Thank you, Lawrence. And it shouldn't be impertinent to add that in
Cave's lyrics the focus subtly shifts as the convict is brought into
closer proximity to his finality; while in the early verses the
declaration of "a truth for a truth" is followed by a claim that he
"told the truth [and] is not afraid to die," towards the end he makes
the more more ambiguous claim that "anyway there was no proof" and
that the he is "not afraid to tell a lie," until, finally, he states
that his claim to have "told the truth" should be understood against
the background of his admission to have "told a lie."
Mvh. / Yours sincerely,
Torgeir Fjeld
https://torgeirfjeld.com/
Download the Introduction to my latest book -- rock philosophy:
meditations on art and desire -- for free from https://bit.ly/2vMGwVs.
Get a 24% discount by using code CFC159723D56 on checkout at the
publisher https://vernonpress.com/book/494. It is also available from
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Philosophy-Meditations-Art-Desire/dp/1622734416/
On Thu, 11 Apr 2019 at 22:13, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
------------------------------------------------------------------
Clever lyrics. I logged onto YouTube and listened to the music a bit. I
couldn't understood the lyrics as sung, but in the reading they capture well
the situation of someone on death row -- how we, or Nick Cave, imagine it
might be for him, and the words we've heard from a score of movies, "any way
I told the truth" meaning "I'm innocent," and beyond that if they decided to
execute me anyway, "I'm not afraid to die."
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
On Behalf Of Torgeir Fjeld
Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2019 10:13 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] On a recent reversal of asylum in a London embassy
Music and lyrics by Nick Cave.
"It began when they come took me from my home And put me in Dead Row, Of
which I am nearly wholly innocent, you know.
And I'll say it again
I.. am.. not.. afraid.. to.. die.
I began to warm and chill
To objects and their fields,
A ragged cup, a twisted mop
The face of Jesus in my soup
Those sinister dinner deals
The meal trolley's wicked wheels
A hooked bone rising from my food
All things either good or ungood.
And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this measuring of proof.
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
And anyway I told the truth
And I'm not afraid to die."
Mvh. / Yours sincerely,
Torgeir Fjeld
https://torgeirfjeld.com/
Download the Introduction to my latest book -- rock philosophy:
meditations on art and desire -- for free from https://bit.ly/2vMGwVs.
Get a 24% discount by using code CFC159723D56 on checkout at the publisher
https://vernonpress.com/book/494. It is also available from
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Philosophy-Meditations-Art-Desire/dp/1622734416/
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest
on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
