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Robert Lowell - Fall 1961


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Robert Lowell - Fall 1961

Back and forth, back and forth

goes the tock, tock, tock

of the orange, bland, ambassadorial

face of the moon

on the grandfather clock.

All autumn, the chafe and jar

of nuclear war;

we have talked our extinction to death.

I swim like a minnow

behind my studio window.

Our end drifts nearer,

the moon lifts,

radiant with terror.

The state

is a diver under a glass bell.

A father’s no shield

for his child.

We are like a lot of wild

spiders crying together,

but without tears.

I like that poem and I found a song John Vanderslice - Radiant With Terror.mp3 that uses it in its lyrics. But I think the music and singing in the song is too fast, and I prefer the poem without the music. A version with music that is more solemn would be good. I think if it were to be sung in a similar manner to Syd Barrett's "Opel", the poem would sound good in a song. Here is Syd's song:

Syd Barrett - Opel.mp3

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  • 2 months later...
I like that poem and I found a song John Vanderslice - Radiant With Terror.mp3 that uses it in its lyrics. But I think the music and singing in the song is too fast, and I prefer the poem without the music. A version with music that is more solemn would be good. I think if it were to be sung in a similar manner to Syd Barrett's "Opel", the poem would sound good in a song. Here is Syd's song:

Syd Barrett - Opel.mp3

Hi there, I joined this forum just to respond to this message. I'm a friend of John Vanderslice, and this is one of my favorite songs of his and I had to find the original poem. He often modifies poetry for his lyrics, I'm surprised he did this one straight up! I wrote because I think he read your board, there is a new version of this song on "Suddenly It All Went Dark"--his live studio acoustic remake of the entire album. The song is the most significantly different song on the album, and it is much slower, softer, and in a much lower/different key. I don't think he'd mind if I sent you a copy of it, I can be reached at [email protected]. I'm sure he'd see that as free promotion!

Clay

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Welcome aboard and thanx for the post. John Vanderslice is on the minds of lots of good folks these days. Here is another music video of his - Exodus Damage:

Source

John Vanderslice is currently touring the us. GoodForAirStrikes.com has given him an incredible writeup...in addition, they have posted some additional links to his music...

post-9-1145499821_thumb.jpg

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