The Whole Of The Moon

THE WATERBOYS Released Their Biggest Hit ‘THE WHOLE OF THE MOON’ Today 40 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Top singles from the past

14 October 2025

Scottish luminaries THE WATERBOYS scored their best known song (almost 200,000
million streams on Spotify) and biggest hit with THE WHOLE OF THE MOON . It was
released ss a single today 40 years ago, on 14 October 1985. It featured on their
3rd full-length This Is The Sea.

It was composed by songsmith/frontman Mike Scott. It’s a tribute to an inspirational
figure or figures. In each line, the singer describes his own perspective and immediately contrasts it with that of the song’s subject, summarizing the difference with the line
“I saw the crescent / You saw the whole of the moon”.

The song wasn’t a huge hit right away. It peaked at #26 in the UK.
Only on its re-release in 1991 the masses embraced it. It went to #3
that time.

“You were there in the turnstiles
with the wind at your heels
you stretched for the stars
and you know how it feels
to reach too high
too far too soon
you saw the whole of the moon”

Biography – Discography

THE WATERBOYS Released Their Highly Praised 3th Album ‘THIS IS THE SEA’ Today 40 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Significant longplayers from yesteryear

16 September 2025

Scottish rockers THE WATERBOYS, the brainchild of singer-songwriter Mike Scott
released their splendid 3th LP THIS IS THE SEA today 40 years ago, on 16 September 1985.

It’s considered by critics to be the finest album of the band’s early
rock-oriented sound described as “epic” and “a defining moment”.

Themes of the LP include spirituality (Spirit, The Pan Within), romantic love (Trumpets),
and English politics (Old England), while the album’s eponymous single This Is The Sea utilizes the allusion of the flowing river as a life affirming recognition of constant
renewal and regeneration.

It peaked at #37 on the UK Charts.

Kerrang said: “A veritable shoal of musical ideas, held firm by a ballast of keyboard horizons and string tugs. Several songs thrive with life in the fullest sense of the term. This isn’t merely aural wallpaper but a strident, confident attempt at eliciting response; the art of texture and dynamics has rarely been better illustrated.”

KEY SINGLE
Their greatest ever,
#3 in the UK.

ALBUM


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Instagram – Linktree – All Albums