family raised Oedipus, who eventually rose to power in his own right. Years later, Oedipus returned to Thebes; outside of town, he met with the king on a bridge. Neither man would humble himself and let the other pass. Not having any idea that the man was his father, Oedipus drew his sword and killed him. He then entered Thebes, where he was well received. When it became known that the old king had been killed (no one knew by whom), the people made Oedipus king. By this time the former Queen had fallen for this new warrior; when Oedipus accepted the throne she took him for her new husband.

When it was later revealed to Oedipus what he had done, he plucked out his own eyes for having been so blind.

One of the biggest messages behind Tiresias' prophesy is that by trying to avoid it, the old king helped it come true. I think maybe that's part of what Dennis was getting at in the lyrics to "Castle Walls." Of course, I could just be an English major with way "too much time on my hands" . . .

CTW

I've enjoyed the interpretations thus far. My $.02 is that the song is about growing up and leaving the nest and finding the internal battle that life is. He had a dream beyond the Castle Walls (home) where he stood alone (probably for the first time). In this dream he listened to a poet, a minstriel (the conventional wisdom of the world) and by following this wisdom, he lost his soul (he wasn't true to himself). But deep in his heart (no longer dreaming) he knew he'd be wandering (cause he was about to leave the nest and was afraid that he wouldn't find his way, or be true to himself, or reach his potential). The battle raged there (internal battles) so much so that the doves (symbols of peace) didn't even have a will to fly.

Now, lest we forget, this is Styx's first concept album. Far beyond these Castle Walls, WHERE THE DISTANT HARBOR MEETS THE SKY. Harbors meet the sky on the horizon, when sailing on the sea. DDY is setting an open course for the virgin sea, cause he's go to be free, free to face the life that's ahead of him. He's the captain searching for tomorrow on every shore. Back to CWalls, Life is never what it seems, and every man MUST meet his destiny. I think the song fits quite nicely within this concept album!

Of course, it could also mean the other things that others have posted too. That's the beauty of poetry, of art, of Styx.

Bob AkuAku

Well here is my interpetation of the Lyrics.

Once in a Dream, (it's a dream therefore many interpertation can be found, so lets consider this a Parable). Far Beyond these castle walls... (Here he gives imagery as to where he is. The Castle is what I would like to consider the walls that shelter us from wrong and temptation, protecting us from the evils in the world.) I stood alone while the minstrel sang his song. (In most cases I wouldn't consider a minstrel an evil person but for this song I think of the minstrel be the Devil, trying to temp us, which would be why he's a fraid he's lost his soul, because he's alone with this minstrel).

There in the fog his song kept calling me, Leading me on with its haunting melody. (Again the devil's song is tempting him farther away from the castle and into the unknown) Deep in my heart a voice kept echoing. I knew I'd soon be wandering. (He knows in his heart what he is doing is wrong and that if he doesn't fight it now then he will be lost from the path of what is right.)

Far beyond these castle walls. Where the distant harbour meets the sky. (He has final reach his final destination or the battle ground where he must choose between good and evil, the sky being heavan and the harbour being hell). There the battle raged like hell. And every Dove had lost its will to fly. (Two ways to interpret this. 1. there is no peace since the Dove has lost it's will to fly. 2. He lost the battle to temptation since the Dove being a sign of the Holy Spirit can not fly. Either way the Devil seems to win)

Far beyond these castle walls. Where I thought I heard Tiresias say. (This happens after the Solo section so I assume it is the moral or the lesson that we are to take away from the song. Especially since it contains "The fountain of truth: Tiresias, the seer." later called "Tiresias, famous man, prophet" {Taken from the "Oedious Rex" Libretto by Igor Stravinsky}) Life is never what it seems. And every man must meet his destiny. (No matter how hard it is, we must all live our life and reach our destiny, no matter how far from the castle we must journey. And even though in the dream we may have lost to the Devil, life is not what it seems and we may still be able to overcome)

Forgive me if I offended anyone with the religious references but that is how I see the song.

Mike DeCraw

Mike,

Hey, man, an interesting reading. For my personal interpretation, I'd make a small, but significant, adjustment as to the symbolism of the minstrel. I don't think it's necessary to see the character as evil or as leading the narrator down the path of darkness. It strikes me as that spirit that we all encounter in adolescence that leads us out of childhood and into the larger world of adulthood.

The melody is haunting because 1) it is unknown, new and strange to a child's ears, and 2) it is nonetheless aluring and irresistable. People have an extremely strong tendency to fear the unknown; against that, we are also a very inquisitive species, always seeking to know and learn. The minstrel in this song, I think, embodies and personifies these two sides of the same coin in our nature.

The narrator fears he has lost his soul because he suddenly finds himself drawn away from the sheltered walls of his childhood and into a much larger world. In this new world, he has not yet established his adult identity--he doesn't know who he is or is supposed to be, so he wonders if he's losing his soul. But he can't turn away ("I knew I'd soon be wandering") because it's all part of the inevitable cycle of growing up.

The raging battle can be seen as the turmoil the young man goes through in trying to find himself in this strange new world. The dove without the will to fly strikes me as the despair that often sets in when a person realizes how vast the world is (note the horizon reference and vast things: distant harbor, sky) in contrast to the relative insignificance of the individual.

But then the prophet Tiresias steps in to help our narrator see the truth: "Life is never what it seems." There is no call for despair; there is a place for the individual in this vast world, but he must take responsibility for his own identity ("every man must meet his destiny")--he won't get it handed to him.

