news I’ve been going over lyrics I’ve done over the past years and noticed the lyrics to Dana Winner’s “If You Want to Know Me” weren’t available. There’s a bit of a story behind it, as it was originally written by the French hit songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman and then… Oh, go straight to the page and find out for yourself đ
meanings I was curious, very curious. The idea of creating an opera that willingly rejects the need for meaning intrigued the lyricist in me. As a songwriter, meaning is not necessarily the only tool or goal you have to play with. Sometimes evocation is enough to create the impression of an emotion. So what to make of a lyrical work that totally abandons the need for meaning? That shrugs off narrative?
âTo be Sungâ is an ambitious piece. âI wanted to write something amniotic, extremely sensitive, that situates listening within an almost metaphysical feeling of understanding through light, that demands to be heard through the mystery of the eye.â Thus spoke composer Pascal Dusapin about his third opera, a musical translation of texts by modernist Gertrude Stein produced by the Monnaie opera house but shown at the Flagey centre.
Stein wrote the texts in a stream of consciousness style, apparently charting the impressions and emotions of moments with her life partner. But am I giving too much away? Does this count? The texts come from her piece, âA Lyrical Opera Made By Two (To be Sung)â.
Dusapain and director Sjaron Minailo skip the anecdotal and put the piece on a higher plane. How would you stage lines such as, âYes, yes, the address. Dress, dress in a press, press, press and caress, caress, caress. In express, express, express with a stress, a stress of an aptness to kindle and confess that she will be called a progress from which it is called farm and waving it alight. Alight, which is it. She makes it do. Do, do, be my own one, do, do, do, do, doâŚâ
Despite the apparent abandon of the text, everything about this piece feels studied, almost painfully so. Minailo, known for his experimental work, has created a vast open feel, dominated by a large monumental centrepiece. The chamber orchestra is off to the side. Three plus one characters amble about the stage, three in white gowns seemingly dragging parachute packs. A fourth dances occasionally.
The staging and movements around the stage look deeply symbolic. We were supposed to fill in the gaps, interpreting it in ways that are appropriate to our frames of reference. To a degree, this is what happens in many operas anyway. The combination of music, acting, sets and lighting can be significant in different way to different people in the same hall.
But inevitably it again begs â sorry to come back to it â the question of meaning. On the one hand, what does âBe Bop a Lulaâ mean? The words help, but the emotional impact owes more to the singing than a literal reading of the lyrics. What does the last section of Richard Straussâ âDaphneâ mean? The long instrumental is punctuated by vocal trills. Is there a âmeaningâ?
Yet both examples come with a context and structure that bring a clear emotional baggage. This was not Minailo or Dupasinâs intention with âTo be Sungâ, who both focus on creating a soundscape with voices. The aloofness was further increased by a male voice reciting parts of the text in a flat voice, pretty much randomly.
The result? I was completely detached from the piece at all times, left to admire the acoustics of the Flagey hall and conductor Bassem Akikiâs careful work with the musicians and singers (Marison Montalvo, Allison Cook and Judith Gauthier). Yet just as âTo be Sungâ is not about narrative, nor is it about individuals. The three sopranos are so close in tone as to be almost indistinguishable.
So I left the hall pondering all these things. My personal takeways? Stream of consciousness does not necessarily mean random, and it most certainly does not mean devoid of emotion. It seems like a strange exercise to clinically remove the personal aspects from what is already such a challenging piece.
To be complete, a more literal version of âA Lyrical Opera Made By Two (To be Sung)â was produced in the US in a tone closer to a musical, with music by William Turner.
news 
The AB/Ancienne Belgique venue has just celebrated its 35th anniversary, and released a book written by journalist Johan Ral. It’s a beautiful account, starting with the former variety hall and running through the decades with sensational photos and anecdotes. Just about every major performer from the 70s onwards has appeared there at some stage, and the book includes accounts from Wilco, Jools Holland and others.
Ral contacted me as he noticed something odd in the hall’s 1979 agenda: a band called the Mad Virgins with Lio. He knew the Mad Virgins – a former punk band that was trying to go pop (with yours truly on vocals). But Lio? Was this true? What was the bubble-gum singer of “Banana Split” doing in a line-up that included Antwerp’s Ăźber punks The Kids?
At the time, Lio was the girlfriend of our friend Claude Milan (who had released the Mad Virgin’s first single on the Romantik label before I was involved) and was already having a hit with “Banana Split”. By then, we felt punk had pretty much run its course in terms of trying to shock the audience, so we thought it would be much more fun to spice things up and catch peoples’ attention in another way.
So we borrowed some white tuxedos and our guest for the night was – drumroll – Lio. She appeared in snappy black and white clothes with a cute ponytail and we played a rock version of “Banana Split”. It was like something out of a corny college movie. The fans of punk band The Kids down the front immediately started gobbing madly and shouting “A poil” (get yer clothes off).
