Home > Fundamental >

Luna Park

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 2006
Original album - Fundamental
Producer - Trevor Horn
Subsequent albums - Concrete
Other releases - (none)

The April 2005 issue of Literally mentioned this as a song written by Chris and Neil in 2003 but set aside for likely inclusion on their next album. In May 2005 it was reported that Trevor Horn was working with Neil and Chris in the studio on this track, and orchestral parts were recorded the following month. What emerged is a lovely but extremely somber ballad that manages the neat trick of proving both sumptuous and stark at the same time.

There are and have been many Luna Parks. The original, however, was an amusement park that opened in 1903 on New York City's Coney Island. In their desire to provide visitors with an experience "not of this earth," its founders attempted to create a place that simulated what they imagined the moon might be like, at least if the moon had towers and lakes. It was open to visitors only at night and was illuminated with neon lights—facts relevant not only to the song's lyrics but perhaps also to the "neon motif" of Fundamental itself. What's even more salient is the eventual fate of this original Luna Park. In 1912, less than ten years after it opened, it was seriously damaged by fire, though it managed to reopen again soon after. A second catastrophic fire in 1944, however, completely destroyed the park. Despite these cataclysms, however, other Luna Parks were subsequently constructed in various cities around the world. They proved so successful, in fact, that in some languages (such as Russian and Hebrew) "luna park" became a generic term for any amusement park. (Incidentally, a brand new Luna Park has only recently been built on the original Coney Island site; it opened in 2010.)

In the November 2005 Literally Neil states that the Boys' "Luna Park" serves as a metaphor for America. Like several songs on Fundamental, it appears to have been inspired by the "war on terror." So if "Luna Park" is indeed the United States, then what does the line "It's always dark in Luna Park" suggest—aside, of course, from the historical fact that the original Luna Park was open only at night? In what ways is America an amusement park where it's always dark? That, in effect, is the subject of the song. To much of the rest of the world, rightly or wrongly, the United States must indeed seem like a vast national amusement park, an "unreal" place where people are devoted to entertainment and enjoyment, to keeping themselves amused, and to keeping themselves in the dark—though whether that darkness is merely a means to an end or an end unto itself is a matter of debate.

Look at the phrases Neil uses to describe this "amusement park," complete with its "plastic prizes": "When we're getting high, we're happy/Somebody's eating fire, we're happy," "Every night we go to the latest horror show." Aren't these accurate descriptions of precisely the sort of jaded, desensitized entertainment junkies that Americans are often accused of being? And why? Is it because Americans are and have always been trying desperately, often with the help of technology, to spare themselves the true horrors of the world—horrors that are now moving ever closer to home in an age of growing terrorism?

And when we're feeling scared, we're happy
With circuses and bread we're happy
The whirling fair machines are all we need

Another recurring line is worth paying special attention to: "In Luna Park it can't be dark too soon." Does this suggest that the American public actually likes being "in the dark," with all the multiple layers of meaning that implies?

Consider also the further implications of choosing "Luna Park" as a metaphor for the United States. Since ancient times, the moon has been associated with madness; hence the word "lunacy." Are the Pet Shop Boys suggesting that Americans live in a state of perpetual collective—if not individual—insanity?

Whatever the case, Neil doesn't believe that the prospects for this "Luna Park" are any better than they were for the original: "The future's dark in Luna Park.… A storm will come one day to blow us all away." It's just a matter of when and how the cataclysm will occur. Sobering thoughts, to be sure.

The "soundscape" of this track is particularly interesting, complete with wind effects and the use of a "thundersheet," a large, thin sheet of metal that when shaken produces a thunder-like sound. As stated by Neil in that same issue of Literally, "It’s the first time we've had a thundersheet on the record," to which Chris replied, "How come it's taken us so long?" The synth solos are also noteworthy, harkening back to the early Moog synthesizers of the early 1970s. At times they even mimic the sound of a siren, adding to the atmosphere of menace that permeates this song.

