LIFE IS TOO GOOD >>>
TRAITOR
my punctuality is well known,
when the revolution takes place
i'll be shot as a traitor. when the sun rises,
i will not see, i regret nothing, it was worth it,
going through life without a timepiece did pay off.
my reward to be free and alone even now at the pillar,
blindfold at sunrise, hearing the drums
of catalan beating my time away,
my heartbeat keeps time with the drums.
but soon my only pulse will fade away,
i smile just knowing when the sun rises
i will not see.
MOTORCRASH
riding on my bicycle i saw a motorcrash,
a proper motorcrash and lots of spectators.
i rushed to the centre saw the injured parents,
cuts on the children, an awful motorcrash.
dangerous terribly bloody motorcrash,
destructive motorcrash.
took the mother, sneaked with her secretly all the way
to my home, and nursed her gently put on her bandages,
gave her milk and biscuits,
she sighed pleasantly after this awful motorcrash.
that girl on that bicycle showed great interest
in all the motorcrashes in the neighbourhood,
she look quite innocent, but believe you me
i know what innocence looks like and it wasn't there,
after she got that bicycle. then we disguised ourselves,
took a taxi to her home, when her husband opened the door she introduced
her-
self, he said "where have you been all this time?"
BIRTHDAY
she lives in this house over there,
has her world outside it.
grapples with the earth with her fingers
and her mouth--she's five years old.
thread worms on a string, keeps spiders in her pocket,
collects fly-wings in a jar scrubs horse flies
and pinches them on a line. she's got one friend
he lives next door, they listen to the weather,
he knows how many freckles she'sgot,
she scratches his beard. she's painting huge books,
glues them together, they saw a big raven;
it glided down the sky--she touched it. today's a
birth-dat--they're sucking cigars, he got a chain of flowers,
sows a bird in her knickers, they're sucking cigars,
lie in the bathtub, chain of flowers.
DELICIOUS DEMON
one person calls someone to pour the water,
because it takes two to pour the water,
to plough takes two as well, but only one to hold up the sky.
one plays the harp, beats a rock with a stick,
becomes a priest at least, a delicious demon.
two men need one money one money needs no man, one
is on ones knees, loses ones head, except maybe a delicious demon,
then one is no longer, so delicious!
MAMA
i saw a woman walking down my street,
with grace so beautifully care-fully.
she's a big and pretty mother
swinging her handbag back and forth so joyfully
she's drawing circles with her breasts in her jumper.
give me a big mother, huge and loving one,
i can crawl upon a cling to, a large woman,
warm and cuddly wet lady, strong mother.
she's walking down the street, in front
of my window whistling funky tunes in the ears of my neighbours.
give me a big mother, one that would always want me.
hot embracing mother, i can crawl upon and cling to
you can't be safer can't be more secure than with a breast
in each palm, thats the way i was born and thats the way i want to die.
Give me a big mother, soft and wet one,
that would caress me in all those special places.
where's a strong mother, one that squeezes me,
one i can crawl upon and cling to?
BLUE EYED POP
this blue eyed pop it's just fabulous to go twisting, boogie-ing,
in beat with the thousand pound snare sound,
after boogieing we all crave for a hot dog splashed with noise,
queue and spew then back home to our love nest, need i say more.
oh! this blue eye pop is just pure ecstasy.
this is too much fun, everyone is so close to laughing,
this kind of joy won't last, something wonderful is about to happen.
i feel perfectly ready don't know yet what it is,
i will look here inside this disco, this is so hot hot,
we melt together like tigers and we are dancing together.
DEUS
deus does not exist.
but if he does, he lives in the sky above me, in the fattest largest cloud
up there.
he is whiter than white and cleaner than clean.
he wants to reach me.
deus does not exist. but if he does i always notice him.
getting ready in his airy room.
he is picking his gloves so gently off. he wants to touch me.
i'm walking humbly down a tiny street.
pulling my collar it gets bigger.
i once met him.
it really surprised me.
he put me in a bath tub.
made me squeeky clean. really clean.
to create a universe you must taste the forbidden fruit.
he said hi.
i said hi. i was still clean.
deus does not exist.
but if he does he'd want to get down from that cloud.
first marzipan fingers than marble hands.
more silent than sil- ence and slower than slow.
diving towards me. my collar is huge room for
two hands, they start at the chest and move slowly down.
i thought i had seen everything.
he wasn't white and fluffy.
he just had sideburns.
he just had sideburns. and a quiff.
he said hi. i said hi. i was still clean. i was squeeky clean.
i was surprised. just as you would be.
deus deus. he does not exist.
deus deus.
