More songs about space flights and bus rides (echoes on Eno‘s second lecture)
12. Januar 2025
Music For Airports 2/1 Apollo: Deep Blue Day My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts: Moonlight In Glory Cale / Eno: Cordoba „The Elderly Brothers“: Cerulean Blue
I know the stories how Discreet Music and Music for Airports grew out of special experiences of Brian, in the studio experimenting with tape speed and synchronisation – and on a freshly built airport on Cologne. By the way, I never stooped returbing to these two albums. But the big fun of the second lecture was what I didn‘t know. Here are some of these moments including some aspects of the song CORDOBA. Please listen to this one before continuing reading. What kinds of feelings you have when listening to Cordoba?This photo was taken at Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, August 1998, during my public talk with Brian. As you see, we sat quite relaxed there: this was the part with long drinks under an umbrella, and sharing our thoughts on some pieces we had brought along. Brian started with The Supremes.
One morning Brian was sitting in that new airport KÖLN / BONN the father of Florian from Kraftwerk once had built. Everything was impressive, the newness of every single element, the sunlight floating the spaces. But that German disco music?! In that space Brian found it slightly unnerving. He went to the bar, and asking for the music, someone told him something like this: „Oh, das ist unser Hans. Der bringt uns seine Kassetten von zuhause mit und dreht auf.“ Maybe, without Hans and his tape of German Disco Music (whatever that exactly was), Brian might never have composed Music For Airports. Sitting there, slightly impressed at first, then slightly bored by the music, he though about what kind od sounds he would want to listen to on airports. Music that should you make care less about your ego, your fears…. Thank you, Hans!
The time of John and Brian working on the album „Wrong Way Up“ was not easy. The thing with the lyrics, not easy, too. In a corner of the studio Brian read a book titled something like „Learning Spanish in 30 Days“. He found a list of phrases. They started to combine the phrases. Small changes. Repetitions. I always liked the song (as I liked the while album), for me the song with Cale‘s softly sung/spoken sentences had quite a dreamy atmosphere. Listen to it again, dear reader…. Now with the lyrics in comment 3. And afterwards, taken from the lyric pages of Tom Boon‘s Eno web, a bit of background of the song that fits very well to what Brian told yesterday (comment 4).
Brian shows how Deep Blue Day from Apollo grew from an improvisation on an omnichord. It finally got its special magic by slowing down the original tempo.
Though the homework is connected to the Cordoba piece and some other backgrounds, the lecture focussed on the stories behind some ambient classics. Of course Brian tried to find ways to find a fusion songs and ambient music: the most radical examples for a melange between these two worlds, are the albums THE SHIP and FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE. In facts, ANOTHER GREEN WORLD, released on November, 14, 1974, was, with its many instrumental pieces, the first attempt to combine, intertwine both of these „worlds“.
There is no replacement for listening. After the letcure, I am now in the mood to put on „Wrong Way Up“. Many years after the release of „Wrong Way Up“, Pitchfork publishes a long essay on the album that is worth reading: HERE.
My second interview with Brian (published in Jazzthetik in 1990) was (one half) about some of the songs. Here some things he said on the song „Empty Frame“ that ring a bell in regards to Brian‘s recurring thoughts about surrender: „So, all of those images of power beyond your own conciousness, beyond your own will, and of separation, are to do with the sea image for me. The other thing that’s in there, is about a little ship that is always falling apart, that they always are trying to fix up again. It says in there „the broken sails“. This is also a very poignant image to me of the notion of people constantly trying to repair their sails. What do you have a sail for? To catch wind, to catch the other forces that are around, the controllable forces. The wind is the force that you can do something about. The sea is not, you know. But of course, the wind also keeps breaking your sails, so you always have to sow them back together again. It’s an endless struggle to try to keep going in any kind of a line. Because the other implication in this kind of song is „Why don’t you surrender? Why don’t you surrender to the tide and see where you go?“ And in one of my old songs „Julie with…“, that’s what happened in that song, the people have surrendered. They’ve stopped, they’ve stopped rowing the boat and they suddenly have allowed themselves to become completely, not victims exactly, but to have fallen under the control of this powerful force.“
Time maybe to listen to that „blue piece“ of „The Elderly Brothers“ on the tracklist. (From Jan. 15 onwards, Eno‘s book „What Art Does“ is available on Kindle, the physical book comes later, in March).
Nachdem David Bowie gestorben war, wurde auf Arte eine Sendung über ihn ausgestrahlt, bei der ich mir ein paar Notizen gemacht habe: „Magischer Realismus. Kosmos an der Bushaltestelle. Versteht jeder, der in Großbritannien lebt und in den Vororten aufgewachsen ist. Ganz banales Zeug und doch ist es magisch.“
Bowies Text zu „Life on Mars?“, läuft auch in „Licorice Pizza“ (hier mit lyrics:
Und hier aus dem Jahr 1966 „Bus Stop“ von The Hollies.
