What are Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Scott Walker, Lee Hazlewood, Serge Gainsbourg, and Leonard Cohen talking about?
Surely there are more to this list, so please forgive me.....
"The Love Song must be born into the realm of the irrational, the absurd, the distracted, the melancholic, the obsessive, the insane, for the Love Song is the noise of love itself and love is, of course, a form of madness. Whether it be the love of God, or romantic, erotic love – these are manifestations of our need to be torn away from the rational, to take leave of our senses, so to speak. Love Songs come in many guises and are seemingly written for many reasons – as declarations or to wound – I have written songs for all of these reasons – but ultimately the Love Songs exist to fill, with language, the silence between ourselves and God, to decrease the distance between the temporal and the divine."
-Nick Cave-
JOHNNY CASH 1932 - 2003
Johnny Cash is the ancestor of modern country music. His dark and sometimes melancholic voice introduced a new singing technique. He is the front figure in the dark romantic movement with his three themes: Love, God and Murder. (Compare Dylan Thomas' Angel, Madman and Beast...)
Johnny Cash is an artist with social concerns. His most famous concerts were arranged at prisons. As long as there is evil in the world, Cash has promised to dress in black. The movie about his life will be released this year, I think. He sung Mercy Seat by Nick Cave on a cover album.
NICK CAVE
The Dark Romanticist of all times.
Since the early 80s, Nick Cave has been established as a musician and songwriter without any counterpart. After leaving his first band, The Birthday party, he began to work with the Bad Seeds.Cave blends religious mysticism and symbolism with tearful stories of lost love. Nick Cave describes human nature as both beautiful and ugly, suggesting that true love may lead to murder - and vice versa. Cave has managed to record twelve albums, from heavy rock n' roll to The Boatman´s call, which consists of pure ballads, which by the way is an album dedicated to P J Harvey. (I think).
On Nomore shall we part, Cave speaks of grotesque wonders as he opens his heart to a cruel world. On earlier albums he described the creatures that haunts a closed heart - according to me. Nomore shall he be alone, and that seems to be a sad fact.
Further on, the many-sided Nicholas Edward Cave has written a couple of lyricbooks, King Ink and King Ink II with lyrics and texts from Birthday Party to Boatman´s call. In the 80s he wrote the widely discussed novel The Ass saw the Angel (written in Berlin under three years, also available on CD). A novel not easily read, yet interesting. His language reminds of William Blake (Blake with his Laughing Song and Cave with his Weeping Song) and maybe Poe (see literature). Nick Cave read William Blake's poem Infant Sorrow on BBC. in 1994.
I strongly recommend his two lectures, The secret life of the love song and Flesh made word. In my opinion, these two texts are among the most beautiful ever written and I dare to say that they changed my life completely. Read more here. Cave catches a glimpse of the supernatural forces - God, love, literature, Jesus - but they always disappears, leaving us abandoned. Nick Cave has collaborated with many other artists, as for example Barry Adamson, Anita Lane, The Dirty Three and Mick Harvey. Further on, Nick Cave has made a wide range of covers - songs by Leonard Cohen, Serge Gainsbourg, Tom Jones and Marc Almond.
If you wish to listen to Nick Cave's inspirations , try The Original Bad Seeds. There are further on many bootlegs, of which Backside of the Cave shows another side of Nick Cave.
"Now I´ve been made weak by visions, many visions did I see all through the night..."
LEONARD COHEN
Leonard Cohen has been singing and writing poetry since the 60s. His spectacular voice is recognized all over the world. Cohens music has been through a lot of changes, from classic guitar to electronic tunes.
Cohen's relationship to God - central in all his songs and poems - is characterized by seeking and brooding. Less steam and more contemplation compared to Nick Cave.
Cohen lived a rather turbulent life, from bottles of red wine to a buddistic abbey in later years. I think he has restarted his writing career. A new album was released this year, Ten New Songs. I think the album was a disappointment. Gone is the dark romanticist. I prefer the early songs from the 60s and 70s. One of his earlier works, Book of Mercy, gives an interesting background to Cohens lyrics. Before he became a famous singer/songwriter he wrote some fascinating novels - Beautiful losers and The Favourite game.