SICK FOR TOYS
this girl i know she's sick for toys.
she needs a brand new toy she's tired of her old toys.
she's got a big house full of old toys what can she do?
She disposes of her old toys and in a small garden she finds a small boy.
She smiles, she's happy she found her new toy a small boy.
she uses the new toy to watch her comb her hair, day in day out, night
in night out.
in the end she fell asleep exhausted, the boy cut off all of her hair,
she was bald, she might not now be
sick for toys...
FUCKING IN RHYTHM AND SORROW
a divorced lady arrives home from a bar,
guess what she sees?
there is a naked person in my flat
he's got a weird expression on his face!
oh my god and jesus as well, what are you doing here,
are you hurting your chest, offending yourself,
forcing yourself into pain like there is no tommorow?
you should use the pain and sorrow to fill you up with power,
life's both sweet and sour.
he looks at me hopeless with tears in his eyes,
goes out of the window and up on the roof.
naked man calm down, i'll give you some strawberry cake,
don't act like there is no tomorrow,
life's both sweet and sour.
tak'i takt & trega. ja!
HERE, TODAY, TOMORROW NEXT WEEK >>>
TIDAL WAVE
The diesel is so nice I just need something
The barometer's falling down, I feel so sultry
Something is simmering and boiling inside me
If I ignore it and squeeze out laughter
I charge up with a typhoon, hurricanes and storms
I just need the diesel
I just find the smell
I just sniff it and I can feel the harbour just close by
I just try to sniff the diesel but I can't
A tide with an undertow, the sea is swelling
Impatience makes me foam
A wave inside me forces out big words
They splash and sprinkle
An angry torrent breaking loose, a flush or rushing joy
The diesel,
It just makes me feel
It just fills my veins so quickly
I don't know why it just does
I'm down by the harbour
A cigarette would be ideal
Then I remember that the diesel...
And I can't help it, I'm exploding again
I'm calling weather station NOMAD
And satellite NIMBUS
It's a blizzard inside me, a bomb ticking
This is the tidal wave
Here comes the tidal wave.
REGINA
Came from the east
Relative forgot
To scrape away
Land in south
Exhausted engine
No teeth
No chance to stop
Meet Johnny
Came from the east
Like the sun
But with tired engine
Regina otherwise magnificent
Regina in good bloom
As old as the sun
With white teeth
Land on islands
Meet Johnny
Examine my red
Basalt cluster
Bottomless dust, terrific sun
And wetting quite nicely thankyou
I do say nicely
I do mean that
Actually
Blow into the chastity belt
Regina, Regina,
Hex and bitch and
Deserves lobster and fame..
Oh, Johnny,
Teeth and gums
In my life
Moon and sun
In my life
Lobster and shrimp
In my life
I don't really like lobster
Regina is too old
But the sun is much older
Still the sun with white teeth
But Mrs R. with none
Sun with false teeth
Give me lobster and fame!
I really don't like lobster!
SPEED IS THE KEY
Straight into the air
At lightning speed
Fasten your seatbelts
The future is mine
I'm a future woman
In an irresistable world
Fast and sparkling
Speed is the key
Lizards at lightning speed,
Surprise me all the time
Does no one respect space rules?
A big fresh meat slice
Streamlined solid steal knife in it
I must energize
Speed is the key
Lizards playing around
And I'm one of them
Lizards of the world unite
I'm a spacegirl
Pass me that aeroplane
I've got to go now
Speed is the key
I'm a space woman
Shaped like a bullet
No barriers
Whoosh, there goes another second!
Doubt kills
Speed is the key
DREAM TV
Last night a good dream woke me up
I'm a T.V.
Transforming T.V.
I was entertained and smiled
Jumped straight out of my bed
Humming this and that
And got myself a glass of water
And sat down in my favourite chair
And kept smiling but not for long
Because I realised that all my dreams are
Nothing but the repetition
Of last week's television
I was no longer amused by my dream.
I'm on my knees
Down on all four follows
Antennae
Thrust out through my forehead
Like a lame turtle I paced the room
This new found knowledge could only blame myself
And no one else tried to sleep again
Not a dream, not again
But then remembered
That all my dreams are
Nothing but the repetition
Of last week's television
I've turned into a T.V.
