Song Meaning

The lyrics paint a surreal, almost dreamlike scene where the May moon sails over a landscape of reeds and meadows. It’s personified with a crooked smile and a toothache, observing a crying boy. This initial image sets a tone of gentle, perhaps melancholic, observation, contrasting the moon’s peculiar ailment with the boy’s distress. The linerla, or wagtail, in its nest is described as being in league with a mysterious secret, adding an element of hidden knowledge to the natural world. The moon’s light then falls upon a hedgehog couple grunting near a spruce tree, and a bride with her photographer setting out on the "ocean of life." This juxtaposition of mundane animal life with a significant human event, framed by the moon’s impartial glow, suggests a broader commentary on existence. The bride’s adornment, a diadem, gleams under the moon, hinting at aspirations or a moment of perceived grandeur before embarking on a journey. A striking image emerges as the moon illuminates a spruce tree, its cones waving towards the sky. The light then shifts to a star in its "bed," which blinks, and finally rests on "tired grandmother legs" resting on "large honoraria." This progression from the natural world to a more abstract, perhaps weary, human state, suggests a cycle of observation and rest, where even grand celestial bodies seem to acknowledge earthly fatigue and reward. The final stanza introduces a shift with "angry Sputniks" wanting to join the moon’s journey. The narrator, however, expresses a desire to thank the one who wisely sent down the "old moon." This introduces a subtle tension between the natural, perhaps ancient, order represented by the moon and the more modern, intrusive elements like Sputniks. The narrator’s gratitude points to an appreciation for the established, perhaps comforting, rhythm of the old moon over the disruptive ambition of the new.