"Everybody knows that the plague is coming
NICK DRAKE 1948 - 1974
Drake recorded a few extraordinary songs in the 60s and 70s. Five leaves left is the best album, according to me. Drakes had a fragile singingvoice. Strings and other classical instruments lifted his dark stories to stunning heights. Nick Drake is regarded as a musical genious that composed immortal music for centuries to come. Drake's songs can't easily be compared with other musicians, but still there is a dark romanticism that probably influenced many others. Nick Drake was a fragile person, according to his relatives in A skin to few - the documentary by Jeroen Berkven - "without the extra skin that protects." Moreover, Drakes mother, Molly Drake, was also a singer/songwriter.
SERGE GAINSBOURG 1928 - 1991
Gainsbourg, an early dark romanticist popular in the 60s and 70s, is today remembered for especially one song - Je T’aime...Moi Non Plus. A romantic duet with Gainsbourg's wife Jane Birkin. A song that actually was forbidden in many countries at the time. As the song turned into a huge success, it achieved acceptance. Groundbreaking.
Mick Harvey recorded his own version of the song. Gainsbourg and Birkin are replaced by Nick Cave and Anita Lane. Serge Gainsbourg was very creative under his lifetime and stayed up at night smoking and writing songs. La decadence is another masterpiece. Mabye Gainsbourg sung what his fellow countryman Baudelaire wrote. The both erased the border between romanticism and decadence.
Gainsbourgs bar-music and sometimes rather decadent lyrics was sensational in the 60s, as was his life, full of wimen and liquor. He is and was a national hero in France. He was regarded as an unusual talented artist, and at the same time he was extremely shy. In interviews he explained how important it was for a human being to hide behind somekind of shelter. Even though he proclaimed that everlasting love did not exist in his songs, everybody somehow knew what he really meant.
LEE HAZLEWOOD
Hazlewood is a country-singer that composed several wonderful songs in the 70s. The music reminds of Leonard Cohen - everyday observations instead of religious seeking.
Hazlewood recorded a wide range of duets, with Nancy Sinatra and Nina Lizell just to mention a couple. You can find these songs on the collection The cowboy and the ladies.
In 1970 he produced a movie in Gotland, Cowboy in Sweden. The soundtrack i a masterpiece - don't miss the sensitive cover of Vem kan segla. Hazlewood's sings about whisky abuse and constantly broken hearts. There are also many humoristic portraits. Melodious country. His Farewell tour is probably the last chance to see this legend.
"You won't find it on any map, but take a step in any direction and you're in Trouble".
JOY DIVISION
IAN CURTIS 1956 - 1980
Ian Curits was the singer in Joy Division, the real pioneer in music with gothic overtones. Joy Division has a unique sound, a kind of melancholic punk The music is colder than the theatrical gothic rock. Curtis dark voice was strongly style-forming at the time. Perhaps the only real dark romantic "icon". Joy Division was the starting point in a new wave - New Order and The Smiths.
TOM WAITS
In Coppolas Dracula you have probably seen Tom Wats as the man who eats flies. He also appears in movies like Down by law and Night on Earh. Waits remarkable whisky-voice can easily trigger an earthquake. Tom Waits is many-sided; his long career includes jazz, industrial, rock n' roll and some projects that can not easily be defined. His music is rough, yet sensitive. Rain Dogs is a melodious album - Downtown train is a Tom Waits song, better than Rod Stewart's awful version -
SCOTT WALKER
Scott Walker inspired dussins of musicians - David Bowie (striking similarities in singing voices) and Nick Cave. Walker composed music in the 60s and 70s. He returned to the scene in the 90s with an industrial experiment. In the early 60s he wrote song with Walker Brothers, with hits such as The sun aint gonna shine anymore. Shortly after he started a solo career. Walker's lyrics are pathetic. Walker was a perfectionist and his songs are sometimes perhaps a little too polished. I recommend the songs No sad songs for me and If you go away.