My screen is smiling to get your attention
I want you
So I jumped out of my bed
And into the T.V. room
And in my anger
Threw the T.V. set out the window
Regretted instantly
Because this was a brand new 26 inch T.V.
Set in my bed once again,
Couldn't sleep
Because all my life,
All my dreams had gone out the window
With this new T.V. set
NAIL
Walk through here
When I've been just by myself
I start thinking too much
Unhealthy things start to happen
Like gastric disorders
I just go out walking
With my favourite piece of wood
With a 4 inch nail driven through it
When I am just by myself
I think too much
I start polishing my behaviour
Without any mercy
Somehow people
Don't seem to like me,
I don't know why,
I really don't want to hurt them
When I've been just by myself
I start thinking too much
I know I'm not talkative
What! I've become dry?
An emotional biscuit
That's nonsense!
Sir, this nail of yours is rusty
It's evil
I like them but when I hit them
They scream and run away
Even though I say I'm sorry.
I like meeting people.
PUMP
Eat me
Eat me love
Leave nothing behind
Swallow me, all of me
Drink me love
Pour me in you
Devour me
Drink me in large gulps
Consume me love
I want you
To inhale me all of me
Drown me love
In a bottomless pond
I'll never return
Swallow me, all of me
I prefer you in a form of a love letter
I don't like you, I hate you
Your smug little smile makes me sick
I gave you nothing, you gave me nothing,
Why did we meet...
Eat me love
Your open mouth
Eat.. me.. love
I, on your tongue,
You got to eat me love..
Eat me love
You gulp me
Eat me love
I-I down your gullet
You eat me love.
Eat me love,
I in the stomach,
Eat me love, eat me love,
You splash acid on me.
Eat me love,
I travel down the intestines,
Eat me love,
Through the bowels
And out!
Eat me love!
Eat me love!
I hate you!
EAT THE MENU
Limousines, oranges,
Stars, moons,
Submarines, Jeeps,
Glaciers, Cars,
Caterpillars, even grapes
It's none of my business
But you have to eat
Your appetite is appalling
Have some salad
Bite an apple
Suck an oragne
Taste the pate
I'm just a maid, but yes to food is yes to life
I've got to eat something
Otherwise I'll just die
But the choice is too great
I can't decide what to eat
I'll possibly just eat the menu?
How would you like strawberry juice?
Or lemon red sea perch?
Bite the kiwi
Have some chicken
I'm just a maid, but yes to food is yes to life
The waiter came with the menu
And said here you go.
I said thankyou but
The choice is too great,
Why can't I be a cod
In the depths of the ocean
And just eat small fish
The cod has such simple taste
But O've got all the choice
Oh, you vague costomer
You'll have to look somewhere else
You have to find something to eat
So eat a moment
A person
An apple
A feeling
Eat a rockband
I won't complain but...
THE BEE
Who is it?
Who'll get the sting
Who'll get the stripes
Black and yellow
A dangerous creature
Chattering wings
Flashing antennae
Who is it?
It buzzes fine
The bee
Buzzes fine, stings deep
I play a frightened little game
I eject myself at scary speed
In front of cars and i go yeaah!
She is it
She's got the sting
She's dangerous
She stings
He gets stung
He is out
She gets the honey
She is it
She flies great
The bee
Flies great, stings deep
The cars freeze from fright,
When they see my beautiful body and tongue
Then I speed away but no one catches me.
I'm the fastest bee in town.
Oh, hot bee
Queen of heaven
With glossy trunk
Buzz to me
I want to be stung
I want to be out
Here is the honey
You're it
It stings deep
The bee
Stings deep, kills fast
DEAR PLASTIC
Plastic
Nylon
Terylene
Made of atoms
By tender fingers
And determined heads
Of inventors
Tickling
Perfection
Plastic
Rayon
I was born aeons ago
Before anything human was known
My friends the alchemists
Told me everything was natural
And will always be that way
And possible to make gold from dirt
Plastic
Nylon
Dear plastic
Be proud
Don't imitate anything
You're pure, pure, pure
Plastic
Nylon
I believed I was their dustbin for knowledge
Took everything and digested
Of course I became big and strong
Today I'm old and withering away
My friends the alchemists
Long disappeared into dust
I no longer get anything fruity
No longer gold made from dirt
Now I only get spacefood on a tray
Plastic
Eggimanyinonde
Plastic
Saggiraranana
WATER
Wait for me underneath the water
Wait for me I have to go now
Into the big city
She pulls me firmly towards her
Wait for me underneath the water
Wait for me here
You'll be fine underneath the water
I'll be back early next summer
We met again at the lake
After all these years,
You said "want a drink?"
