his eyes after delving into his dream, the protagonist loses the mental clarity Marianne. I believe this observation coincides with the previous verse where the protagonist states he clearly remembers other people, yet he fails to hold on to Marianne. This following assertion may sound contrived, but I believe this song is about a delusional man (why else would the sun be gone), that has only vague images of a single girl he remembers. Yes, he does claim to remember people as clear as the summer sun, but how clear is a non-existent sun (see the first line)? This assertion can be reaffirmed by the refrain "More than a feeling", as though he is telling us he is not crazy. A more grounded interpretation is that the song's protagonist is depressed about losing a girl friend/wife from years ago, and painstakingly longs for her. That doesn't tie the lyrics in an interesting way though, now does it? I'm with you, that Marianne is long gone, he remembers her fondly, etc. However, "closed" and "slipped" are past tense. He is telling us what happened when she left. Closing his eyes is what lead to her leaving. Ok, there were probably other reasons, but if his eyes were "open", instead of relying on the music to escape his problems, he probably would have been able to deal with it and keep her. As for "the sun was gone", I don't see that as being delusional. Its just a metaphor for a gloomy