Inspired in part by the sound of Prince’s album Purple Rain, Mike Scott wrote “The Whole of the Moon," the classic song by The Waterboys. It was released as a single from their album, This Is the Sea, in October 1985.
Speaking about the inspiration of the song, Scott said, "I wrote the song when I was 26 years old, and I was discovering that there was so much more than I had ever known. There was so much more to learn than I'd even been hinted at in the culture I'd grown up in. I had a strong sense of wonderment about that, and I realized there were people who had vastly more information in their imaginations and experiences than I had. And so that's what inspired that song."
When asked who the song might be written about, he stated, “The Whole of the Moon is about someone like CS Lewis, who seemed to see so much and explore issues much more deeply than most people, or it could be about a Jimi Hendrix-type person who comes "like a comet, blazing your trail" and is gone too soon, but it's not specifically about anyone.”