I love you
And you know I will be back
Hold your breath
And nestle into the ice
Wait for me underneath the water
Wait for me and count to ten
You'll look up and I will be there
Wait for me
The lake was frozen,
You took me for a walk over the ice,
I cracked
The ice cracked
I fell into the lake
I watched you through the eyes
Love into you
Wait for me underneath the water
Wait for me and singalong
"She's coming, coming, coming"
Wait for me
I watched you through the ice
I expected you to crawl for help
I smiled, you just stood there
I tried to kiss you through the ice,
You just walked away
A DAY CALLED ZERO
A day called zero
Is the day we'll all relax
Mountains will tumble
With a long and heavy thump
Dust spreads on the sky
So the sun will grow pale
Oil tanks tear open
And the city livens up
A day called zero
Will be such a busy day
Whistling marches?
I'll hoover my past away
Controlling a bulldozer
I will improve my town
Stacking concrete slabs
Me and you my pluto
Will you be with me on that day?
We'll be watching and smiling
At last it's over
Nothing stops us now
Come and enter
Me let's multiply
On a day called zero
PLANET
The universe it is so big
I feel dizzy when I think about it
My head swims I get giddy
Still I realize that long ago
It was so small I could have kept it
Underneath my little skirt
At least until the big bang happened
Every man, every woman
Sun planet the universe and me
When I'm excited and have to wait
My organs start to move, my lungs pump
Cells flow faster on tracks inside me
I demand to see myself from within
Be a cell for a day
Every man, every woman
Sun planet the universe and me
The planets and me we get along so well together
Gliding down imaginary rollercoaster-paths along the sky
I can do somersaults around Jupiter if I feel like it
Nothing can stop a planet
But a planet can stop anything at all
Every man, every woman
Sun planet the universe and me
STICK AROUND FOR JOY >>>
GOLD
Gold, finger itches
Gold, in the hair
Gold, you have to have
Gold, all for yourself
Gold, full train of it
Gold, rob the train
Gold, murder in the train
Gold, get some gold
Gold is the sweat of the sun
Give me some gold!
Gold, it glitters
Gold, is soft and thin
I'm searching for gold
I need gold just to see
Never seen it before
Indication of gold
Do I see gold?
Bloody fingers!
Dig! Crawl! Dig!
Gold is the sweat of the sun
Give me some gold!
I continue to dig into the earth,
Torn fingers, bloody fingers..
There is a sun in the sky
Nothing has changed
And gold, begotten of the sun..
Give me gold!
I need it now, oh gold!
I'm still searching for gold
I need gold
And I have to have a chunk of.. gold
no indication of gold
Just a little piece of gold for me!
In the core of the earth
Oh, gold!
I see the glow, this is the gold
Gold, gold! Oh gold!
I need gold!
HIT
This wasn't supposed to happen,
I was happy by myself.
Accidentally, you seduced me,
I'm in love again.
I lie in my bed
Totally still
My eyes wide open
I'm in rapture
I don't believe this
I'm in love again!
This wasn't
Supposed to happen,
I've been hit
With your charm.
How could you do this
To me?
I'm in love
Again...
I lie in my bed,
Totally still,
My eyes wide open.
I'm in rapture.
I don't believe this,
I'm in love again...
This wasn't supposed to happen!
This wasn't supposed to happen!
Yet I'm, yet I'm the same
Yet I'm ??????
Yet I'm, yet I'm the same
Yet I'm ??????
A small story which never happened
I said ouch! This really hurts...
That can't be this has been
Practised for millions of years
Therefore we are
Yes, but I, I'm a boy.
A small story which always happens
I said ouch! This really hurts...
This could well be
But this has
Been practised for millions of years,
Therefore we are
Yes, but, you're a girl!
I lie in my bed,
Totally still,
My eyes wide open.
I'm in rapture.
I don't believe this,
I'm in love
Again...
This wasn't supposed to happen.
I lie in my bed,
Totally still,
My eyes wide open.
