Point of Know Return

Point of Know Return
By Alphaville

01 The gentle taste of orange
02 A garden of fruit and flowers is what I embrace
03 In ocean blue eyes, in each one's an island
04 I'm stranded within your love
05 And as I fall deeper than ever
06 And as we kiss
07 We're each other's guide into the unknown
08 Where men do not return, where men do not forget
09 The sweetest suicide, as if we don't exist but live
10 The presence of angels, the inscense of Indochine
11 The quietness of movements, the slowness of Africa
12 A point of know return,
13 No way out of here
14 Nothing compares to you
15 Anything goes

16 And as I breathe deeper than ever
17 I'm coming home, I'm coming home to the unknown
18 Where men do not return. . .

I have always wanted to write a little something about this song. I have heard arguments that this song is about first love and how you are never the same after having experienced it. I disagree - quite strongly. After I'd heard it about three times I knew it was about the story of Adam and Eve. Of course I'm prepared to back up my theory, so here goes:

When Adam and Eve were place in the Garden of Eden they were married and left to tend the garden. They were commanded that they should not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They were told that if they did, they would surely die. It doesn't say in the bible what fruit that was, or if that was a common tree that we see today. In the first line of this song, I think it is implied that the fruit on the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was an orange.

In the second line, I think he's clearly describing the Garden of Eden and what it looks like to him (Adam) after he has eaten the fruit. He opens his eyes and he sees that the garden is beautiful. In the third line he sees Eve and he sees that he's in love with her (in his innocence - he didn't now), and in the fourth he is recognizing how far he would go for that love.

In the fifth line, he starts to talk about the consequences of eating the fruit. They always talk about the Fall of Adam. Adam and Eve lived a life of innocence in the garden until the serpent (Satan) came and told Eve that if she ate the fruit that she would know good from evil. She ate and knew that she would be cast out of the garden if Adam did not eat it as well. I think everything that has been said thus far indicates that Adam because they could not have children if they were not together. He would be cast out with her.

In line seven, they are thrown out of the garden together and left to live their lives as the humans we are now. They were immortal and now - they will definitely die - 'the sweetest suicide'. This is where there is the strong indication that Adam and Eve made the correct choice to eat the fruit and be cast out. Now they could experience happiness and sorrow, as well as all other human emotions.

In line ten, they compare the garden 'the presence of angels' (Adam walked with god, so I think this is indicating that there were angels there too), while 'Indochine' I believe refers to geographical areas around India and China - so the world we live in. The author continues to praise our world when he brings up Africa in the next line.

The line 'the point of know return' is a play off of the seriousness of their transgression (they could never go back to the life they lived in the garden) as well as a pun off of the knowledge they gained.

I think this work compares the trials of life and the protection of a perfect place where there is no sorrow and no joy. Actually, I get pretty emotional over a story like this. This world was made for joy, but it's not baby-proof, so we have to grow up and be adults. Simply put, the pain is worth it because of the joy of existance.