Oh boy this one[and tomorrow's horror] separates the fans. I have always been a 'fan' of this one and quite regularly pull it off the shelf for a spin. I am most appreciative when Mr. Costello lets me peer into his musical back closet as he plays around. He has a knack for picking back catalog material from a good artist and bringing it to light in some interesting ways- for instance on this record when Mssr Anderrson places that accordion part in "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room". I also think Ms von Otter does a superb job putting forth material like "Don't Talk" or "Baby, Plays Around"- "Green Song" is a fine example of why this record continues to hold my attention. Their voices musically dance around one another in perfect harmony. "No Wonder" is a strong EC composition and "For the Stars" has always struck me as a fine pop synthesis of a favorite Auden theme of 'love and time'. There is a Schubertian quality to this record- it is being played in my drawing room-and its pleasures are small and intimate in scope. Another testament for me is the fact that my wife, whose ear is much finer than mine- enjoys this record. She is also not a big EC fan.
"Are You There?"
Each lover has some theory of his own
About the difference between the ache
Of being with his love, and being alone:
Why what, when dreaming, is dear flesh and bone
That really stirs the senses, when awake,
Appears a simulacrum of his own.
Narcissus disbelieves in the unknown;
He cannot join his image in the lake
So long as he assumes he is alone.
The child, the waterfall, the fire, the stone,
Are always up to mischief, though, and take
The universe for granted as their own.
The elderly, like Proust, are always prone
To think of love as a subjective fake;
The more they love, the more they feel alone.
Whatever view we hold, it must be shown
Why every lover has a wish to make
Some kind of otherness his own:
Perhaps, in fact, we never are alone.
W H Auden 1939
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wl0P2Tf8e8
For The Stars
For The Stars
The stars were so much brighter then,
They dim and die,
So why pretend
The sky goes on forever:
But if they fade as science teaches,
Poets lose the power of speech.
Waste paper, ink and feather.
If I'd taken up the trumpet
As I should have done,
Then I wouldn't be
Always losing sleep,
While I'm trying to make this rhyme.
For the stars
Were so much,
They were so much brighter then.
If I couldn't put a price on your head,
What's the use of me trying
For the stars?
The morning comes, the days are
Just the time between
Until the dusk,
When we can be together,
If I'd taken up the drums
And I could play in time,
If I had the power,
Would I be wond'ring how,
I'm ever going to write this down.
For the stars
Were so much,
They were so much brighter then.
If I couldn't put a price on your head,
Then what's the use of me trying
For the stars?
Declan McManus
Listening to the recently composed "Sparkling Day" brought me to these two earlier, and stronger in my opinion, efforts to come to terms with the ephemeral quality of love; how exceedingly difficult it is to pin it down and to give a voice to that affection. Auden is supreme at this. His lyrics thrive from the notion of time's erosion on our lives and loves, of the widening gap that can occur over time with absence and memory. That human ache is never more evident than in the cited lyric above.
Not saying that EC has Wystan's lyrical talent, but he more often than not for my ears comes damn close as in this song from his collaboration with Anne Sofie Von Otter roughly a decade ago. I have always appreciated the fact that he catches Auden's tone in this lyric when he knowingly admits that he doubts he can adequately catch and retain the memory of his lover 'while I'm trying to make this rhyme'. He cannot fix in time her aspects, they will fade physically and figuratively, just as natural forces like stars, once 'brighter then', will 'dim and die'. If poets can 'lose the power of speech' what is the use? Far better to be a practical person- working musician- than a spinner of lyrics which are by their nature ephemeral, mercurial tributes.
As Auden says in another lyric-"Time and fevers burn away, Individual beauty from, Thoughtful children'-EC knows this in his song. It is a powerful song about trying to preserve; it is what Auden tries to do as well in his poem. What I love in EC's lyric is that same vital urge to remember; the urgent need to deter time's erosion. It is also why I find this song far more engaging than his newest effort. It also helps that this one does not have mawkish, swelling strings.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