I'm in rapture.
(rapture)
You've put a seed inside me,
(oh)
And while you're away,
(see...)
It's growing silently,
(to be a life)
Starts in my stomach.
Embraces my insides,
(in time..)
And about to reach my heart.
This wasn't supposed to happen!
This wasn't supposed to happen!
This really hurts!
Yet I'm, yet I'm the same
Yet I'm ??????
Yet I'm ??????
Yet I'm ??????
LEASH CALLED LOVE
You love him
You want to make him happy
He loves you
He wants to humiliate you
He's a bastard!
You should leave him!
Paranoid manipulator
To hell with him!
He's dragging you
Along
On a leash called love
He controls you
You should do him in
Before he gets to you
Watch out girl!
He's dragging you
Along
On a leash called love.
You have torn me
Inside out
Nothing but
A nervous wreck
You have got me
On that leash,
You whip me with
A leash called love
I've lost all sense of direction!
You make me a victim
To your friends' nasty remarks
And I don't know how
I survive!
Trying to tell (??)
you have to pretend like
???????????
I can no longer
Distinguish from
Right or wrong,
Sane, insane...
You're taking your chances
Be through with you (?)
Whip me back,
Back and forth.
Paranoid.
Leash called love..
LUCKY NIGHT
I've tried a lot and most things excite me.
But what tops it all is doing two things at a time.
Life and death
Glass and water
Rock and roll
Wash and dirty
Christ and Jesus
Time and hours
To drive a car and listen to music
To read a book and ride a train
Watch and maker
God and dog
Hammer and Saw
Babies and Nappies
Stop and Hold
Moon and Stars
To be enjoying combinations
turns me on
I'm into trying a lot and most things excite me.
But what tops it all is doing two things at a time.
Knife and fork
Tar and feathers
Window and Pane
Country and western
Rhythm and Blues
Yawn and Sigh
This is a lucky night for me
A night when one plus one is three
and the ?????
??????????
when the ????
??????????
To read a letter and fall in love
To not sleep and be not unhappy
To watch tv and cuddle
Creme de la creme
Is doing two things at a time
to do two things twice at once
its so nice is there a point?
????? not to happen
time and logic finally
you must enter my 2 last trips
can that be, or am I still thinking?
HAPPY NURSE
After watching this ???? lady
I noticed that she was a poor nurse
She knows exactly what people need
Without them having to tell her
She's a poor nurse
She knows what you hunger for
And feeds it to you
The Nurse was also my friend
She gave me friendship in abundance
Smothered me with hugs and kisses
I've got used to her injection
And they often send me stupid
It could become a habit
She gave me friendship in abundance
Smothered me with hugs and kisses
She invites me to a soft room
And hands me a piece of confidence
She injects me with a dose of warmth
It dawns upon me that humans are the only drug
She's a poor nurse
She knows what you hunger for
And feeds it to you
But then I bought myself a
Small rubber dingy when she told me
He who was up a mountain (??)
Because she wanted everyone
To give her
Love and affection
Her breast was
Great and soft
Incredibly great,
Great and soft
And could squirt
A long way!
A great distance...
She's a poor nurse
This careless woman
Don't hate her
She's a poor nurse
She knows what you
Hunger for
And feeds it to you
She's a poor nurse
This careless woman
Don't hate her
She's a poor nurse
I’M HUNGRY
I wake up and know that
This is the day I'm leaving
I'm going alone with no map
I need room I need space
Have to try something that
Hasn't been done before
I want to go to places
Where I don't know what its like
?????????????????
Listen, I'm hungry
Thirsty for surprises
Ready for experience
Have to get what I need right now
I'm by the road hitchhiking
And a car has stopped.
As I climb in to it,
I'm struck with hot joy
Have to try something that
Hasn't been done before
I want to go to places
Where I don't know what its like...
???????????????????
Listen, I'm hungry
Thirsty for surprises
Ready for experience
Have to get what I need right now
Listen, I'm hungry
Ready for surprises
Thirsty for experience
Have to get what I need right now
Am I on my way out?
Lying in the grass, and allow myself to dream
Am I going further?
I want to go on, am I dreaming?
Have I gone crazy in my sleep?
Shake my head can someone find
find me Einar's food
someone find Einar's food
I said I'm hungry!
I had good food in society
why am I so hungry
on my way out?
Einar's food is not good...