Lio, being a good sport, thought the whole thing was hilarious (which it was – but I’m not sure most singers would appreciate that kind of welcome these days). It was actually the first time she had ever appeared on a stage with musicians. It turns out that Lio has balls. She probably needed them to later become such a well-known singer and actress in the French-speaking world.
We later played the opening acts for Madness and Adam & The Ants at the AB. The Madness show was great. The audience was so wired up for some fun that we could have de-tuned the guitars and they still would have been hopping around the hall.
For more about the Ancienne Belgique book see Ancienne Belgique. Een muzikale geschiedenis (in Dutch)
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In another weird case of over-reaction, a man in the US has been in prison for no less than 8 days after posting the lyrics to an Exodus song to his Facebook profile. Exodus are an extreme thrash metal band, known for being provocative. But when 31 year-old James Evans posted some of the lyrics to the song âClass Dismissed (A Hate Primer)â, alarm bells apparently went off.
To be fair, the lyrics are gruesome: “Student bodies lying dead in the halls, a blood splattered treatise of hate / Class dismissed is my hypothesis, gun fire ends in debate.”
Evans was arrested for making a “terroristic threat” against a school and its staff (although it might be worth pointing out that “terroristic” is not even a word in the English language).
The group themselves had this to say: âThe idea that an individual in this great country of ours could be arrested for simply posting lyrics to a song is something I never believed could happen in a free society,â states guitarist Gary Holt. âJames Evans was simply posting lyrics to a band he likes on Facebook, and he was locked up for it.”
While that is undoubtedly the case, aren’t the lyrics over the top? “The song âClass Dismissed (A Hate Primer)â was written as a view through the eyes of a madman and in no way endorses that kind of fucked up behavior,” he says. ‘It was the Virginia Tech massacre perpetrated by Seung-Hui Cho that was the subject and inspiration to write the song, one in which we put the brakes on playing it live after the Sandy Hook shooting, as we did not want to seem insensitive.â
My take: given the number of school killings in the US, you can’t knock the police for keeping an eye on individuals that might be preparing something. But there’s a very big jump between that and making the posting of lyrics a criminal offence (“terroristic”, no less) and detaining someone for eight days. A little more common sense might have been in order.
On October 29, Evans’ charges were finally dismissed by a Kentucky court. Luckily, common sense prevailed. Evens, after all, was risking 10 years in jail!
More about Exodus
news 
Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis remains one of the most enigmatic figures of rock. The band’s songs were a reflection of Manchester in the late seventies and a foil for Ian Curtisâ troubled personality, as he battled depression, epilepsy and debilitating stage fright. Curtis committed suicide in 1980, on the eve of the bandâs first American tour.
“So This is Permanence” is a collection of three of Curtis’ notebooks, containing lyrics, some prose and notes. They give an idea of his approach and underscore the heavy longing that was a trademark of much of his writing.
Jon Savage, who edited the book, says that there are few revelations as such. The prose writing, however, indicated Curtis’ taste for dystopian science fiction.
Interspersed with the lyrics are previously unpublished facsimile pages of Ian’s notebooks, which throw his highly emotive lyrics into fascinating relief and cast light on the creative process of this singularly poetic songwriter.
“So This is Permanence” is published by Faber & Faber.
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SEE UPDATE BELOW Book publisher Faber and Faber is about to release âLit Up Insideâ, a collection of legendary Belfast artist Van Morrison’s song lyrics. The book has actually been edited by the singer Morrison himself and Eamonn Hughes.
“The lyrics in this book span 50 years of writing and as such are representative of my creative journey,” Morrison told the Belfast Telegraph.
“Van Morrison is a colossally important, inspiring and influential figure in the music world,â according to Lee Brackstone, creative director of the Faber Social imprint. âHis place as one of a handful of truly iconic 20th century artists is secure.â Publication of âLit Up Insideâ reminds us of his place in a broader seam of Irish creativity; the collective consciousness of his literary forbears, the likes of WB Yeats, William Blake, Patrick Kavanagh and Robbie Burns. Although which lyrics will be included has not been announced, it’s likely that they will include âCleaning Windowsâ, âMoondanceâ, âIn The Yardâ and âBrown Eyed Girlâ.
Morrison has been the subject of several books already, including “A Sense of Wonder”, “Too Late to Stop Now” and “Can You Feel the Silence”.
Collectors might also be interested in the re-release of Van Morrison’s “The Complete Bang Sessions“. The songs are pretty well known, of course. But this edition comes as a double LP, with lots of bells and whistles (including FLAC downloads). Get all the details here.
On November 17 2014, Van Morrison will be at Shaftesbury Avenueâs Lyric Theatre, for one night only Van to read, discuss and perform his work in celebration of the launch of his lyrics book, ‘Lit Up Inside: The Selected Lyrics of Van Morrison’. He will be joined by Eamonn Hughes, Michael Longley, Ian Rankin, Edna OâBrien and others. Tickets are on sale at 9am on July 25. Morrison has other concerts lined up outside of this event.