Nightwish Carpenter Song Review

Carpenter Lyrics

Who are you? Man condemned to shine a salvation
Throughout the centuries

Why? Was the wine of the grail
Too sour for man to drink

The carpenter
Carved his anchor
On the dying souls of mankind
On the tomb of this unknown soldier
Lay the tools of the one who for us had died
Tools of the carpenter

The one they lick
The same old sick
Dream of their precious savior

Kiss them deep
And make them weep
Over promises of eternal peace

The carpenter...

I hear you
Through the symphonic voices of nature
The purity I could never doubt
They tell me to lie on the grass
And observe my saviour
The one crucified to the chirping of birds

The carpenter...

Carpenter Song Review

“Carpenter” is one of the Jesus songs of Nightwish. Song writer Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen titled it the Carpenter instead of Jesus.  I can understand why. Think about it. Jesus, the Carpenter, was slain in the medium of his profession. During Jesus’s time lots of messiahs where crucified. It makes sense that with such a high demand for Crosses; Jesus, the Carpenter, might have made a cross for another Messiah. Thus, even without foresight, he would have known the final result of walking on the path righteousness.

In the music video, we see the Carpenter building something. The issue is that the music video seems to be about Daedalus.  In the video, the master craftsman is building wings   to escape from his prison. It almost seems like the music video has nothing to do with the song lyrics. Oh, well... it certainly is food for thoughts.

Now, to dissect the “Carpenter” song.  Holopainen started the song with two questions. First, he asked the identity of the Carpenter.  He is the man who shined salvation (or Jesus). His death was too sour for others to drink. Holopainen seems to imply that most cannot swallow Jesus message.  The Carpenter is “the anchor of mankind”. Anchor helps keeps ships in place. Without it, the deranged ship of mankind would crash into the shore.  This ship reference also alludes to Charon. He is the Greek God that fares the dead Souls across the River Styx.

The tomb if the Unknown Soldier is an imagery that we are all familiar with. You can find graves to Unknown soldiers all over the world. They represent all the brave soldiers who died for their country.  In these graves of sacrifice, lie the tools of the Carpenter. Like Jesus, they too sacrificed their lives for what they believed in. 

The second half of the song seems to be filler. “Lick” and “Sick” seem to be filler rhythm lines.  With “deep” and “weep” , Holopainen returned to the original idea.  You know salvation and all. The last stanza shows the feelings of the singer toward the Carpenter.  However, the thing of “lying in the grass and observe my savior” is a bit weird.  It gives me a bit of a perverted feel about it. As if the Carpenter was about to… Anyhow, the Carpenter died for the chirping of birds. Chirping of birds, grass and nature alludes to paradise.  Over all, the second half of the song seemed a bit forced.  In any case, The Carpenter deserves 5 star rating.

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