Annotations

As noted above, the term "Luna Park" has come to refer generically to amusement parks in general, particularly outside the United States. The original Luna Park opened in 1903 on New York's Coney Island.
In One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem, Neil reveals that this song was partly inspired by his having recently read a 1924 essay, "An Hour at the Amusement Park," by the Austrian-Jewish author Joseph Roth.
"The ghost train leaves on time" – Also known as a "dark ride," a ghost train is a popular type of amusement park ride in which people in guided vehicles travel through a dark or dimly lit passage that is periodically illuminated by entertaining and/or scary scenes. The song similarly refers to other common amusement park attractions: fire-eating, the "big wheel" (aka Ferris wheel), shooting ranges with prizes, and fortune-tellers. The reference to a ghost train may also be alluding to folk-legends found in various cultures (mostly in Europe and North America) of phantom trains that run in sporadic perpetuity as the result of some past fatal incident, usually a serious accident that resulted in the deaths of numerous people, often including the train conductor. (If I may add a personal connection, I myself grew up with one such legend that centered on a railroad crossing in a neighboring county in rural Virginia.) In addition, one of my site visitors has noted the possible significance of mentioning that the train "leaves on time," which reminds her of the oft-stated myth that Italian dictator Mussolini at least "made the trains run on time." As she observed, "Ignoring atrocities in favor of convenience seems rather fitting for this song, no?"
"With circuses and bread we're happy" – Although this was not the first PSB song to make this particular literary reference (see "The Sound of the Atom Splitting”), "circuses and bread" inverts the classic phrase "bread and circuses" coined nearly 2,000 years ago by the ancient Roman satirist Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenalis), who wrote in the late first and early second century. Juvenal's original Latin phrase was "panem et circenses," which more literally translates as "bread and games." It refers to the means by which governments—then and now—strive to keep the masses in ignorant contentment by meeting their basest needs and distracting them with crude entertainments.
The lyrics include several extremely curious references to essentially impossible things, such as "shadows on the sun" (what other light source is there to cast a shadow on the sun?), "wind across the moon" (there is no wind on the moon), and "blow us all away like dust on the moon" (ditto). The repeated use of these "impossibilities" suggests an intentional motif—but to what end? Could they be meant to suggest something truly apocalyptic, when the ordinary laws of astronomy and physics no longer apply?

One of my site visitors has suggested that "shadows on the sun" might refer to sunspots, but that would be accurate only in a metaphorical sense. Sunspots aren't shadows at all, but rather temporary regions of intense magnetic activity in the photosphere of the sun that, because they are cooler and dimmer than the surrounding "normal" regions, appear darker, almost like shadows. By the same token, the occasional transits of the planets Mercury and Venus in front of the sun may appear to be shadows on the sun from the vantage-point of Earth, but it would be far more accurate to describe them as faint, tiny shadows cast by those planets on the Earth.

This same site visitor has also believes that the "wind across the moon" reference may allude to conspiracy theories alleging that astronauts never set foot on the moon at all. They cite as "evidence" the apparent motion of the U.S. flag in footage filmed on the lunar surface, which they believe was caused by the wind where the films were actually somewhere shot on the Earth's surface. (Don't think for a second that I adhere to those conspiracy theories myself.) Neil has said, however, that the line was borrowed from the 1944 novel The Wind on the Moon by the Welsh-Scottish author Eric Linkater, which he had read as a child. Near its beginning, a character looks up at the moon and says, "There is a wind on the moon… I don't like the look of it at all.… Because if it is an ill wind, and you behave badly, it will blow straight into your heart, and then you will behave badly for a long time." This provides a far better explanation for the line than conspiracy theories.

But whatever the case, songs are often full of metaphors, and that's surely true of "Luna Park" considering the entire song is metaphorical at heart. So it's an interpretation of the line well worth considering.

Finally, another site visitor has suggested that such lines may be little more than matters of perspective from earthbound observers—that "shadows on the sun" refers to an eclipse (an ancient portent of doom) and that "wind across the moon" simply suggests the passing of clouds across the face of the moon at night. This makes a good deal of sense.
One of my site visitors has suggested that "Luna Park" might be an extended metaphor for the Iraq War, which started in 2003, the same year in which the song was written. He cites various lines in the song to support his interpretation; for example, he notes, "'The big wheel in the sky will make you scream' could refer to an attack helicopter." I personally disagree with this reading of the song, but I think it's worth noting.

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

Mixer: Robert Orton, Pet Shop Boys, and Trevor Horn
- Album version (5:29)
Mixer: Tim Weidner
- "Rock Mix" (5:31)
  - Available for listening as an "exclusive track" on the official PSB website
- Live Concrete rendition (6:21)

Official but unreleased

Mixer: Tim Weidner
- Instrumental version (5:29)
Mixer: [unknown at this time]
- Demo (5:37)

List cross-references

All text on this website aside from direct quotations (such as of lyrics and of other nonoriginal content) is copyright © 2001-2024 by Wayne Studer. All Rights Reserved. All lyrics and images are copyright © their respective dates by their respective owners. Brief quotations and small, low-resolution images are used for identification and critical commentary, thereby constituting Fair Use under U.S. copyright law. Billboard chart data are copyright © their respective dates by Nielsen Business Media, Inc.