Song Analysis of "Born in a Mourning Hall"

Blind Guardian is a heavy metal band from Germany that came into focus in the mid 1980’s. They are credited with being one of the most influential bands in the power metal and speed metal subgenres. Originally formed by Hansi Kursh and Andre Olbrich, Blind Guardian’s lyrics, written by Kursh, are influenced by legends and epics, as well as fantasy tales by authors like J. R. R. Tolkien and Stephen King. Blind Guardian uses many religious references in their lyrics, but they are not a Christian band. They like to mix societal problems with literature and religion, while hiding most of it in a shroud of literary devices. Blind Guardian’s song “Born in a Mourning Hall” contains a montage of poetic devices with many of them being intertwined.
The title of the song contains three devices within itself. “Born in a Mourning Hall” is ironic because mourning halls are funeral homes and a birth is called a gift of life. This is also an allusion to death because a mourning hall is a mortuary. The line is also a double entendre because a morning hall is a church and children have been born in churches, but the line is “mourning” and implies the exact opposite. The line “TV preacher” also holds a few devices. The first is an allusion to pastors that preach on television. The second is an allusion to Big Brother from 1984. The third is ambiguity because it could be a pastor or it could be a brainwashing spokesman that is pastor like.
The chorus is loaded with poetry. The title of the song is repeated twice in the chorus and the chorus is never the same. The line “The Peter Pan will never reach the other side” is one of the more poetic lines of the chorus. First, there is the allusion to Peter Pan. Second, the hyperbole is created with the word “never”. Third, the “other side” is an allusion to heaven. Fourth, there is ambiguity because the other side could also mean the real world. Fifth, the “Peter Pan” is a metaphor comparing the child to a character trapped in childhood. Sixth, there is a paradox because while it makes sense that Peter Pan cannot die, it does not make sense that a person cannot die. The whole line is an allusion to childhood and is again ambiguous because it can mean that either the person will never grow up, or that the person will always have the spirit of a child in them.
The remainder of the song contains several other poetic devices. “Hypnotized by the TV snake” is an allusion to both the devil and the antichrist, a metaphor comparing the speaker to a snake, and contains imagery by creating images of a snake on a TV screen with a swirling background. The “Eternal fall down” contains a hyperbole by calling the fall eternal, and it is ambiguous because it also refers to the slow and unending death of the character. “I’m an old man” is characterization that gives insight on the main character, possibly the narrator. The “serious smile” is an example of alliteration. “sitting still” is another example of alliteration, but it is also paradoxical because you cannot sit still, but you can sit still (like being frozen to the television screen).
These devices all describe similar events because the overall theme of the song is the end of the world. The narrator uses these lines to show the corruption of the world and how it is making him suffer emotionally. He uses lines like “Born in a mourning hall” and “Shadows left the fear inside” to represent the suffering he dealt with in his childhood. This emotional suffering leads to his thoughts of suicide, but he cannot do it or he lives through it. The “Peter Pan” metaphor shows that he cannot escape his childhood suffering. The constant references to watching events unfold and not dying show that either he is waiting to die with the rest of the world, or he is cursed and meant to suffer by watching the world end and having to live through the entre ordeal. This suffering and end of the world talk is religiously tied because of lines that can be related to the antichrist (“TV preacher”, “TV snake”, etc.). The main suffering in the song is the emotional suffering of the main character and the physical suffering that he will have to endure. Blind Guardian incorporates a lot of heavier metal and some orchestral sections to show the more apocalyptic parts of the song and keep a dreary tone in the song. The band follows suit by using a lot of guitar and including lyrics that seem like combined ideas of their influences. Blind Guardian proves their right as one of the most influential metal bands out there.
6. Born In A Morning Hall

In fact it was close to a real fallout
Everything's under control
The speaker said with a serious smile
Behind his mask
He knew the truth
I'll bring new age of better ways
The TV preacher said
Just pay today
Pay today

World's dressed in black
On earth's judgments day
And I?
I know it can't go on
Forbidden signs increase
I'm sitting still at home
And watching

Born in a mourning hall
Pale clouds of feared the unborn child
Then it grew up with growing plans
Of suicide
Born in a mourning hall
Shadows left the fear inside
The Peter Pan will never reach
The other side

It's frightening
Exciting to sit at home
And watch the burning fields get
Hypnotized by the TV snake
Obey and work hard
And feel no anger

Just sympathy for the higher class
There's no chance in changing
Things
Cause I am

Born in a mourning hall
Silent cries ran out
When the cradle breaks
Broken dreams were unheard on
The other side
Born in a mourning hall
Shadows left the fear
In the new born child
The Peter Pan will never reach
The other side

[SOLO]

And I'm a part of a machine
A puppet on the strings
A rebel, once
Now I'm an old man

Oh, I know it can't go on
But the ghost called fear inside
Lames my tongue, my nerves,
My mind
Eternal fall down
Someone cut the strings off
I can't move
To get back courage
I've to face the truth
But not today
Goodbye

Born in a mourning hall
Caught inside a web called life
The only way to get out soon
I suicide
Born in a mourning hall
Pale souls built a frozen world
Infected brains
Will never reach the other side
The other side