Don McLean - Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)

Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey,
Look out on a summer's day,
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
Shadows on the hills,
Sketch the trees and the daffodils,
Catch the breeze and the winter chills,
In colors on the snowy linen land.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.

Starry, starry night.
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,
Swirling clouds in violet haze,
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.
Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain,
Weathered faces lined in pain,
Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they did not know how.
Perhaps they'll listen now.

For they could not love you,
But still your love was true.
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night,
You took your life, as lovers often do.
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you.

Starry, starry night.
Portraits hung in empty halls,
Frameless head on nameless walls,
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget.
Like the strangers that you've met,
The ragged men in the ragged clothes,
The silver thorn of bloody rose,
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,
How you suffered for your sanity,
How you tried to set them free.
They would not listen, they're not listening still.
Perhaps they never will...

I know this song long time ago. But I fall in love with it after following the HK series - Heart of Greed. It was mostly played during Alfred & 常在心 shot.

So I downloaded it from Yuotube. I was curious with the video clip as I see many nice paintings. Till I found out the meaning of the song from the net, then I started to realise how beautiful this song is. It captures the artist, Vincent Van Gogh's painting in the music.

McLean is trying to talk about how Van Gogh really seemed to have a message in everything and tried to make other people see the world as more beautiful and deep, to see the joy and beauty in everyday things. Van Gogh did that in his amazing paintings of everything from flowers to portraits.It's so sad that such an amazing artist, and such a strong person, killed himself, but he had fought with mental illness for so long. Don Mclean really portrays this well in this song and tries to tell people how hard he struggled in life.

This site actually tells us why Van Gogh produced the Starry Night's painting:
You may take a walk with the review