Billy’s Music Without Borders is all about music including reviews of albums, interviews of composers, songwriters, and musicians, and discussions about music.
Perhaps the Welch church organist John Cale might have written an album of prayers to God for HOPE. God can perform miracles when things are bad. Things are bad.
Anger has been a staple of John Cale's creative life. He has made friends with it, and smiles when he says it gives him the freedom to create. The man is 80 and he was at the core of the proto-punk hip art street scene.
He was a Classically trained budding composer who hit the streets hard with an avant garde La Monte Young drone and fire … FIRE in his belly.
"I think anger is a very good point to start and if the
anger runs out the sarcasm will work and then
downright rudeness and then straight on to brutality."
But this current hatred in the news this decade isn’t that energetic anger and the fire in the belly. This culture has slipped into the darkness of a climate of murder as a means to find acceptance. There is a climate of doubt and fear pervading in this world. A “party” of people has adopted ignorance and hatred as a source of fuel. Mass murder has become a commonplace. We need a new voice to cut through the fog in this War of Hate. We need a new vision, because people are perishing. Without a dream, people get killed in shopping markets, schools, theaters, churches, synagogues and amateur baseball games.
Cale stopped making sense long ago as a defiant act of art in the face of a rigid, frigid, and f?#”ked up proto-fascist hate-based divided culture. These Mercy songs reflect his deeper understanding of the deeper message contained in contradiction as perhaps the only possible response to this level of collective pain.
Sometimes I wish I wrote more songs, I don't write anywhere outside the studio. That's where it always gets done – going blindly into something. To me that's always been important. To go blindly into it.
—John Cale
We are killing ourselves at a higher rate than war in the United States and United Kingdom and the European Union and the whole damn world. Each mass shooting, every murder, is a domestic dispute in our family, "The Family of Mankind." John Cale, the former Welch church organist, has chosen to provoke hearts with the shock therapy of images, contradictions, nonsense, and the articulate 80-year-old sweet tenor howl of a human animal who has had enough, and felt too much to be silent any longer. His is a cry to the collective hatred and that is a humanist prayer to the enemies among us, and the enmity within us.
John Cale and all of us post-punk hipsters taught the world how to live without a God, so now when we pray, we pray to the forces of evil in the eyes of our neighbors who have pointed their M-16s or AK-47s at children to kill the future before it can grow. We pray for mercy. We pray for mercy for our brothers and sisters. We pray for mercy. Please. No more. Give us back a future, right now!
Lift me up! Lift me up!
Mercy. Mercy once again.
John Cale’s high tenor voice chimes in big several times in this album. His voice is a bell. He sings “Lift me up!” He sings, “Have mercy on me.” You don’t have to ask for whom that bell tolls. I sing the body eclectic. We chime together or we hang separately. Join together to sing with Cale like a bell of warning, or a bell of mourning. When John Cale’s voice soars above the meaning of the song a little louder than everything else, we all join in and become that bell.
Vocals, Synth [Synths], Piano, Drums, Bass – John Cale
I'm looking for mercy, more and more
Colder, colder, colder, cold
Lives do matter
Lives don't matter
Nothing, nothing at all
John Cale sings, "Please have mercy." Images come to mind of shootings, hateful protest, times we live in, but not okay, not okay. It hurts. "Days and days were spent in anger." The words build a dark collage. Slow and dark. Echoing like the subconscious does in movies. It gets sad, but at the bottom there is a plaintive cry: "Lift me up, lift me up."Those words ring out like the cry is coming from inside. It is a chorus of a plea. That plea might as well have come from me. I needed it too. The fitting end: "Mercy, mercy one more time."
Vocals, Synth [Synths], Piano, Drums, Noises – John Cale
I never did see, never did see, much Always, always Beauty, elsewhere Elsewhere, elsewhere Seven times seven and forty-nine The cube of nine seven three Seven times seven and forty-nine The cube of nine seven three
The most famous legs on earth. By actual count. Whatever that can mean after her untimely death. I don’t know what the numbers in this song mean. But when I was a small boy the first measurements I ever learned were 36 24 36: Marilyn Monroe’s measurements. She was not a commodity. She was beautiful. But I was a young boy in a Pentecostal family in California going to church three times a week and I knew those numbers. Go figure. Her legs were famous and beautiful. She was lonely, but I didn’t know that as a boy.
Synth [Synths], Vocals, Keyboards [Vintage Keys], Drums – John Cale
Viola – Caroline Buckman, Leah Katz, Rodney Wirtz
Violin – Daphne Chen, Eric Gorfain, Jenny Takamatsu, Marissa Kuney*
Noise of you. Yup, it's a love song.
When I started sketching this song, it was all about the atmosphere.
It made me recall wintertime in Prague.
Once the instrumentation came together,
it felt like something I wanted to hear on a 1960s A.M. radio
About a guy trying to get the love of his life back.
Yup, it's a love song.
When does love start, and when does love END?
