Caribbean Blue

Album version	3:58	English	1991
Edit	3:40	English	1991

Liner notes

It is much easier to imagine a beautiful place on a rainy day than to imagine a dreary one. It is a simple fact, often forgotten, that people may create something good merely by thinking it so. A day-dream is as rich a gift as any. Like Afer Ventus, the wind from Africa, or Eurus, the East wind, Boreas from the North or the gentle Zephyrus, the imagination is free and can choose and create its own journey. As with all dreams we reach for the ideal, and Caribbean Blue represents such a dream.

notes by Roma Ryan
Shepherd Moons music book, 1991

A daydream is as rich a gift as any. Like Afer Ventus, the wind from Africa, or Eurus, the East wind, Boreas from the North or the gentle Zephyrs, the imagination is free and can choose and create its own journey. As with all dreams, we reach for the ideal and we find ourselves in Caribbean Blue…
notes by Roma Ryan
A Box of Dreams, 1997

Quotes about the song

My favourite fable is one by Aesop. It tells of a journey that an old man made, with his young son and their donkey. Everyone they met on that journey had an opinion as to how the old man and his son should travel and, no matter what they did, someone complained about it. If the man rode the donkey, they were criticised. If the boy rode the donkey, they were criticised. If both rode the donkey they were criticised. If neither rode the donkey, they were criticised. They could not please everyone. In fact, they could not please anyone!

Well, the moral of this story is that you have to live your life, you have to trust your own judgement. So many people tell you so many different things. So much of it is nonsense. Find out what’s important to you. Live. Life is short.

You have your own journey to make. Make it the best you can. Certainly there are people whose advice you welcome, but in the end you need to find out for yourself how blue the sky is. Maybe it isn’t blue at all?
Roma Ryan
Roma’s book @ enya.com, 2005

Well, again, it was Roma who came up with the title to ‘Caribbean Blue’, says Enya. “We had arranged the melody and she was reminded of the Caribbean, but then she felt it’s a trip of a difference. It’s like ‘Orinoco’ where you are taken through a dreamlike fantasy trip. She felt the same way about the music, and, therefore, she based the lyrics on this trip through this beautiful fantasy world.”
Jazziz Magazine, 1992
enyabookofdays.com

Single

01 Caribbean Blue [edit]
02 Orinoco Flow [edit]
03 Angeles

Music Video

The video was directed by Michael Geoghegan and inspired by the illustrations of an American painter Maxfield Parrish. The pastel-like effect was added by painting on a transparent foil posed over video frames. A documentary about making of the video is included on ‘The Video Collection’ and ‘The Very Best of Enya’ dvds.

Gary Davies: The video to ‘Caribbean Blue’ is magnificent, it must’ve taken longer than making the album!

Enya: It was two days. They had built three beautiful sets, and a lot of the work is the animation afterwards.

Gary Davies: Who did that?

Enya: It was Michael Geoghegan, who has directed all my videos. And it’s really good to meet somebody who understands the music and also understands me
– how I want to be portrayed, and it’s a nice feeling. I’m very comfortable when I’m filming a video.

Gary Davies: The animation must’ve taken a lot longer than two or three days!

Enya: It did. I think there was ten artists painting non-stop for three weeks. It does take a long time, but the effect is perfect.

Gary Davies: What was the idea of having the kids in the video?

Enya: Well the idea came from the Maxfield Parrish paintings. And there was a few of his illustrations that were shown to me, and there was a little boy
climbing in to this beautiful fantasy world, and he was taken through. And it was decided I would take him through this beautiful Caribbean paradise.
One To One, ITV, 1993
enyabookofdays.com

Performances

Venue	Date	Details
Rockopop (Spain)	1991	Lip-synced
VIP Noche (Spain)	1991	Lip-synced
Top of the Pops (UK)	Oct 17, 1991	Lip-synced

Lyrics

lyrics by Roma Ryan
EMI Music Publishing Ltd, 1991