Posts Tagged ‘David Lynch’
BOB, these are killer tunes
In Lebanon, a lot of Arabic names get shortened to an American nickname:
Most commonly Mohamad becomes Moe. Sometimes you get Jeff for Chafic or Billy/Willy for Walid. Another one you get used to is Bob for Ibrahim.
Which takes us straight to the chase: I have a slightly thematic post one week after Eid el Adha, the second of two religious holidays celebrated by Muslims worldwide each year.
The “Festival of the sacrifice” (As Wikipedia explains so candidly) honors the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his promised son, Ishmael (Ismail), as an act of submission to God’s command, before God then intervened to provide Abraham with a lamb to sacrifice instead.
In the other two monotheist religions it’s the “Story of Isaac” as sung by Leonard Cohen on his 1969 masterpiece Songs From A Room
Anyway, so let’s start with a disclaimer: I mean no disrespect etc etc…
Here’s a track that was really hard to find here before Youtube: it was banned and I had only got the chance to hear it once at an “écoute musicale”.
Yes, on Ishmael South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (formerly known as Dollar Brand) sings the Fatiha.
For completists there’s also an instrumental cover by the ubiquitous Nicolas Jaar.
But let’s stay in the Ibrahim family, Ali from the Ivory Coast also sings Allah’s praises on this funky track
Shoulda posted this a week ago but all this came together tonight.
Plus it allowed to squeeze in the perfect outro: Yes, the picture illustrating this post is Killer Bob from David Lynch‘s Twin Peaks and in case you haven’t been online lately, here’s an important announcement:
Clown
Sad as a painted clown, a beautiful boy in an ugly town
but when your circus closes down don’t walk away from me
you’ve been asleep too long, the birds are bruises in the dawn
the pounds of flesh between us stretch as far as you can see
But all you ever do is walk away and I know if you’d only go slow
you could see what it means to be making the scene with me
But all you ever do is walk away and I think if you tried
you could find a little time
for the life I can see in your eyes, don’t go. Don’t go.
Sometimes you just explode and no one alive can break your code
You have a language of your own, an unconnected road
The people you called your friends, the places you won’t go again
The decades lost in finding them, you’ll have to let them go.
Stephin Merritt is the genius behind the Magnetic Fields. He’s an amazing songwriter and he’s got at least one other clown-related lyric.
I wandered in these big blue shoes,
till we had nothing left to lose.
Nobody wants you when you’re a circus clown.
I should know.
I looked all over town.
I wandered in these big blue shoes,
till we had nothing left to lose.
Nobody wants you when you’re a circus clown.
I should know.
I looked all over town.
I guess folks just don’t like my face.
They make out like I’m some disgrace.
But nothing’s gonna change this painted frown.
And I know.
I looked all over town.
Maybe somewhere I could be free.
Somewhere they won’t throw rocks at me.
Somewhere this crazy hair could be my crown.
But all my life,
I’ve looked all over town.
So whistling this circus tune,
I inflated one more balloon.
And as I floated up I looked straight down.
And I looked all over town.
One last time.
I looked all over town.
A great songwriter from another era also talked about clowns
Now if there’s a smile on my face
it’s only there tryin’ to fool the public
but when it comes down to foolin’ you;
Now honey, that’s quite a different subject
But don’t let my glad expression
give you the wrong impression
Really I’m sad
I’m sadder than sad
You’re gone and I’m hurtin’ so bad
Like a clown I pretend to be glad
Now there’s some sad things known to man
but ain’t too much sadder than
the tears of a clown
when there’s no one around
Now if I appear to be carefree
it’s only to camouflage my sadness
In order to keep my pride I try
to cover the hurt with a show of gladness
But don’t let my show convince you
that I’ve been happy since you
decided to go
Oh, I need you so
I’m hurt and I want you to know
Now there’s some sad things known to man
but ain’t too much sadder than
the tears of a clown
when there’s no one around
Just like Pagliacci did
I try to keep my sadness hid
Smiling in the public eye
But in my lonely room I cry
the tears of a clown
when there’s no one around
Clowns are occasionally funny, fundamentally sad but they can be scary too. Remember Stephen King’s It and Pennywise the creepy clown played by Tim Curry?
Since we’re talking about freaky clowns, let’s go to David Lynch‘s world for a while.
