Fluxblog Weekly #139: Sun Ra, Judee Sill, Bob Dylan, Everything Is Recorded, Belle & Sebastian
December 21st, 2017
To Vision The Future
Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra “Somebody Else’s World”
“Somebody Else’s World” is a message of hope and defiance written and recorded in 1969, a time as chaotic and scary as the one we’re living in right now. The lyrics, penned by Sun Ra and sung by June Tyson, are a refusal to believe in either a pessimistic outlook on the future or a vision of reality created by oppressive forces.
“Somebody else’s idea of somebody else’s world is not my idea of things as they are / somebody else’s idea of things to come need not be the only way to vision the future”
This song has been on my mind for over a year now, since after the election. The message of the song is incredibly resonant for me, and I believe this idea is important to hold on to when so many people on either side of the political divide seem incredibly invested in a bleak narrative that assumes the worst of the future. And of course, it’s easier to believe that the future’s been canceled, and we’re all powerless. It’s easier to buy into a story of doom when you have no imagination to see the potential for something else. It takes courage to tell other people that their vision of the future is not a fait accompli, and that we have better things in mind.
The music of “Somebody Else’s World” feels shaky and unstable, as though it could collapse at any moment. But despite that, June Tyson sings the words with great focus and conviction. She doesn’t sound angry. It’s more like someone standing their ground and stating a truth. It’s a correction, and a challenge. It’s a song of strength and dignity, and something I think we all need today.
Buy it from Amazon.
December 22nd, 2017
A Bandit And A Heartbreaker
Judee Sill “Jesus Was A Cross Maker”
“Jesus Was A Cross Maker” is an incredibly elegant bit of songwriting, with a gorgeous melody that rolls out gently over an arrangement that borrows from folk, gospel, and classical music without neatly fitting into any of those categories. The song has been covered many times over, and it’s funny to me how the most notable versions I’ve heard have trouble capturing the simple grace of Judee Sill’s original – Cass Elliot, The Hollies, and Warren Zevon all mess with the structure and lightly mangle the melody to highlight their particular vocal styles, while Frida Hyvönen‘s is faithful to the melody but pushes into a softer, sentimental tone that sacrifices the sober, clear-eyed quality that makes the Sill recordings so compelling.
There’s a lot of emotion in the song, but it’s presented in hindsight, with Sill reflecting on depression and an abusive relationship. The key feeling here is regret, but it’s more about a larger self-destructive tendency than anything in particular – she seems to be putting less blame on this guy, and more on herself for being so easily seduced. The “Jesus was a cross maker” line is brilliant, particularly in how she draws a comparison from this irony to her complicity in her own misery. Was Christ aware that he was building the very thing that would be used to execute him? Did it ever cross his mind that he could end up on one of these things as he made them? Sill has said that she wrote this song while entertaining thoughts of suicide, and died of a drug overdose eight years later. She seemed very aware of the cross she was making for herself.
Buy it from Amazon.
December 11th, 2017
The Moon Is In My Eye
Bob Dylan “Soon After Midnight”
I saw Bob Dylan live for the first time on the night before Thanksgiving. It was just one of those things where I knew I had to see him at least once, and the opportunity came up. I’m glad I did, it was as good as a show can be while also not quite being the thing I’d ideally want it to be. I did my research and knew exactly what I was getting into, so I couldn’t be disappointed that he no longer plays guitar, his voice is shot, and while he’ll play “Tangled Up In Blue,” it won’t really sound like “Tangled Up In Blue.” I don’t mean to damn with faint praise here: It’s a show that finds its own unique path to being good and fulfilling that doesn’t have a lot to do with familiarity.
I got to know the newer songs in Dylan’s set in advance of the show, and in doing that, fell in love with “Soon After Midnight” from his 2012 record Tempest. It’s a gentle ballad with touches of doo-wop and country music, and sounds like a scene lit with Hollywood moonlight. It starts off rather romantic – “I’m searching for phrases to sing your praises / I need to tell someone” – but as the song moves along, his words become increasingly sinister. I didn’t notice this at first. It’s so easy to get caught up in the enchanting effect of this song that even a phrase like “they’re lying there dying in their blood” seems lovely in context. The irony is intentional, of course: Dylan’s selling the earnest sentimentality and soft side of a brutal man. So even if it’s preceded by a cruel and dismissive line, the concluding phrase “it’s soon after midnight and I don’t want nobody but you” still comes off as a moment of genuine tenderness.
Buy it from Amazon.
December 12th, 2017
Something More Than Hurt
Everything Is Recorded featuring Sampha “Close But Not Quite”
Richard Russell has explained that the origin of this song came from hearing Sampha’s record and hearing some of Curtis Mayfield in his voice, and I suppose, wanting to put both men on the same track as a sort of posthumous duet. The contrast is subtle – they have similar timbres and both sing with a great deal of vulnerability – but Sampha’s voice has a fragility and touch of insecurity that accentuates Mayfield’s serene confidence. The shift into the sample of Mayfield’s “The Makings of You” is a beautiful moment in the track, with the delicate uncertainty of Russell’s arrangement and Sampha’s vocal giving way to a kind of gentle strength and emotional focus. Mayfield is the one singing about not having the words to express some powerful feeling, but on this track, nearly 50 years after he recorded “The Makings of You,” someone else has found their words through him.
Buy it from Amazon.
December 14th, 2017
I See You Endlessly
Belle & Sebastian “Sweet Dew Lee”
It’s kinda remarkable how well Belle & Sebastian have integrated late ’70s disco moves into their repertoire through perseverance and dedication over the past 20 years. It’s there from the beginning of their career on “Electronic Renaissance,” but they cracked the code on “Your Cover’s Blown” back in the early ’00s. “Sweet Dew Lee” is like a sequel of sorts to that song – it’s drawing on the same analog synth aesthetics and has a similarly rambling and unusual structure. But whereas “Your Cover’s Blown” shifted between moody disco and agitated punk sections, “Sweet Dew Lee” stays in a sunny, groovy “everybody-wearing-liesure-suits-and-really-committing-to-the-vibe” lane. I prefer the tension of the earlier song, but greatly appreciate the generous cheesiness of this new tune, and the way the song contrasts a sweet, starry-eyed Stevie Jackson with a more bitter and pessimistic vocal by Stuart Murdoch.
Buy it from Amazon.