|
|
Post by monabonejakoff on Dec 9, 2011 12:25:38 GMT -5
why is the subject of catastrophe such a prevalent scene in Cat's songs? Well at least two of his songs are of apocalyptic destruction and death ..is that not a strange subject for a singer? Ruins, The Storm, phrases and images following the subject ?
I can't help but ask myself that the existential preoccupation with death has shaped Cat's psyche into a somewhat morbid entity that haunts him. As a poet myself I know that death and sex are the only two subjects most people and poets are fascinated by but add faith and we have a potent and explosively creative mixture.
Do you think that there is a overwhelming presence of fatalism and abandonment to his lyrics now? Now that Islam, has added it own potency? Can you trace any other suggestions of ruin and war ?
T
|
|
purplemoon
Majik of Majik Member
Growing old is necessary but growing up is optional.
Posts: 483
|
Post by purplemoon on Dec 9, 2011 13:29:31 GMT -5
Somewhere in On The Spiritual in Art, Kandinsky wrote
something to the effect that all great art springs from internal
necessity. I think what he meant is that when the artist cannot
NOT create, the result will be equally compelling to others.
Of course, there's more to art than barfing on the street.
Craft is essential. Or as Andre Gide said,
"Only those things are beautiful which are inspired
by madness and written by reason."
Steven has said many times (in various ways) that he only
writes songs when inspired. He must be deeply inspired by
issues like the insanity of war, the lack of peaceful & healthy
places to raise children, poverty, the brutality of inner cities.
He was exposed to the seamy side as a child. Strippers on
the street running from show to show. Gambling halls (with
his father). He and young friends formed "a protection
racket" --which quickly folded when clients refused to pay.
Reading between the lines, I infer that he may have been
beaten up on the street by "a bully". It must have been
difficult to bear the private shame of attending a Catholic school,
while at home, his parents were divorced.
|
|
purplemoon
Majik of Majik Member
Growing old is necessary but growing up is optional.
Posts: 483
|
Post by purplemoon on Dec 9, 2011 13:34:42 GMT -5
... and I have wondered whether part of his attraction to Islam
might have been its acceptance of divorce. It certainly removes
the weight of the sin of one's parents -- if you've received a
Catholic indoctrination .....
Beyond that, I was astonished to read him characterize himself as
being racially different. As an American, being Greek-Swedish
is just everyday normal stuff. But, yes, in London in the 1950s,
a Greek-Swede would have been a second class citizen.
(According to my brother, in the 1980s, Americans at Oxford
were second class citizens.)
|
|
|
|
Post by dawndew on Dec 9, 2011 14:26:47 GMT -5
Hmmm interesting....I must say that I have not felt a prevalence of catastrophe in the the man's work....but maybe I just don't separate this out.....I recognize of course there is a balanced proportion of the apocalyptic...but I have never noticed an imbalance...... I certainly don't consider it a 'strange subject' for a singer especially for a singer who has such spiritual awareness and depth..again this can only be a subjective view..The man was and is always predominantly about the 'spiritual' for me....
MrBone you say 'As a poet myself I know that death and sex are the only two subjects most people and poets are fascinated by but add faith and we have a potent and explosively creative mixture.'
I guess that altho my tinkering with poetry does not place me in your poetic league ,I may be allowed venture to say as a 'person' that I respectfully disagree with your opinion above...death and sex I think are NOT the only two subjects most poets and people are fascinated by...
.I detect in Yusufs work a fascination with light and truth and love....kind of a reverse of what you moot........sex also is difficult to discern as a fascination....as Cat , again to me ,sex was not expressed as in any way of unbalanced predominance...
Of course by the addition of strong deep and enduring faith, to the already wide ranging explicit honesty of the whole gamut of emotion that the man can evoke, has of course created an even more wonderful depth......
but there is there is always lightness and gentle ness..........the 'dark side' is just a kind of 'foil' for this ...