WALKABOUT
I admire the curves,
The golden landscape.
I wanna be there
Right with you.
That's where I'm staying,
Where no-one can find me
In the depths of the valleys
Magnificent landscape
Delicious boy,
With animal eyes,
Beautiful buttocks,
Haunting movements.
But the thing that makes me love you
Is the unforgettable smell of your skin.
There's a hole and there's a stick.
between the hills!
There's a cove and there's a ship,
That goes in and out of the harbour.
The heavy pear,
Totally ripe.
Adorable fruits
So generous.
This is where I'm staying,
Where no-one can find me,
In the depths of the valleys.
Magnificent landscape.
Delicious boy,
With animal eyes,
Beautiful buttocks,
Haunting movements.
But the thing that makes me love you
Is the unforgettable smell of your skin.
There's a hole and there's a stick.
between the hills...
There's a tunnel and there's a train.
admire the view.
There's a cove and there's a ship,
That goes in and out of the harbour.
Mountains of Nutrition.
Two, side by side,
Above a navel
And under a chin,
That's where I'm staying,
Where no-one can find me.
In the depths of the valleys,
Magnificent landscape.
Is everything a landscape?
I'm in the landscape
Crawl into the canyon
Into the rain forest
Crawl up the crevasse
Jog along the tundra
Walk up the slope
Have a breather between the hills
Admire the view
Not yet on the peak
Walk further and rest
Between two tranquil pools
Then climb the peak
And admire
I'm captivated.
HETERO SCUM
My blood flows in me
My red juice in my veins
My blood travels fast
My blood rushes through me
When I need you
My blood flows faster
My veins turn into molten mud
I'm turning in, turning in to
turning in to the ??????????
I was made long ago
My blood makes me remember
I was made out of mud
My red juice makes me remember
When I need you
My blood goes faster
My veins turn into molten mud
Half of me
I'm punctured
I'm leaking
The air is out
Blasted into space like
Burst balloons
I'm punctured
I'm leaking
Half of me
There's a hole on you too
Into you
Half of me
It's the beginning half of me
When I need you
My blood goes faster
My veins turn into molten mud
I'm turning in, turning in to
turning in to the ??????????
Half of me, half of me
Half of me,
I'm a jellyfish!
Burst balloon!
Half of me, half of me
Into space, into space
Burst balloon!
Half of me,
No jellyfish, no jellyfish!
VITAMIN
You convince me
That I am able
You make me strong
You're my vitamin
My pain is my pain
Your cure is vitamins
You're my sinking capsule
You're my vitamin...
I look at this pain of mine
I don't know what it is
You say I could have it easily
Fixed with some vitamins
Before the hair,
Before the skin,
You form a cell
You're my vitamin
My pain is my pain
Your cure is vitamins
If I try some of your pills,
Won't I have another pain?
(Hurrah, hurrah!)
You show me off in all these parties
So very proud of me
Telling everybody there that
I am your little vitamin
You exit with me (??)
Like I was somebody
I am not your cure
To you I'm just another vitamin
I'm so confused
My pain is mine!
I don't know what it is
You say I can have it easily fixed
With some vitamins
My pain is my pain,
Your cure is vitamins
In all these fancy parties
I won't have another pain
As a payment?
You want all of me
'Cause I am your final cure
Use some - show me off!
CHIHUAHUA
Bow-wow
Chi-hua-hua-hua-hua-hua!
Dog, bad dog, bad dog, best dog
Bow-wow-wow-wow-wow
Chi-hua-hua-hua-hua-hua!
It were aliens who started this green popularity
Sure were aliens
They are green
Want everything
Green and brown
No mistake
New demand
Will be made
All must be green
Everything
When they land
The aliens would be made the laughing stock of Planet Earth
They are green
They intend
To occupy
Planet Earth
They have green
Want everything
Green and brown
...
