Interpretation of EVERYONE'S GONE TO THE MOON

[Sparkina]

I always wondered what the 1965 song EVERYONE'S GONE TO THE MOON, by Jonathan King, was about.

Here are the lyrics

Streets full of people
All alone
Roads full of houses
Never home
Church full of singing
Out of tune
Everyone's gone to the moon

Eyes full of sorrow
Never wet
Hands full of money
All in debt
Sun coming out in
The middle of June
Everyone's gone to the moon

Long time ago
Life has begun
Everyone went to the sun

Hearts full of motors
Painted green
Mouths full of chocolate
Covered cream
Arms that can only
Lift a spoon
Everyone's gone to the moon

Everyone's gone to the moon
Everyone's gone to the moon


I have two ideas as to the song's subject matter

1 One of my theories is that this song is about WAR, OR SPECIFICALLY, THE LIFE OF A SOLDIER DURING A WAR
Streets full of people, all alone -- soldiers in platoons but all feeling lonely for their loved ones back home
Roads full of houses, never home -- The barracks the soldiers live in
Church full of singing, out of tune -- a military chapel
Everyone's gone to the moon -- the soldiers are so far away they might as well be on the moon

Eyes full of sorrow, never wet -- the soldiers cannot cry for their fallen friends in battle or for loved ones left behind, because they were commanded to "toughen up" and "be men"
Hands full of money, all in debt -- they're making money but they are "paying their dues" to Uncle Sam
Sun coming out in the middle of June
Everyone's gone to the moon

Long time ago life has begun
Everyone went to the sun

Hearts full of motors, painted green -- the soldiers forced to care only about where they are going in their tanks and jeeps
Mouths full of chocolate-covered cream -- The soldiers receiving gifts of candy (boxed chocolate assortments) from loved ones back home
Arms that can only lift a spoon -- A reference to wounded soldiers or disabled war heroes
Everyone's gone to the moon

Everyone's gone to the moon
Everyone's gone to the moon

2 -- Another theory is that the song could be about THE STATE OF BEING UNPARTNERED

Streets full of people, all alone -- hordes of single people wanting to be partnered
Roads full of houses, never home -- These single souls feel their house isn't a home without a partner
Church full of singing out of tune -- Unpartnered people attending weddings of friends and family, feeling worse about being unpartnered
Everyone's gone to the moon -- all eligible prospects might as well be on the moon

Eyes full of sorrow, never wet -- sad but resigned to the status quo
Hands full of money all in debt -- making money just to pay rent to a landlord, because they feel (erroneously) that one should be married or at least living with someone before they own property
Sun coming out in the middle of June
Everyone's gone to the moon

Long time ago
Life has begun
Everyone went to the sun

THE NEXT VERSE COULD BE A REFERENCE TO CHILDREN/CHILDHOOD, AND AN UNPARTNERED SOUL LONGING EITHER FOR A CHILD OF HIS/HER OWN OR FOR THE DAYS BEFORE PUBERTY HIT AND LIFE WAS ABOUT TOYS, FRIENDS, AND CANDY
Hearts full of motors painted green -- a child's joy in playing with colorful mechanical toys
Mouths full of chocolate-covered cream -- A child's joy in eating candy
Arms that can only lift a spoon -- the limited physical power of a very young child

Everyone's gone to the moon
Everyone's gone to the moon
Everyone's gone to the moon

Those are my two interpretations. Anyone share my opinion or have interpretations of their own to share?

[Aidan]

Interesting, Sparkina - there should be a course/discussion group dedicated to the analysis of song lyrics. The Beatles would feature strongly.

[armchair_scouse]

It was the mid Sixties, so perhaps the lyrics were heavily influenced by, ahem, 'recreational drugs'... Look at the lyrics of 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' and you get something equally kooky and written by a drug-addled mind.

This is a bit of a narrow interpretation, I grant you, and your versions are more thought provoking, but I guess only the inmate of a certain UK prison can tell us for sure.

[Oggy]

Drug fuelled and hippy/happyland i'd think, if were to disect lyrics we could be here forever though, and we each have our own views, about what songs mean, like reading a book, we use our imaginations to create the characters, locations etc within the confines of our mind.

Oggy does a semi serious comment.........omg.

[Aidan]

Flowers in the Rain ( the Move ) would be of that genre too.

[Oggy]

Yeh i guess so, is there a thread here then drug related music? Roy Wood was in the move before Wizard wasn't he?