A candy-colored clown they call the sandman
Tiptoes to my room every night
Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper
“Go to sleep. Everything is all right.”
In 2011, years after using Roy Orbison’s In dreams in Blue Velvet, David Lynch released his first solo album Crazy Clown Time (That’s if you don’t count BlueBob…)
They all run around
Oh, it’s crazy clown time!
It was really fun!
There’s also a weird video he released for his first single from the album. I don’t know if you can stream it from here since you need to sign in.
I know you got to go
Seen in comin’ baby
Just as plain as a day
Seen it comin’ at me
No way you can’t stay
I know, I know, I know
I, I, I know
Don’t have to tell me baby
I’m going to leave you on a lighter note. The picture on top is from a dance movie directed by Lloyd Newson: DV8 Physical Theatre‘s The Cost of Living. I can’t even start to describe it, I love it so much!
Have a look below and try to find and watch the whole film (it’s only 35 min long).
Pretty Woman
I don’t believe you
You mock the truth
No one could look as good as you
A lot of prettiness in the air today. I don’t know why I’m on a roll. Expect a fourth(!) post very soon….
I like googling lyrics. I always thought he said “you’re NOT the truth”.
Pretty woman walkin’ down the street
Pretty woman, the kind I like to meet
Pretty woman, I don’t believe you
You mock the truth
No one could look as good as you
Mercy
Pretty woman, won’t you pardon me
Pretty woman, I couldn’t help but see
Pretty woman, and you look lovely as can be
Are you lonely just like me
Pretty woman, stop a while
Pretty woman, talk a while
Pretty woman, give your smile to me
Pretty woman, yeah, yeah, yeah
Pretty woman, look my way
Pretty woman, say you’ll stay with me
Cause I need you
I’ll treat you right
Come to me baby
Be mine tonight
Pretty woman, don’t walk on by
Pretty woman, don’t make me cry
Pretty woman, don’t walk away
hey…ok…
If that’s the way it must be, OK
I guess I’ll go on home, it’s late
There’ll be tomorrow night
But wait, what do I see?
Is she walking back to me?
Yeah, she’s walking back to me
O-Oh
Pretty woman.
Anyway, you know the track, you know the movie, but do you know anything about Roy Orbison? Apart from the fact that he looks like an old lesbian? more specifically, KD Lang? Or that his dark glasses always seem to be falling off his face?… I apologise in advance if my humour seems a bit derogatory. I know a tread a very thin line…
Just in case, you didn’t know, he was a Traveling Wilbury alongside Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty!
And he’s got at least 3 really amazing songs: In Dreams (remember Blue Vevet?) You Got It and I Drove All Night
Remember that Video? It’s Jason Priestley / Brandon on 90210!
Anyway, lets go back to Pretty Woman. Here’s a fantastic Bollywood version with Shahrukh Khan
And the very controversial 2 Live Crew version. It was an important lawsuit that went all the way to the supreme court and changed the doctrine regarding samples, parodies and fair use…
Pain
Pain
I guess it’s a matter of sensation
But somehow
You have ways of avoiding it all
In my mind
I have shot you and stabbed you through your heart
I just didn’t understand
The ricochet is the second part
Cause you can’t hide
What you intend
It glows in the dark
Once you’ve sought
The path of revenge
There’s no way to stop
And the more I try to hurt you
The more that it hurts me
Strange
It seems like a character mutation
Though I have all the means
of bringing you fuckers down
I can’t make myself
To destroy upon command
Somehow forgiveness
lets the evil make a loss
No you can’t hide
What you intend
It glows in the dark
Once we become
The thing we dread
There’s no way to stop
And the more I try to hurt you
The more it backfires
The more it backfires
The more that it backfires
Sparklehorse and Dangermouse featuring Wayne Coyne – Revenge (Mediafire Link)
Where is the ritual
And tell me where where is the taste
Where is the sacrifice
And tell me where where is the faith
Someday there’ll be a cure for pain
That’s the day I throw my drugs away
When they find a cure for pain
Where is the cave
Where the wise woman went
And tell me where
Where’s all that money that I spent
I propose a toast to my self control
You see it crawling helpless on the floor
Someday there’ll be a cure for pain
That’s the day I throw my drugs away
When they find a cure for pain (x2)
When they find a cure find a cure for pain
Morphine – Cure For Pain (Album) (Mediafire Link)
Audiogrammes 