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Surely there are more to this list, so please forgive me.....
"The Love Song must be born into the realm of the irrational, the absurd, the distracted, the melancholic, the obsessive, the insane, for the Love Song is the noise of love itself and love is, of course, a form of madness. Whether it be the love of God, or romantic, erotic love – these are manifestations of our need to be torn away from the rational, to take leave of our senses, so to speak. Love Songs come in many guises and are seemingly written for many reasons – as declarations or to wound – I have written songs for all of these reasons – but ultimately the Love Songs exist to fill, with language, the silence between ourselves and God, to decrease the distance between the temporal and the divine."
-Nick Cave-
JOHNNY CASH 1932 - 2003
Johnny Cash is the ancestor of modern country music. His dark and sometimes melancholic voice introduced a new singing technique. He is the front figure in the dark romantic movement with his three themes: Love, God and Murder. (Compare Dylan Thomas' Angel, Madman and Beast...)
Johnny Cash is an artist with social concerns. His most famous concerts were arranged at prisons. As long as there is evil in the world, Cash has promised to dress in black. The movie about his life will be released this year, I think. He sung Mercy Seat by Nick Cave on a cover album.
NICK CAVE
The Dark Romanticist of all times.
Since the early 80s, Nick Cave has been established as a musician and songwriter without any counterpart. After leaving his first band, The Birthday party, he began to work with the Bad Seeds.Cave blends religious mysticism and symbolism with tearful stories of lost love. Nick Cave describes human nature as both beautiful and ugly, suggesting that true love may lead to murder - and vice versa. Cave has managed to record twelve albums, from heavy rock n' roll to The Boatman´s call, which consists of pure ballads, which by the way is an album dedicated to P J Harvey. (I think).
On Nomore shall we part, Cave speaks of grotesque wonders as he opens his heart to a cruel world. On earlier albums he described the creatures that haunts a closed heart - according to me. Nomore shall he be alone, and that seems to be a sad fact.
Further on, the many-sided Nicholas Edward Cave has written a couple of lyricbooks, King Ink and King Ink II with lyrics and texts from Birthday Party to Boatman´s call. In the 80s he wrote the widely discussed novel The Ass saw the Angel (written in Berlin under three years, also available on CD). A novel not easily read, yet interesting. His language reminds of William Blake (Blake with his Laughing Song and Cave with his Weeping Song) and maybe Poe (see literature). Nick Cave read William Blake's poem Infant Sorrow on BBC. in 1994.
I strongly recommend his two lectures, The secret life of the love song and Flesh made word. In my opinion, these two texts are among the most beautiful ever written and I dare to say that they changed my life completely. Read more here. Cave catches a glimpse of the supernatural forces - God, love, literature, Jesus - but they always disappears, leaving us abandoned. Nick Cave has collaborated with many other artists, as for example Barry Adamson, Anita Lane, The Dirty Three and Mick Harvey. Further on, Nick Cave has made a wide range of covers - songs by Leonard Cohen, Serge Gainsbourg, Tom Jones and Marc Almond.
If you wish to listen to Nick Cave's inspirations , try The Original Bad Seeds. There are further on many bootlegs, of which Backside of the Cave shows another side of Nick Cave.
"Now I´ve been made weak by visions, many visions did I see all through the night..."
LEONARD COHEN
Leonard Cohen has been singing and writing poetry since the 60s. His spectacular voice is recognized all over the world. Cohens music has been through a lot of changes, from classic guitar to electronic tunes.
Cohen's relationship to God - central in all his songs and poems - is characterized by seeking and brooding. Less steam and more contemplation compared to Nick Cave.
Cohen lived a rather turbulent life, from bottles of red wine to a buddistic abbey in later years. I think he has restarted his writing career. A new album was released this year, Ten New Songs. I think the album was a disappointment. Gone is the dark romanticist. I prefer the early songs from the 60s and 70s. One of his earlier works, Book of Mercy, gives an interesting background to Cohens lyrics. Before he became a famous singer/songwriter he wrote some fascinating novels - Beautiful losers and The Favourite game.
