John Dowland (1563 - 1626) was an English lutenist and composer. He is well known for his melancholic songs. The melancholia was so fashionable in the early 17th century, and his masterpiece, “Lachrimae Antiquae” was the most popular English song at that time. I have mixed feelings about the relationship between the melancholy and the art. Although the melancholia might stir up a creative power, the art which reflects the melancholia itself (or the melancholic art) is prone to be vulgar. (… Does a melancholic person make a melancholic art?) But anyway, I need it right now.
In the late 1990s and the early 2000s, Lou Reed recorded many attractive pieces with one of his reliable arrangement manners. The cover of Ben E. King with the Drifters “This magic moment” and his original song “Modern dance” are typical examples. Noisy discord guitar, beautiful arpeggio guitar and steady but a little bit funky rhythm section organize a tight background. “Modern dance” (2000, Ecstasy) begins like this;
Maybe I should go and live in Amsterdam in a side street near a big canal spend my evenings in the Van Gogh Museum what a dream, Van Gogh Museum (Lou Reed “Modern dance”)
This reminds me of John Cale’s song in 1970 (Vintage Violence) “Amsterdam”, which has the following opening;
She’s back from Amsterdam And I think the journey did her well (John Cale “Amsterdam”)
It is interesting that John Cale returns while Lou Reed goes, even though there is a great difference of time. And Lou Reed sang about the wish, on the other hand, John Cale sang about the breaking off the relationship;
She says she fell in love with men who knew the way to treat a lady (John Cale “Amsterdam”)
He was quite regretful and said “I do believe the journey did her well” over and over. Well, how about Lou Reed? I think he also regretted something slightly. The subjunctive mode might reflect sorrow or abundance for the unselected alternative lives. By the way, we can find the remarkable sentence in “Modern dance”;
and maybe you don’t wanna be a wife It’s not a life being a wife (Lou Reed “Modern dance”)
The meaning of this lyric should be controversial but I don’t take any notice of it. Instead of such an interpretation, please imagine “you” in this song and “she” in John Cale’s song were the very same person. It will excite your romanticism. Furthermore, this cheap rhyme (wife and life) links to their song in 1967 “Heroin” as the Velvet Underground;
Heroin, it’s my wife and it’s my life (The Velvet Underground “Heroin”)
If you like the Clash, Vince Taylor might be recognized as the singer and songwriter of “Brand New Cadillac”. But I myself reached this clip via “Shakin’ All Over (1965)” performed by The Guess Who. (Although I wanted to listen to their “Bus Rider” at first). “Shakin' All Over (1960)” is a rock & roll song originally performed by Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. It was written by Johnny Kidd and reached #1 in the UK. Vince Taylor was a British rock & roll singer. As the frontman for The Playboys, he was successful during the late 50s and early 60s. He covered this song, “Shakin' All Over” in 1961, when he was in his early 20s. The stage setting, the standing positions, the camerawork, the black leather, the hairstyle, the sound, the dance etc., everything in this clip seems to be typical 60s and it is almost a parody. Taylor consciously exaggerated the essence of 60s, although he was in the middle of it. And this sensitivity of self-reference brought him the criticism. His stance was much better than many of his contemporary artists who believed themselves as original and did the same manner depending on the taste of the times. At least he didn’t believe in the originality. That is to say, he didn't need to think about the originality at all because he was enough original from the beginning. (Even though he was greatly influenced by Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley). He must be a genius in a certain sense.
Anyway, what a crazy movement of his hip! Did he mount a motor and a crank inside?
“Don’t wash the dirt off of your hands. You’re doing the same mistake twice. Making the same mistake twice.”
This suggestion stirs my emotion. The dirt of the first mistake may help us keeping the attention but, on the other hand, if we concentrate on one mistake too much, the precaution against another trap will be insufficient. Because there are plenty of dangers, we are always in this dilemma. Of course, he should be fully aware of this and in the last part of this song he sings,
“Don’t let the darkness eat you up”,
over and over again. It is a painful coda.
José González, born in 1978, is a Swedish folk singer. His music is characterized by the calm melody and the sound of classical guitar. “Down the Line” is a single from his second album, “In Our Nature” released in 2007.
I also like this video clip directed by Andreas Nilsson and Mikel Cee Karlsson. It might be a film about the window, which functions as both a screen reflecting the fear and a final fort. I understand well that it is oversimplified but, the window behind the singer and the window beside Manhog look like projecting the same “darkness”. And the last image of the burned cars with broken window seems to predict what will happen if their windows are broken. The only solution may be to write something on the dewed window with the finger like Manhog in the bus.
Additionally speaking, this video clip is based on the story "Manhog Beyond the Face" by Jim Woodring. We can read this comic in his official Web site ("Manhog Beyond the Face"). In this strange story, there is a passage which refers to the window. On page 6, it narrates, “I wish we could look out the window”. It seems to be significant.
Le véhicule de police japonais (pato kâ) ressemble au panda. L'un qui mange du bambou est un panda et l’autre qui se cache dans l’ombre est un véhicule de police.
