A Whistle in the Dark is a play by Tom Murphy that premiered in 1961 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East London having been rejected by the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.[1] It then went on to be a West End hit. Murphy was twenty-five years old at the time.[2][3] It tells the story in three acts of the climactic confrontation between Michael, the oldest of the Carney sons, and his father and brothers, a brawling, hard-drinking, criminal gang of Irish immigrants living and working in Coventry. A powerful portrayal of tribal violence and the devastation it brings in its wake in spite of attempts to stand against it, it remains Murphy's best known and most performed play. John Lahr of The Village Voice saw its influence in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming.[4] Other plays showing its influence are Gary Mitchell's In A Little World Of Our Own and Rod Wooden's Your Home In The West.
I was listening to this song and I came up with a decent meaning, to at least the first verse/chorus. The narrator wants to learn how to be a musician. Sadly, over his lifetime he has been told the only thing he is allowed to do in life is be himself, not being able to further his knowledge of music. So he is having a wonderful time, but he would rather whistle (or create music in the most simple way) in the dark. - Juttman
I took this song to be about ways of dealing with propagandists, evangelicals, fundamentalists, etc. The zealous woman who wanted to poison his mind is not unkind--she believes she is helping him. But the lyrics express a desire not to enter a way of light that anyone shows them. By remaining uninfluenced the singer stays blissfully ignorant-- whistling in the dark --Benthorot
My take on this is a bit different, since I've always thought of whistling in the dark as a way to prevent oneself from being afraid of the dark. I think that the narrator is a decidedly unhappy person, and that he sees the woman's attempt to provide him with ideas that appeal to you as a poisoning of his mind. Perhaps the only thing that our narrator can do well is be unhappy? Anyway, it seems to me that although he's having a wonderful time with whatever is happening to him, he'd much rather be on the border of unhappiness: whistling in the dark to keep himself from being afraid, but doing nothing to promote happiness. --Chuckie