Looking at it this way, the minstrel is not someone to be mistrusted or feared. At worst, he may be seen as a trickster who serves a necessary purpose. At best, he is a sly guide on the sacred path of life.

2cents!

CTW

Just wanted to make some quick comments after reading some of the interpretations for "Castle Walls". Everyone has locked into Tiresias's appearance in the story of Oedipus but Tiresias was a prophet that appeared in more than one "legend". I figured I hit the nail on the head when I discovered that Tiresias is also in "The Odyssey", the epic poem about Odysseus and his adventures. I haven't read the Odyssey in almost 20 years so I currently can't do a side by side comparison of the lyrics and the events in the poem. I do recall that at the time I could do that and have subsequently assumed that the song was a "short" musical telling of Odysseus's adventures. Quick off the cuff examples: Odysseus did a lot of wandering; his wanderings included the Trojan War; and of of course the encounter with Tiresias.

Thanks
Lance

I would guess that the "voices calling me...leading me on... could be a reference to the sirens' song that enchanted Odesseus and held him prisoner.

Stacy

I'll try to match the lyrics to what I remember of the story.

Once in a dream
Far beyond these castle walls
Down by the bay where the
Moonlit water falls
I stood alone while the minstrel sang his song
So afraid I'd lost my soul

This is from right before he went off to the trojan war if my memory serves me. Oddyseus was walking along his islands shore thinking about a prophecy from either a delpninic oracle or one of the blind seers of the gods. He had been warned that the next time he left the islands he would be gone for twenty years. The dream could be the prophecy of his exile. minstrel being the oracle or the seer. I do remember though that when Agamemnon came to enlist his aid, he played the insane man so as not to go.

There in the fog his song kept calling me
Leading me on with its haunting melody
Deep in my heart a voice kept echoing
I knew I'd soon be wandering

His fear was so much that he almost killed his little newborn son. Agamemnon had placed the babe in front of the plow that Oddyseus was pushing around in a mad rant to prove that Oddyseus was as sane as the next man. He knew that if he went with Agamemnon he would be gone for a great long while.

Far beyond these castle walls
Where the distant harbour meets the sky
There the battle rages like hell
And every dove had lost its will to fly

Far off Troy where on the plains before it, the Trojan war took place for ten long years. A war where all who fought either died in battle or lost something of great importance, be it pride love or material goods as Priam the King of Troy lost.

Far beyond these castle walls
Where I thought I heard Tiresias say
Life is never what it seems
And every man must meet his destiny

Tiresias was the blind prophet in hades who Oddyseus went to see to find out about his journey home. His words rang true and Oddyseus was lost at see for another ten years with all the trials and tribulations. All of Oddyseus's hopes and dreams for teaching his young son during his formative years. Oddyseus could not run from his prophecy/destiny by feigning madness anymore than the next man.

Anymore extrapolation will have to be done when I have the actual story/poem in front of me. While were at, can anyone add to this?? Dan Perugini

Dan, you got most of it...

yes, Odysseus seeks out Tiresias in the afterlife to ask for assistance... but the reason Odysseus never makes it back until 20 years later is because while en route to Ithaca, his men killed some of the cattle that were sacred to the gods, and infuriated, they drove him off course. So he hit the island of the Cyclops, blinding one of them, and taunting him as he sailed off. Since the Cyclops were related to Poseidon, they begged him to assist him in vengeance, and he destroyed their ship, capsizing Odysseus as the only survivor, and made his life hell trying to get home. It all works out in the end though...

And Odysseus is conned into going, but he also cons ACHILLES into going, when Achilles dressed as a woman to avoid going off to war. But when Odysseus showed up at his house bearing clothes and weapons, the women in the house went to look at the clothes... guess what Achilles picked. Devious fellow, Odysseus.

I always would have thought that Orpheus (the legendary musician of Greek myth) was the one for CASTLE WALLS.

Unfortunately, I gotta go, but I will post my reasoning next time..

Cheers,
Misha

Lets see if I can maybe remember this one as well. Tell me if I am wrong (from memory again) but Orpheus was the greatest musician of all time at the time correct? Now he played so well that animals came to hear him play. The gods themselves loved to listen to him play. But to continue on with the story. He fell in love with and married a certain woman(surprising aint it.... not). He was so in love with her that when she died tragically(i forget of what) he went to Underworld to try and talk to Hades. it worked to some point. He was able to convince Hades to allow him to see his wife and for his wife to come with him back to the real world. One condition though, He could not turn back before they both reached the end of the tunnel to look upon his wife. If he did, he would lose her forever. He of course did and had to watch her crumble to dust and go back to the underworld. He also knew that if he returned after her he would not be able to come back to the land of the living. So until the end of his life he stayed at the entrance to the Underworld playing his mournful music.

Is that about correct Misha?? I can see where Castle Walls would fit in here as well and you are correct. It is pretty interesting.

Dan Perugini

Right you are, Chaplain Dan.

He married Eurydice, she was bitten by a snake, and died. He played his way into the Underworld, won the sympathy of all of Hades, and was permitted to take her back as long as he didnt' look behind him. Of course, he did, and she vanished into Hades again. He was later torn to pieces by a crowd of women, I forget why at the moment, but joined her in death and the two now reside in the cheerier parts of the Afterlife.

More later,
Misha