"
Red Skies" is a song and video by the musical group
The FixxThe Fixx are an English New Wave band. They are one of the few such bands to have enjoyed significant success outside their country of origin while remaining almost unknown in their home land. The band is best known for their song "One Thing Leads to Another", from their most successful album...
which was first released in 1982 and then again as an entirely new video in 1987.
Music video
The 1987 video appears to be brimming with metaphorical allusions to the dangers of atomic weapons proliferation and the near-inevitability of a nuclear
holocaustHolocaust literally means "completely consumed by fire". The term can refer to:*The Holocaust, Nazi mass murders*Holocaust , a burnt offering*Death by burning, especially as a form of mass murder or mass destruction*Holocaust...
in the not-so-distant future. The title itself may originate in the old adage "Red skies at night - sailors' delight; red skies at morning - sailors take warning". But now the meaning is inverted to imply that "red skies at night" means an imminent nuclear attack from a Communist country like the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
or even the actual detonation of atomic and hydrogen weapons within the target countries.
The keyboardist, for openers, is wearing a representation of flash-blindness goggles as seen in quasi-documentary films like Atomic Cafe. It seems no coincidence that at the very peak of the song's refrain he moves his head into optimal "viewing" position of a simulated nuclear detonation.
Much more immediately striking, however, is the image of the bass guitarist in the way he is attired from top to bottom in somber shades of black. He is photographed in ways which only serve to further reinforce the impression of a supernatural Matador-figure or even the
Angel of DeathAngel of Death may refer to:In religion:* Death , death personified as an angel in Abrahamic religion.** St. Gabriel, an archangel...
Itself. He wears a wide-brimmed black hat which always conceals the eyes from every possible angle. This may refer back to stories of the Angel of Death claiming that anyone unfortunate enough to receive Its gaze do not survive to speak of it.
The figure is also clad in a long, black flowing cape which furls gently about him as he appears to pivot or turn through the camera's point-of-view. This apparent turning motion is directly reminiscent of a
matadorA matador or torero is the main performer in bullfighting events in Spain, France, and other Spanish-speaking countries. He or she is the person who performs with and kills the bull. The role is also called toreador in English , but this term is actually never used in Spain or in Latin America...
or even of another personification of death known as The Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper is popularly depicted as a hooded skeleton in a long, black, loose-fitting robe who carries a long-handled, razor-sharp
scytheA scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia.- Structure:...
with which he "harvests" human souls whose allotted time on earth has elapsed. The harvesting of wheat by a scythe-wielding human being usually involves a degree of twisting or turning or pivoting of the upper body as the reaper swings the long curved blade through its arc of travel.
The lyrics are more explicit on the theme of impending doom and only serve to underscore rather than contradict the
eideticEidetic memory, or photographic memory, is the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme accuracy and in abundant volume. The word eidetic means related to extraordinarily detailed and vivid recall of visual images, and comes from the Greek word είδος , which means "form"...
insinuations listed above.