As an analytical response my post is pretty lightweight...It would be of more interest to try to reference my thoughts with specific song references I suppose...but I don't usually analyse ..just always feel ..he sings ,to me ,from his heart to mine.....of course I cannot speak for anyone else....thats why I use the possessive 'mine' ;D
|
|
|
|
Post by dawndew on Dec 9, 2011 15:32:42 GMT -5
..and maybe for the sake of understanding, (which some are very into at the moment) I should try to define what I mean by ' heart'... Yusufs music lightens my heart making it free-er..(a proclivity towards catastrophe and apocalypse,war and ruin would not do that). .....thus the heart of the flesh must be just the container of the heart within (light and heavy are a constant in the flesh). ......so I guess its not the heart that feels as such ..Yusufs music creates an effect on feeling that is deep from within..the real heart.....that is the alchemy of his music and message............if any dark in it it is illuminating the light...if any death it is the beginning of life.... shiishsh what happened to Friday night frivolity..........!!   |
|
purplemoon
Majik of Majik Member
Growing old is necessary but growing up is optional.
Posts: 483
|
Post by purplemoon on Dec 9, 2011 18:14:08 GMT -5
A friend of mine who spent many years living, first in
Indochina and then in Yemen, once commented that
you can understand a lot about a person or community
by observing what/how they eat:
Are adults starving?
Do children and the weak have enough to eat?
Do they care about how food tastes?
About how it looks?
Is eating with others important?
Is diet restricted for ethical reasons?
Is food eaten with reverence?
He thought that mirrored the successive tiers of
consciousness a human being is capable of:
Survival, sexuality, comfort, beauty, community,
morality, spirituality.
And yeah, I DO think this is related to the discussion ....
|
|
|
|
Post by monabonejakoff on Dec 10, 2011 5:57:29 GMT -5
Is inspiration necessary? How about craft like a potter who throws clay ..the know how to takes over and the skill drives the creative force forward and well we end up with a product - one of the bones I have about Yusuf present incarnation as a musician, writer, at the moment is that his writing smacks of necessity, it has the thrum of the production line and he is harking back to days when he was actually in emotional and psychological turmoil - when the ruins and the feelings of alienation where in fact quite genuine.
Nowadays I get the feeling that he is in fact being more manipulative of his reputation and his long standing goodwill for the sake of other reasons. Except this. Is there anything wrong in that? No. I don't think there is , we have long bought pseudoemotions over the counterand deemed a perfectly acceptable product, just like when we once bought fish and chi0ps from a small family business and watchjed as it turned into a franchise and the product went with it but we still buy product and still feel that yearning and nostalgia.
We never quite forget those bitter sweet days of youth, in fact we know that depression and nostalgia can be addictive so is this what we are witnessing ? A yearning for the ruins of a youth now gone, the creative emotionally tumultuous days of spontaneity and vivid splash of inner colours? Colours that we ourselves are superimposing on a well drawn black and white format picture from the past..fish and chips from the franchise?
|
|
|
|
Post by dawndew on Dec 10, 2011 6:15:14 GMT -5
...and if they still taste the same ,with the absence of the newsprint..does it matter?
To some yes....
To others no....
To me....I am just the audience, not family,not friend,no vested interest,never any contact as such....I choose to eat chips..add my own salt and vinegar.....and am grateful to the potato..with all its blemishes and scars....does the potato care if I deem it unworthy as a chip without the newsprint...I think that not....maybe I'm right,maybe I'm wrong......
|
|
|
|
Post by peritura on Dec 10, 2011 9:04:54 GMT -5
I don't atually think he is selling re-hashed emotions-his newer work has been criticised for the lack of raw passion by some; but to me it seems to reflect that more grown up persepctive of some things that now have firmer contours in your mind, some paths that have been taken and proven to be successful in your life. But he still continues with the leitmotif of his art and life, which is investigating the road ahead. The passion of youth has something enormously attractive and also says something very true about being human, but I do suppose we are generally quite grateful if we manage to sail into the slightly calmer waters of middle age and beyond. It's not re-hashed. It is re-considered.
|
|
|
|
Post by dawndew on Dec 10, 2011 13:15:58 GMT -5
Very well expessed as always Peritura....
I am surprised that people seem to think that Yusuf 's music should contain the same emotions as Cat era......Cat was looking...Yusuf Islam found ,Yusuf consolidated....all this mans music ,to me,is a raw reflection of where he is at the time of inspiration........
I like your words Peritura and I quote them now..
Peritura said
''It's not re-hashed. It is re-considered''...
I feel these words belong on the Fav Quotes thread!!Thanks Peritura...
|
|
