Music For The End Of The World Part 14: "Cascade" by Peter Murphy

https://www.petermurphy.info/

The Poetry of Rock n' Roll: "Socrates The Python"

To observe National Poetry Month, once a week I am featuring lyrics of rock n' roll or pop songs that also double as exquisite poetry.

For our second installment of The Poetry of Rock n' Roll, let's examine the lyrics to a song by Peter Murphy, Godfather of Goth, singer-songwriter, and former frontman for legendary group Bauhaus. "Socrates The Python" is not about a snake, but about the issues of our age stemming from a disconnect with the spirit. But not an abstract spirit...a spirit that asks us to be involved, a spirit that offers knowledge and not blind belief as a way to enlightenment. It's a profound idea...one where he name checks the mystic and philosopher Gurdjieff along with one of Gurdjieff's disciples J.G. Bennett in a sort of incantation, pitting the idea of self-discovery and self exploration against the head-in-the-sand perspective of much of organized religions.

Socrates The Python

by Peter Murphy

Today
Your problems are not
Of blind belief
That is or means
Belief ain't enough, belief ain't enough
The oracle of your age
Point towards the word
Psychological

You may freeze
You may fear
You may wince
And not hear
You can sick at the heart
When I say
"God is one"
Does God the word
Make you reel
And I mean, real

But it isn't God the father son or holy one,
But the key to your age
Get it together, and listen
With all the books
On the shelf
All the wisdom
With all the books
On the shelf
All the wisdom

Socrates, Pythagoras
Yin and bloody Yang
Hatha Yoga, Omm
Bennett, Gurdjieff, Jesus
Old Testament and New
Libraries full of keys
Libraries full of keys
Where's your lock?

Socrates Pythagoras
Yin and bloody Yang
Hatha Yoga, Omm
Bennett, Gurdjieff, Jesus
Old Testament and New
Libraries full of keys
Libraries full of keys

Bennett, Gurdjieff, Jesus
Bennett, Gurdjieff, Jesus

https://www.petermurphy.info/

Happy National Poetry Month 2023!

April is National Poetry Month, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets since 1996. And this year marks the celebration's 27th anniversary! Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry’s vital place in our culture.

How to celebrate?

- Read your favorite poet again.
- Read some new poetry.
- Find a new favorite poet.
- Write some poetry.
- Leave poems for people to find in public places.
- Read poetry out loud to family and friends.
- Dream a poem.

Throughout April, I'll be posting poems, some by me, some by others, as well as a series of lyrics to popular songs that double as exquisite poetry.

And this year, Poem in Your Pocket Day is April 27th! Every April, on Poem in Your Pocket Day, people celebrate by selecting a poem, carrying it with them, and sharing it with others throughout the day at schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, and on Twitter using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

Poem in Your Pocket Day was originally initiated in 2002 by the Office of the Mayor, in partnership with the New York City Departments of Cultural Affairs and Education, as part of the city’s National Poetry Month celebration. In 2008, the Academy of American Poets took the initiative to all fifty United States, encouraging individuals around the country to join in and channel their inner bard. In 2016, the League of Canadian Poets extended Poem in Your Pocket Day to Canada.

Happy National Poetry Month!

To kick off the month, here is a lovely section from "Things To Remember" by Peter Murphy, about the power of poetry.

Things to remember when writing figures of speech and sound:
The power of poetry comes from the ability to defy logic.
Defy logic often.
Use a metaphor and tell us that your lover is the sky.
Tell us that your lover is the sky.
When you do that,
we won't believe you.
We won't believe you.
Because saying so makes no sense.
But we'll see a meaning.
We'll see a meaning.

https://poets.org/
https://www.petermurphy.info/

"Cascade" by Peter Murphy

I really love the 1995 Peter Murphy album "Cascade"--after his prior albums "Love Hysteria" (1988) with the amazing track "Indigo Eyes", and "Deep" (1989) that featured the even more amazing tracks "Crystal Wrists" and "Cuts You Up" (as well as the incredible sleeper track "Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem"), it seemed that the former Bauhaus lead signer could not top himself but then here is "Cascade." Both lyrics and music deepened on this collection of mood songs. All tracks are marvelous but it is the closing track, "Cascade" with Murphy's otherworldly harmonies that seems to encapsulate the experience of the whole mystical creation.

