Colin Hay – Waiting for my real life to begin
For me the most beautiful song from Colin Hay, once known from the Australian group Men At Work, currently pursuing a very successful solo career. Year 1994.
Story
A story about a dreamer, who waits and waits indefinitely for his dreams to come true. Every day he walks to the shore and expects a ship to come in and take him to a better life, but his ship never arrives. Yet he never gives up, walks the same paths every day, walking in his old footsteps and circles around and around in an endless loop.
The message
There are many explanations of this story, but the most beautiful thing is that anyone can imagine their own meaning. Colin himself once said at a concert, that this song represents his state of mind at the time he was dropped from MCA Records in 1991, leaving his future career hanging in the air.
This is how I understand his song: A man whose world collapsed after his love left him, simply cannot cope with the current reality and persists in expectation of a great turnaround, which is going to happen “any minute now”. The only way he can somehow prevent losing his mind, is to keep repeating the same things and keep returning to the same place, expecting something to change. His lost love keeps reappearing from his memory, he imagines she wishes only the best for him, let him calm down and start his life anew. There are a couple of hints in the lyrics: he wakes up and “suddenly nothing happened”, but in his dreams he killed a dragon – a premonition, that everything is happening only in his head, when in reality he is trapped in time, trapped in the past. And trapped in time that passes only to become the past. Again his love reappears from his memory and advises him to live in the now and forget about the past – another hint, that something terrific happened to him, that he simply can’t get over.
He ends the song with a thought: “On a clear day, I can see a very long way”. What does such a person see? When he completely calms down and experiences a moment of clarity, he can see far over the horizon. In that exceptional moment, he can clearly see, there is no ship.
Any minute now my ship is coming in
I’ll keep checking the horizon
And I’ll stand on the bow
And feel the waves come crashing
Come crashing down, down, down on me
And you say,”Be still, my love
Open up your heart
Let the light shine in”
Don’t you understand?
I already have a plan
I’m waiting for my real life to begin
When I awoke today suddenly nothing happened
But in my dreams I slew the dragon
And down this beaten path
Up this cobbled lane
Walking in my old footsteps once again
And you say,”Just be here now
Forget about the past
Your mask is wearing thin”
Just let me throw one more dice
I know that I can win
I’m waiting for my real life to begin
Any minute now my ship is coming in
I’ll keep checking the horizon
And I’ll check my machine
There’s sure to be that call
It’s gonna happen soon, soon, oh so very soon
It’s just that times are lean
And you say,”Be still, my love
Open up your heart
Let the light shine in”
Don’t you understand?
I already have a plan
I’m waiting for my real life to begin
Hey heyeyeyeyey
Hey yeeeeeee
Hey heyeyeyeyey
Eeh eeh eeh eh (x5)
On a clear day
I can see, see a very long way
On a clear day
I can see, see a very long way
This version is a re-release from the album Man @ Work (2005)
Original from the album: Topanga (1994)