Watermark is my joint favourite Enya song alongside A Day Without Rain. These two soft piano pieces are nearly indistinguishable, so much so that I often confuse one for the other. When I listened to Watermark this morning, I was certain I had already written about it. No, I hadn’t – I had written about A Day Without Rain.
This is where things get a little whacky, because in that article I wrote how I used that piece for a family DVD I created for my son’s third birthday (image inset). But after hearing the two songs side by side and reviewing the DVD, I can now confirm that I had in fact used Watermark and not A Day Without Rain.
I’m still baffled by how I made that error, but by golly they do sound remarkably similar. They are like sister songs, at least to my ears, and both are as adorable as each other. So, there you go – I had my ontological shock for the morning.
I know Enya is not everyone’s cup of tea because her “sound” has saturated the commercial landscape, but it’s typically those songs that aren’t so well known – mostly instrumental and musically simple – that draw me in.
The piano-driven instrumentals are about as elementary as Enya’s music gets, but call me ol’ sentimental, I think they are quite simply some of the most beautiful tunes I’ve ever heard. They feel homely and nurturing, yet spiritual and renewing, with an almost maternal warmth.
Most of the following is abridged from the Wikipedia below:
Watermark is the title track from Enya’s second album. It became an unexpected commercial success, which propelled Enya to worldwide fame. She recorded the album in ten months with her long-time collaborators: manager, producer and arranger Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan.
The album features music in different styles with elements of Celtic, ambient, and new-age music, though Enya believes her music does not belong in the latter genre.
Watermark (album) peaked at No. 5 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 25 on the US Billboard. It was certified quadruple Platinum. 4 singles were released from the album, remarkably didn’t include today’s featured song – Watermark.
Enya’s biggest hit was with Orinoco Flow which remains by far the most famous and which spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK.
References:
1. Watermark (Enya album) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Haunting voice
Very much so Sheree.