“The Killing Moon” is an incredible post-punk psychedelic song by the outfit Echo & The Bunnymen. If the title doesn’t sound familiar, we guarantee you’ve heard the track before. It was used in the cult classic 2001 science fiction movie Donnie Darko. Long before that, though, the song was a chart-topping hit in 1984, where it reached no. 9 on the Billboard UK Singles chart.
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Many bands end up hating their biggest hits, but Ian McCulloch has looked back at the song fondly.
“When I sing ‘The Killing Moon’, I know there isn’t a band in the world who’s got a song anywhere near that,” said McCulloch himself.
The story behind the song is a fascinating one, too.
The Story Behind “The Killing Moon” by Echo & The Bunnymen
“The Killing Moon” is a song that is both complex and morbid. Plenty of fans have tried to break down the deeper meaning behind the tune’s lyrics, but the true meaning behind the song is a bit more existential and vague than one might hope. At least, that’s the case according to the man who wrote it.
“It’s about everything, from birth to death to eternity and God, whatever that is, and the eternal battle between fate and the human will,” McCulloch once said of the song. “It contains the answer to the meaning of life. It’s my ‘To be or not to be.’”
With that meaning in mind, what’s the real story behind the song? According to McCulloch, “The Killing Moon” came to him in a sort of early-morning epiphany. He told The Guardian that he sat “bolt upright in bed” with the lines “Fate up against your will / Through the thick and thin / He will wait until you give yourself to him” stuck in his head.
That’s it. There’s no life-changing, inspirational story that birthed the origin of the song for McCulloch. It wasn’t even necessarily a song that came to him in a dream, either, considering you “don’t dream things like that and remember them.”
Rather, the story behind “The Killing Moon” is as simple as McCulloch having a vision. Or, if you don’t want to get too spiritual about it, it seems as though McCulloch’s brain decided to pop out a gem before it fully had a chance to jumpstart after sleep.
Regardless, McCulloch seems to think the song was more of a sign from God than anything. Though, he was also a bit inspired by none other than David Bowie.
“That’s why I’ve always half credited the lyric to God,” said McCulloch. “It’s never happened before or since. I got up and started working the chords out. I played David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ backwards, then started messing around with the chords. By the time I’d finished, it sounded nothing like ‘Space Oddity’.”
Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images
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