The words above are spoken on the video, and not included in the lyrics to the song. The video is above, and you will see it features pictures of Cale over the decades. The song is as stated a love song, but the video makes it more. It is about making a song as well, as the narration begins with that statement about the creation of the song. The words of the narration are printed to the screen in the video. The song takes two roads and the music fits both. The reverberated Cale is one voice in this song, and just like "Mercy" a clarion call of a doubled voice blasts like a chorus of trumpets. The song does all those things, and it would diminish the song and video to reduce the meaning of the song to one thing. Sometimes the closer you look the less you see. If I sit back and blur my eyes a bit, this song and video are about the love song of John Cale's career in music. The lyrics of the song (not written here but linked above) could be taken as the longing for a missing lover, much like Janis Ian's song "Jesse" ("there's a hole in the bed," etc.). The narration picks up again at the end of the video, and here I feel Cale is telling me (and all of us) that he is passing the baton out of love to US to move into the future. A song means what it means to me. And it will mean what it means to you. But I believe John Cale wants "to be the one to hand you the future starting now."
When does love start? Even when you are thousands of miles away, you can hear their heart beat.
I want to hear your footsteps
in the dark
This is all a love affair.
Don't forget
I want to be the one to make you dance
Even if I make you cry
I want to be the one to fill your heart with joy
I want to be the one to hand you the future starting now
Violin – Daphne Chen, Eric Gorfain, Jenny Takamatsu, Marissa Kuney*
Vocals, Piano, Drums, Bass – John Cale
It's the color of midnight where we lie
Sinking in the sand
Watching the rain come pouring down
On the other side of life
Swing your soul, swing your soul
It moves all around
It moves all around, brings you down
It moves all around, wakes you in the morning
This is the story, the story of blood
Is that a spooky video or what? There sure is a lot of red on that screen, and skulls, and baptisms. I believe these songs are stories meant to include the images of the video, much like Bowie's last album cannot be understood without the videos. I think Cale is making art here, but that doesn't mean making sense. Whatever Cale is up to, the part on the video when he does a cracked version of scratching with the record, well, that is just inspired including his delighted half smile at the end of it. Just great! Swing your soul! I don't see that catching on. But it is cool!
Synthesizer [Swarmatron], Vocals, Keyboards [Vintage], Drums, Bass – John Cale
Vocals – Amelia Meath
The Grandeur that was Europe
Is sinking in the mud
The savagery that was the Church of God
Has already joined the club
The melody that was language
Was the hook that caught the fish
Did you realize how late it was
Later than you think
I have set out nearly the entire lyric, because this verse contrasts quite different statements and the meaning can be found in the contrast. In my own experience, I have felt a depressing downward tug at my heart while watching the news, and the best antidote is always something in nature. Cale's two-lines following sum that up nicely.
The roses in the garden are growing in the rain
Competing with the poppy for the sun
Then returning to the state of society, things look bleak.
I don't want to hear about heartache or dancing in the snow We've all been there, so many times before
I guess I'm rather self-destructive, and I like to give
other people who are self-destructive a song to sing.
Violin – Daphne Chen, Eric Gorfain, Jenny Takamatsu, Marissa Kuney*
Vocals, Keyboards [Keys], Bass – John Cale
Quote
Nico is beautiful. Nico takes heroine. John Cale produced some albums she did and they were disturbing and good.
You’re a moonstruck junkie lady staring at your feet breathing words into an envelope to be opened on your death.
He must know her very well. He must be the kind of friend who can say these things and not get sued. Still it is shocking, isn’t it?
So afraid of your own shadow following close behind.
This isn’t a Taylor Swift kiss off song. This is maybe more of an intervention. I don’t know. John Cale has done Nico a lot of good, and they are close, so I will let her respond to this song as she chooses. Christa Päffgen was born on October 16, 1938. She died on July 18, 1988. Nobody told me. Ah well. Christa’s stage name was Nico. So. I’m not gonna say what John Cale should say about his dead friend Nico or Christa. Christa died. Maybe Nico is still with us. You know how that goes. Memories and such. She was a moonstruck junkie lady. I think John loved her.
7. EVERLASTING DAYS feat. Animal Collective [Lyrics]
Cello – Matt Fish (2)
Double Bass – Ian Walker
Drums [Acoustic & Electronic] – Deantoni Parks
Featuring – Animal Collective
Mixed By – Justin Raisen
Noises – Dustin Boyer
Synth [Synths] – Brian Weitz
Viola – Caroline Buckman, Leah Katz, Rodney Wirtz
Violin – Daphne Chen, Eric Gorfain, Jenny Takamatsu, Marissa Kuney*
Vocals – Dave Portner, Noah Lennox
Vocals, Keyboards [Keys], Piano, Bass, Drums – John Cale
Vocals, Synth [Synths], Piano, Drums, Bass – John Cale
I can't even tell when you're putting me on
We've played that game before (We've played that game)
I can't even tell when you're putting me on (I can't even tell)
We've played that game before (We've played that game)
Sounds so very cool. This is an opportunity, it seems, to go out dive hopping with David Bowie and John Cale. Ah yeah! There sure is a sense of repetition in this song. Like we have done this before. By the end of the video, we HAVE done this before. The animation repeats exactly. Been there. Done this. Been there again. Done this before.