We have no image
We're just called the good friends
We call the madmen back
As they fly to the ant hills

We never know, we never know
We sleep in satin nights
Throwing energy like bluebirds
In twilight

We call to stillness
As we kiss the water king's hand
We hear the one same name
As the darker the land gets

We never know, we never know
We're fueling for the light
Cascading like the rain
In twilight

Waiting for you, you look so close, we walk
A thousand stairs
Aching for your hand, our love a distant
Voice, we have no image we are light

We are not asking
No favors from the dead
We wash with moonlit hands
On the shores of our island

We never know, we never know
We sleep in satin nights
Throwing energy in silver curves
In twilight

Peter Murphy with Bauhaus, May 2022--Photo by Steve Rapport

https://www.petermurphy.info/

Currently listening to...

...the darkly hypnotic "Zikir" by Bauhaus, with vocals by the great Peter Murphy, Godfather of Goth. Exotic, ominous, and delicious...

Vagrant held my master's secret art
Oh, look at you

Loves me, loves me not
Loves me, loves me not
Loves me, loves me not

http://www.bauhausmusik.com/

The Pleasure of Peter's Company

I had the honor of being in the presence of the great Peter Murphy last night; he was in the pioneering, seminal Goth band Bauhaus and has had a remarkable solo career after Bauhaus disbanded (for the first of several times) in 1983. Murphy is currently on tour in the US to support a new release out in June.

I must say that I snapped up tickets to this show to right an old imbalance. Many, many years ago, when I worked at a record store here in the Bay Area, a coworker said to me one evening in 1982, "I'm going to see Bauhaus at the Berkeley Stone for $7. D'yawanna go?" I had to work a later shift and thought driving to Berkeley after a long day seemed unexciting... and I said no. IDIOT. It is one of the few small regrets I have harbored over the years. So when I read that Peter Murphy was coming to town, I thought now was the time to make a full circle and close that open ticket. And I am thrilled to have made the right decision this time.

It was one of the more unexpected concerts I have ever been to--and I've been to a LOT of concerts--for a variety of reasons. He opened the show with a chilling, ominous version of "Zikir," a song from the final Bauhaus release of 2008 titled "Go Away White," in which he drones, "Loves me...loves me not." In fact, the first half of the evening was pretty chilling and ferocious and happily included several Bauhaus songs such as the brittle, skewed "Silent Hedges," and the jagged, shrieking "Stigmata Martyr." And much to my surprise, and without any warning, he managed to weave the Bauhaus classic "Bela Lugosi's Dead" into a rendition of one of his solo songs!
The second half of the evening featured more of his solo work which tends to be a little more poppy and accessible as well as reflecting his interest in metaphysics, spirituality and Sufism (he is a practicing Sufi and has lived in Turkey for the last twenty years). He and his band performed his biggest hit "Cuts You Up" as well as "Disappearing," "Subway," "I'll Fall With Your Knife," "Marlene Dietrich's Favorite Poem," and "All Night Long" in which he spoke the French sample from the Cocteau film "La Belle et la Bête" in lieu of actually playing it! He also gave a nod to his friend and past co-performer Trent Reznor by covering the Nine Inch Nails classic "Hurt" (which, as many of you may recall, was also covered by Johnny Cash just before his death!).

But the true unexpected part of the evening came with the banter and stories in between songs. Since this was my first time seeing Murphy in concert, I was not prepared for how simply chatty he is! The creepy theatricality and musical momentum were brought to a standstill several times as the show morphed into a confessional/ stand-up comedy/ spoken word performance. At first he joked, “Surprise, we’re not going to play any more songs, I’m just going to talk for another hour,” which would have been fine with us since his chatter was so amusing and entertaining. By his own tongue-in-cheek admission, he apparently is a shy British Catholic who only wants to be loved and held! By turns silly, joking and dry and then disarmingly honest and sincere, he said he still gets blown away when he sees people mouthing the words to one of his songs while he sings: "Wow, someone else knows my song! Cool!" Several times, he expressed tremendous gratitude for his fans and for being able to do what he loves doing. Far from being the de rigeur "thank you" from a "rock star" to his audience, his expressions of gratitude were actually quite touching and intimate.

It was a marvelous evening all around, one I will not forget; you can see two pictures from my inadequate camera phone below.

Below is the 1988 video for his hit "All Night Long" in which the aforementioned Cocteau sample occurs. The visual style of the video is an homage to the Cocteau film as well...

And here is the beautiful and highly stylized iconic opening credits of "The Hunger" starring Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie. Bauahus was the group playing "Bela Lugoi's Dead" in the nightclub while vampires Bowie and Deneuve picked their victims for the evening. Peter Murphy performs the song to within an inch of its life... simply incredible.

http://www.petermurphy.info/
http://www.bauhausmusik.com/