A man was sleeping under a tree.
He wrote to me from Cordoba.
After the theatre, we went to his house.
He’s very generous Cordoban.
We waited at the door, but he didn’t come.
According to his father, he’s very ill.
There was a long line of cars in front of me.
I came as soon as I could.
I left without paying, a suitcase under my arm.
I won’t see you until Sunday.
I’ll come as soon as I can.
I’ll meet you alone in the shoeshop near the bakery.
By the two-storey house/very pretty/like a villa.
The lift stops between two floors.
You start to walk towards the station.
I walk towards the bus.
We’ll have to wait at the station.
Leave the parcel on the top deck.
You start to walk towards the station.
I’ll walk towards the bus.
You walk towards the station.
I’ll walk towards the bus.
You walk towards the station.
I’ll walk towards the bus.
You walk towards the station.
I’ll walk towards the bus.
Brian Eno: I’m sure everything I do is riddled with paying attention to chance, so… OK, here’s a good example. I’ve been learning Spanish for about 36 years [laughter] And I’m still not very good at it, but…[music]… When I was reading my Spanish book, I was reading this set of lines, exercises, and I thought, boy, these read like a poem, like an amazing poem, and what I read into it was: Two people who were probably lovers but who were also terrorists arrange to bomb a bus – „leave the parcel on the top deck.“ The is the last time they were talking about it before they were gonna do it, the next day.
And they’d sort of go, um, I’ll meet you in the square by the bakery. The lift stops between two floors, right, don’t forget that. Um, I’ll walk towards the station, you walk towards the bus… just going through the moves again and again. But the way John – that’s John Cale, naturally – the way he sings it is this strange combination – sinister and tender at the same time.
Pamela Z: And they teach you to say that the lift stops between two floors?
Brian Eno: Yeah, they need that a lot in Spain! [laughter]
Pamela Z: Do the people know, the Spanish book people?
Brian Eno: No, they don’t know and I hope you’ll never tell them! I mean for all I know this may have been a poem that this bloke had been working on for years. This was the only way they could get it published.
Pamela Z: I always wonder how strict the copyright laws are on those things.
Brian Eno: It’s been a big issue in England for some years – is there morally such a thing as intellectual property? Can people claim rights to an idea? And it’s an interesting question because I’ve never made any secret of the fact that I steal ideas wherever I can. But at the same time people steal ideas from me a lot as well.
— From Mondo 2000
An magazine article in 1990 identified the Spanish book as the Hugo Spanish in Three Months guide. — Tom
Wusste ich nicht. Du hattest ihn in deiner Sendung gespielt und ich habe die Kassette damals so oft zurückgespult und immer wieder nur diesen Song gehört.
„Bus Stop“ hast du in den Klanghorizonten gespielt. Definitiv. Der Song ist sogar auf einem Kassetten-Mixtape gelandet, das ich im August 2011 für eine Freundin aufgenommen habe. Die Beschriftungen sind alle in einer Datei versammelt; ich finde so etwas ganz fix über die Sucheingabe.
Weitere Songs, die du in der Zeit gespielt hast und die mir sehr gefallen:
Margo Gurjan: Take a Picture (jetzt ohne Links)
Grandaddy: I’m on Stand By
Unbunny: You run like a Girl
Was in einer Liste von Space Flights Songs nicht fehlen darf, ist David Bowies „Space Oddity“. Der Song wurde auch in den Film „Das erstaunliche Leben des Walter Mitty“ eingearbeitet, den ich vor vielen Jahren auf deinen Tipp hin an einem Nachmittag in einem großen, leeren Kinosaal sah.
Oh, man könnte eine ganze Nacht mit Spaceflighsongs machen, aber wohl nirneine knappe Stunde mot Bussongs😉
Hier ging es im Text und im Webinar nur um Cordba und Deep Blue Day….
… und der Titel des Texts ist eine Anspielung an das fantastische Album More Songs About Buildings and Food von den Talking Heads, produced by Brian Eno😉
11 Kommentare
Martina Weber
Nachdem David Bowie gestorben war, wurde auf Arte eine Sendung über ihn ausgestrahlt, bei der ich mir ein paar Notizen gemacht habe: „Magischer Realismus. Kosmos an der Bushaltestelle. Versteht jeder, der in Großbritannien lebt und in den Vororten aufgewachsen ist. Ganz banales Zeug und doch ist es magisch.“
Bowies Text zu „Life on Mars?“, läuft auch in „Licorice Pizza“ (hier mit lyrics:
Und hier aus dem Jahr 1966 „Bus Stop“ von The Hollies.