Vocals, Synth [Synths], Piano, Drums, Bass – John Cale
With the camels standing senseless
From driving through the night
Not so strong and not so fearless
It's not the end of the world tonight
“Then I went back into the house and wrote, It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining,” writes Samuel Beckett. And yet I think about the night and the raining throughout chapter. Is it a sunny day? Can’t rule that out. Same here.
John sings that it is not the end of the world. But isn’t it? How does he know. There is a river traveling by carrying the hopes of many. River of hope flowing by. That doesn’t sound good. Gloomy. That is what the critics will say. So I am thinking that if I visit my buddy John, and we get to talking, and he breaks out with “It’s not the end of the wold tonight.” I think I might get tired all of a sudden and make an early exit. First make sure our buddy John isn’t contemplating anything.
That conversation isn’t going anywhere, but just shuffling off to the edge of Eternity.
10. THE LEGAL STATUS OF ICE feat. Fat White Family [Lyrics]
Backing Vocals, Drum Programming [Additional] – Nita Scott
Drums [Acoustic], Backing Vocals – Jack Everett
Featuring – Fat White Family*
Guitar, Backing Vocals – Adam J. Harmer*, Dustin Boyer
Keyboards [Juno], Backing Vocals – Nathan Saoudi
Mixed By – Justin Raisen
Vocals – Lias Saoudi
Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards [Keys], Bass, Drums – John Cale
What is the legal status of ice
Floats on the bottom very nice
Liquor in the bottom
I don't know
Pour that liquor, pour it out
Floating to the North Pole leaving tonight
Swimming in the North Sea under the ice
Floats on top with vanilla
What is the legal status of ice
What is the legal status of ice
I cheated on this one. John played this one live, and he introduced the song by saying that he wondered if a block of iceberg cut loose and moved below the equator, would that still be the property of Iceland? Best song I know about Maritime Law, to be honest. What does it mean for a block of ice to be the legal territory of one country and not another. Sounds like a hint at Stoic Cosmopolitanism, but that it probably just something I read about recently.
Vocals, Synth [Synths], Acoustic Guitar, Drums, Bass – John Cale
Oh boy! I know this one! Theodore Roethke cleverly said that whenever he was down the dumps, he simply looked at his contemporaries and he was forever encouraged. It is comforting when other “friends” falter, and when you have not. So that may be why John Cale sings about this “zero sum game” thing that we may not admit to, but might be participating in when we do a little charity, or give a little advice, or lend a hand in certain underhanded way. Ah well. Some of the joys of being human are darker than other joys.
Violin – Daphne Chen, Eric Gorfain, Jenny Takamatsu, Marissa Kuney*
Vocals, Piano, Strings [Additional] – John Cale
Quote
The closer! A piano number. Time is somewhat suspended for bad behavior. The benediction. Please stay in the cathedral as long as you like. Listen to the album again, if you want to. But when you leave, please please don’t go. Don’t go gentle into that good night. Don’t go out the window. Don’t check out. Don’t leave your body behind. Stick with the program. Just stay with me. Don’t die. You don’t know what may come next, and I will hold your hand. John Cale has always be the punk Vicar in my book. He is the punk father you can count on. He keeps it real, but he doesn’t choose death, and he sang about it, and he write a Classical score about it. So have a huge sarcastic angry attitude all you want, and God bless you for it, but stay. That close to the core makes you worth something. You can’t do all that attitude dancing when you are dead. We would miss your bad self.
If you jump out your window, I will break your fall.
I will hold you close and keep you calm wherever you decide to go.
Artwork – Abby Portner Graphic Design – Rob Carmichael (2) Mastered By – Mike Bozzi Producer – John Cale, Nita Scott Recorded By – Dustin Boyer Written-By, Arranged By [String Arrangements] – John Cale
Email:billymwb@gmail.com
Submissions accepted. Send a link, not a CD. Lyrics and artwork plus any information is appreciated. Access to artists for interviews encouraged.
Hi Billy! This is Paola, we met at Chedraui (P.E.) a couple of months ago. Just wanted to let you know that I did look for your blog that day and it's been on an open tab in my internet explorer haha. why you haven't written any more articles? I hope you're en joying yoga and the beach!
Hi Billy! This is Paola, we met at Chedraui (P.E.) a couple of months ago. Just wanted to let you know that I did look for your blog that day and it's been on an open tab in my internet explorer haha. why you haven't written any more articles? I hope you're en joying yoga and the beach!
ReplyDeleteI don’t have an email for you. Can you write me? I remember you. I was sick for a long time. I am back now. Billymwb@gmail.com
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