"Everybody knows that the plague is coming
NICK DRAKE 1948 - 1974
Drake recorded a few extraordinary songs in the 60s and 70s. Five leaves left is the best album, according to me. Drakes had a fragile singingvoice. Strings and other classical instruments lifted his dark stories to stunning heights. Nick Drake is regarded as a musical genious that composed immortal music for centuries to come. Drake's songs can't easily be compared with other musicians, but still there is a dark romanticism that probably influenced many others. Nick Drake was a fragile person, according to his relatives in A skin to few - the documentary by Jeroen Berkven - "without the extra skin that protects." Moreover, Drakes mother, Molly Drake, was also a singer/songwriter.
SERGE GAINSBOURG 1928 - 1991
Gainsbourg, an early dark romanticist popular in the 60s and 70s, is today remembered for especially one song - Je T’aime...Moi Non Plus. A romantic duet with Gainsbourg's wife Jane Birkin. A song that actually was forbidden in many countries at the time. As the song turned into a huge success, it achieved acceptance. Groundbreaking.
Mick Harvey recorded his own version of the song. Gainsbourg and Birkin are replaced by Nick Cave and Anita Lane. Serge Gainsbourg was very creative under his lifetime and stayed up at night smoking and writing songs. La decadence is another masterpiece. Mabye Gainsbourg sung what his fellow countryman Baudelaire wrote. The both erased the border between romanticism and decadence.
Gainsbourgs bar-music and sometimes rather decadent lyrics was sensational in the 60s, as was his life, full of wimen and liquor. He is and was a national hero in France. He was regarded as an unusual talented artist, and at the same time he was extremely shy. In interviews he explained how important it was for a human being to hide behind somekind of shelter. Even though he proclaimed that everlasting love did not exist in his songs, everybody somehow knew what he really meant.
LEE HAZLEWOOD
Hazlewood is a country-singer that composed several wonderful songs in the 70s. The music reminds of Leonard Cohen - everyday observations instead of religious seeking.
Hazlewood recorded a wide range of duets, with Nancy Sinatra and Nina Lizell just to mention a couple. You can find these songs on the collection The cowboy and the ladies.
In 1970 he produced a movie in Gotland, Cowboy in Sweden. The soundtrack i a masterpiece - don't miss the sensitive cover of Vem kan segla. Hazlewood's sings about whisky abuse and constantly broken hearts. There are also many humoristic portraits. Melodious country. His Farewell tour is probably the last chance to see this legend.
"You won't find it on any map, but take a step in any direction and you're in Trouble".
JOY DIVISION
IAN CURTIS 1956 - 1980
Ian Curits was the singer in Joy Division, the real pioneer in music with gothic overtones. Joy Division has a unique sound, a kind of melancholic punk The music is colder than the theatrical gothic rock. Curtis dark voice was strongly style-forming at the time. Perhaps the only real dark romantic "icon". Joy Division was the starting point in a new wave - New Order and The Smiths.
TOM WAITS
In Coppolas Dracula you have probably seen Tom Wats as the man who eats flies. He also appears in movies like Down by law and Night on Earh. Waits remarkable whisky-voice can easily trigger an earthquake. Tom Waits is many-sided; his long career includes jazz, industrial, rock n' roll and some projects that can not easily be defined. His music is rough, yet sensitive. Rain Dogs is a melodious album - Downtown train is a Tom Waits song, better than Rod Stewart's awful version -
SCOTT WALKER
Scott Walker inspired dussins of musicians - David Bowie (striking similarities in singing voices) and Nick Cave. Walker composed music in the 60s and 70s. He returned to the scene in the 90s with an industrial experiment. In the early 60s he wrote song with Walker Brothers, with hits such as The sun aint gonna shine anymore. Shortly after he started a solo career. Walker's lyrics are pathetic. Walker was a perfectionist and his songs are sometimes perhaps a little too polished. I recommend the songs No sad songs for me and If you go away.
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