Michael Engelbrecht
CORDOBA
A man was sleeping under a tree.
He wrote to me from Cordoba.
After the theatre, we went to his house.
He’s very generous Cordoban.
We waited at the door, but he didn’t come.
According to his father, he’s very ill.
There was a long line of cars in front of me.
I came as soon as I could.
I left without paying, a suitcase under my arm.
I won’t see you until Sunday.
I’ll come as soon as I can.
I’ll meet you alone in the shoeshop near the bakery.
By the two-storey house/very pretty/like a villa.
The lift stops between two floors.
You start to walk towards the station.
I walk towards the bus.
We’ll have to wait at the station.
Leave the parcel on the top deck.
You start to walk towards the station.
I’ll walk towards the bus.
You walk towards the station.
I’ll walk towards the bus.
You walk towards the station.
I’ll walk towards the bus.
You walk towards the station.
I’ll walk towards the bus.
Michael Engelbrecht
On the lyrics of CORDOBA
Brian Eno: I’m sure everything I do is riddled with paying attention to chance, so… OK, here’s a good example. I’ve been learning Spanish for about 36 years [laughter] And I’m still not very good at it, but…[music]… When I was reading my Spanish book, I was reading this set of lines, exercises, and I thought, boy, these read like a poem, like an amazing poem, and what I read into it was: Two people who were probably lovers but who were also terrorists arrange to bomb a bus – „leave the parcel on the top deck.“ The is the last time they were talking about it before they were gonna do it, the next day.
And they’d sort of go, um, I’ll meet you in the square by the bakery. The lift stops between two floors, right, don’t forget that. Um, I’ll walk towards the station, you walk towards the bus… just going through the moves again and again. But the way John – that’s John Cale, naturally – the way he sings it is this strange combination – sinister and tender at the same time.
Pamela Z: And they teach you to say that the lift stops between two floors?
Brian Eno: Yeah, they need that a lot in Spain! [laughter]
Pamela Z: Do the people know, the Spanish book people?
Brian Eno: No, they don’t know and I hope you’ll never tell them! I mean for all I know this may have been a poem that this bloke had been working on for years. This was the only way they could get it published.
Pamela Z: I always wonder how strict the copyright laws are on those things.
Brian Eno: It’s been a big issue in England for some years – is there morally such a thing as intellectual property? Can people claim rights to an idea? And it’s an interesting question because I’ve never made any secret of the fact that I steal ideas wherever I can. But at the same time people steal ideas from me a lot as well.
— From Mondo 2000
An magazine article in 1990 identified the Spanish book as the Hugo Spanish in Three Months guide. — Tom
Michael Engelbrecht
@ Martina: ja, der Song von den Hollies, lange vor CORDOBA, ist der berühmteste Song mit einem „Bus Stop“ … bzw. Bus.
Martina Weber
Wusste ich nicht. Du hattest ihn in deiner Sendung gespielt und ich habe die Kassette damals so oft zurückgespult und immer wieder nur diesen Song gehört.
Michael Engelbrecht
Du meinst Cordoba. Bus Stop habe ich zuletzt mit 17 gespielt, auf meinem Plattenspieler😉
Martina Weber
„Bus Stop“ hast du in den Klanghorizonten gespielt. Definitiv. Der Song ist sogar auf einem Kassetten-Mixtape gelandet, das ich im August 2011 für eine Freundin aufgenommen habe. Die Beschriftungen sind alle in einer Datei versammelt; ich finde so etwas ganz fix über die Sucheingabe.
Weitere Songs, die du in der Zeit gespielt hast und die mir sehr gefallen:
Margo Gurjan: Take a Picture (jetzt ohne Links)
Grandaddy: I’m on Stand By
Unbunny: You run like a Girl
Michael Engelbrecht
Bus Stop von den Hollies in den Klanghorizonten? Dreist😂
Martina Weber
Für dich und andere ein Oldie, für mich ganz hinreißend und neu.
Martina Weber
Was in einer Liste von Space Flights Songs nicht fehlen darf, ist David Bowies „Space Oddity“. Der Song wurde auch in den Film „Das erstaunliche Leben des Walter Mitty“ eingearbeitet, den ich vor vielen Jahren auf deinen Tipp hin an einem Nachmittag in einem großen, leeren Kinosaal sah.
Michael Engelbrecht
Oh, man könnte eine ganze Nacht mit Spaceflighsongs machen, aber wohl nirneine knappe Stunde mot Bussongs😉
Hier ging es im Text und im Webinar nur um Cordba und Deep Blue Day….
… und der Titel des Texts ist eine Anspielung an das fantastische Album More Songs About Buildings and Food von den Talking Heads, produced by Brian Eno😉