Beck & Shakespeare

uit het magistrale Sea Change

Sea-change or seachange is a poetic or informal term meaning a gradual transformation in which the form is retained but the substance is replaced. The expression is Shakespeare's, taken from the song in The Tempest, when Ariel sings,

Full fathom five thy father lies,
Of his bones are coral made,
Those are pearls that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change,
into something rich and strange,
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell,
Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them, ding-dong, bell.

Italia anno 2010

Duomo Pisa


Duomo Siena


Duomo Orvieto

Juan de la Cruz (1542-1591)

Las condiciones del pájaro solitario son cinco.
La primera, que se va lo más alto;
la segunda, que no sufre compañía, aunque sea de su naturaleza;
la tercera, que pone el pico al aire;
la cuarta, que no tiene determinado color;
la quinta, que canta suavemente.

The conditions of a solitary bird are five:
First, that it flies to the highest point.
Second, that it does not seek after company, not even its own kind.
Third, that it aims its beak to the wind.
Fourth, that it has no definite color.
Fifth, that it sings very sweetly.

Nick Cave - The mercy seat

Niet de oerkracht van de plaatversie, wel hetzelfde spanningsveld. Puik werk ook van de mij onbekende bassist. Ik hou van de oudtestamentische beeldspraak en declamerend-bezwerende toon en van Cave's onverstoorde blik op het eind.
Dit komt uit de tv-show Night Music, de Amerikaanse Later with Jools. Check out de Hey Joe-cover uit dezelfde show met o.a. Charlie Haden, Toots Thielemans en Cave.

Still uit Das weisse Band (Michael Haneke)