« Funiculì funiculà », une chanson napolitaine composée par Luigi Denza sur des paroles de Giuseppe Turco, est connue comme « Le caleçon de l’ogre » (Oni no pantsu) au Japon. Les paroles en version japonaise recommandent à tout le monde de mettre le caleçon de l’ogre pour raison de résistance. Au fait, il y a une musique qui annonce une approche du train à la gare japonaise normalement. Aux gares de Kita-Osaka kyûkô, c’est « Le caleçon de l’ogre » (ou je dois l’appeler « Funiculì funiculà » ?). L’arrangement insiste sur le rythme galopant et agite l’atmosphère de crise. Et une fois que cette musique me revient à l’esprit, elle me domine. Je l’entends sans cesse dans la tête. A vrai dire, je suis en cette situation maintenant. Sous l’influence de la musique, je pourrai mettre le caleçon de l’ogre (… mais où est-ce qu’on peut l’acheter ?).
Le haïku comporte normalement 17 mores en trois segments 5-7-5. Il doit donner une notion de saison (le kigo) et doit comporter une césure (le kireji). Mais le haïku de forme libre (jiyûritsu haiku) n’est pas esclave du nombre des mores ou de la notion de saison. Comment donc peut-on le considérer comme haïku ? Je le réfléchirai progressivement.
Pour le moment, je voudrais évoquer deux points suivants ; (i) le haïku moderne, que Shiki Masaoka (1867-1902) innovait, déjà arrivait à la forme libre par la deuxième génération comme Hekigotô Kawahigashi (1873-1937). Et (ii) l’âge d’or du haïku de forme libre et l’ère Taishô (1912-1926) se superposent.
L’ère Taishô est la période la plus libérale du Japon d’avant-guerre. Dans le contexte libéral, la culture populaire s’épanouit. Sous l’influence de l’esthétisme et le dadaïsme en Europe, cette culture a penchant à la décadence. On l’appelle « l’érotique grotesque et non-sens » (ero-guro-nansensu) à cette époque-là.
Le haïku ensorcelant d’Ippekirô Nakatsuka (1887-1946) prouve qu’on peut exprimer l’érotisme même dans le haïku. Je ne suis pas sûr de réussir dans ma traduction en français, mais il épanche son désir sexuel (de tendance pervers) nonchalamment avec les termes plaisants qui n’est pas sérieux. L’humour est exactement convenable au haïku.
It was in the exhibition titled "AVANT-GARDE CHINA 20 YEARS OF CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART” (2008-2009, National Museum of Art, Osaka) that I saw Yang Fudong’s work for the first time. The video installation exhibited was “No Snow on the Broken Bridge” (2006). That was composed of 8 synchronized screens, and each screen had impressive scenes of several young men and women in desolated landscapes. The “loosely structured” (ShanghART Gallery’s description) narrative was filled with suspenseful atmosphere. And among all those moving fragments, I was fascinated by the boats slowly drifting across waters. Tears sprang to my eyes. After that experience, I have been immersed in his works and impressed in the beautiful and plaintive images of liquid (especially water) which are ubiquitous on the screens. We can easily find the good example if we see any of those works on the site of ShanghART Gallery. Now, I would like to talk about “First Spring”, his work for PRADA SPRING/SUMMER 2010. I know it was just a little bit dated (one year ago!). This delay is mainly because of my laziness (of course!), but partly because of my ambivalent feeling for this film. Honestly speaking, I don’t care much for this kind of image of flying men with an umbrella and a bag (or should I say, it is uncomfortable for me). “Mary Poppins” is one of my favorite children’s books but the musical film of “Mary Poppins” just embarrasses me. That is to say, I have never seen the visual representation of flying better than the literature. But, on the other hand, “First Spring” has a breathtaking piece. That is the sequential action of serving and drinking alcohol and tea (it appears from 5’41” to 6’52”). Here, you meet the theme of liquid again! At first, alcohol is served from a bottle to a glass and a man lifts the glass to his lips. Then a suspicious waiter with a thin smile about his lips emerges quietly from behind and serves tea from the teapot to teacups. One man in suit and two women in traditional clothes put their teacups together and hold tea in their mouth. This is a fascinating moment and I am sure that the film reaches its climax. It should be the interpretation without much thought to consider this sequence a conflict between the Occident and the Orient, even if that had been the aim of the artist (I hope not…). All we have to do is to recollect the image of drinking in “Honey (mi)” (2003). (We can watch that on ShanghART Gallery.). In that video, a man in black-framed glasses drinks tea from the teacup with the lid. He drinks tea with great relish and I can feel even astringency from the movement of his mouth. Unexpectedly, we witness the best drinking image, in this video of the charming but somewhat plaintive legs wearing fishnet stockings.
Is it really correct to look upon the cover version of “Hitch Hike” (1965) by the Rolling Stones as the relay point between the original Marvin Gaye's song (1962) and "There She Goes Again" (1967) by the Velvet Underground, as everyone refers? In the finishing quality point of view, I doubt the necessity of this intermediate. (Now the Rolling Stones' version sounds more old-fashioned than the original, doesn’t it?) Furthermore, it is also widely known that Lou Reed is a specialist of the Motown music, so well that John Cale (or somebody else) made fun of him and shouted “Motown!” in “Inside your heart” (recorded in 1968). We can easily imagine the direct influences. But the Rolling Stones' re-arrangement of the riff from the base guitar (and wind instruments) to the aggressive electric guitar is marvelous! And surely the Velvet Underground took over this guitar riff. Is that the Brian Jones’ work? … I hope so.
I went to the exhibition “Mondrian / De Stijl” at the Pompidou Centre. I couldn’t help laughing when I saw many “Composition” paintings on the small wall. The “Composition” in pastel colors is very cute. (Composition n°3, avec plans de coulour 3, 1917).