DEBUT >>>
HUMAN BEHAViOUR | 
if you ever get close to a human
and human behaviour
be ready to get confused
there's definitely no logic
to human behaviour
but yet so irresistible
there's no map
to human behaviour
they're terribly moody
then all of a sudden turn happy
but, oh, to get involved in the exchange
of human emotions
is ever so satisfying
there's no map
and a compass
wouldn't help at all
human behaviour
CRYING |
I travel
all around the city
go in and out of
locomotives
all alone
there's no-one here
and people everywhere
crying 'cause I need you
crying I can feel you
crying 'cause I need you
crying 'cause I care
it's a hot day
and I'm dressed lightly
I move carefully
through the crowd
here everyone
is so vulnerable
and I'm as well
there's no-one here
and people everywhere
crying 'cause I need you
crying I can feel you
crying 'cause I need you
crying 'cause I care
only if a ship would sail in
or just somebody came
and knocked on my door
or just (or just) something
crying 'cause I need you
crying 'cause I need you
VENUS AS ABOY |
his wicked sense of humour
suggests exciting sex
his fingers focus on her
touches, he's venus as a boy
he believes in beauty
he's venus as a boy
he's exploring
the taste of her
arousal
so accurate
he sets off
the beauty in her
he's venus as a boy
he believes in beauty
he's venus as a boy
THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS |
come on girl
let's sneak out of this party
it's getting boring
there's more to life than this
it's still early morning
we could go down to the harbour
and jump between the boats
and see the sun come up
we could nick a boat
and sneak off to this island
I could bring my little ghettoblaster
there's more to life than this
but then we'd have to rush back
to the town's best baker
to get the first bread of the morning
there's more to life than this
LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE |
lately
I find myself
out gazing
at stars
hearing guitars
like someone
in love
sometimes
the things I do
astouned me
mostly whenever you're
around me
lately
I seem to walk
as though
I have wings
banned into things
like someone in love
each time
I look at you
I'm laying as a cloud
and feeling
like someine
in love
sometimes the things
I do astouned me
mostly whenever
you're
around
me
lately I seem to walk
as though
I have wings
bunned into things
like someone in love
each time I look at you
I'm laying as a cloud
and feeling
like
someone in love
like someone in love
like someone in love
BIG TIME SENSUALITY |
I can sense it
something important
is about to happen
it's coming up
it takes courage to enjoy it
the hardcore & the gentle
big time sensuality
we just met
and I know I'm a bit too intimate
but something huge is coming up
and we're both included
it takes courage to enjoy it
the hardcore & the gentle
big time sensuality
I don't know my future after this weekend
and I don't want to
it takes courage to enjoy it
the hardcore & the gentle
big time sensuality
ONE DAY |
one day
it will happen
one day, one day
it will all come true
one day
when you're ready
one day, one day
when you're up to it
the atmosphere
will get lighter
and two suns ready
to shine just for you
I can feel it
one day
it will happen
one day, one day
it will all make sense
one day, one day
you will blossom
one day, one day
when you're ready
an aeroplane
will curve gracefully
around the volcano
with the eruption
that never lets you down
I can feel it
and the beautifullest
fireworks will burn
in the sky just for you
I can feel it
one day
one day
AEROPLANE |
I can not live
peacefully without you
for even a moment
I miss you terribly
when you're away
he's away
this ain't right
I'm alone
I'm taking an aeroplane
across the world
to follow my heart
how come
out of all the people in the world
only one
can make me complete
one word on the phone
makes me happy
but one touch directly
makes me ecstatic
he's away
this ain't right
I'm alone
I'm taking an aeroplane
across the world
to follow my heart
COME TO ME |
come to me
i'll take care of you
protect you
calm, calm down
you're exhausted
come lie down
you don't have to explain
I understand
you know
that I adore you
you know
that I love you
so don't make me say it
it would burst the bubble
break the charm
jump off
your building's on fire
i'll catch you
i'll catch you
destroy all that is keeping you back
and then i'll nurse you
i'll nurse you
come to me
i'll take care of you
you don't have to explain
I understand
VIOLENTLY HAPPY |
since I met you
this small town hasn't got room
for my big feelings
violently happy
'cause I love you
violently happy
but you're not here
violently happy
come clam me down
before I get into trouble
I tip-toe down to the shore
stand by the ocean
make it roar at me
and I roar back
violently happy
'cause I love you
violently happy
but you're not here
violently happy
overemotional
violently happy
i'll get into trouble
real soon
if you don't get here
baby
violently happy
'cause I love you
violently happy
I'm aiming too high
violently happy
it will get me into trouble
violently happy
I'm driving my car
too fast
with ecstatic music on
violently happy
I'm getting too drunk
violently happy
I'm daring people
to jump off roofs with me
only you
can clam me down
I'm aiming too high
soothe me
THE ANCHOR SONG |
I live by the ocean
and during the night
I dive into it
down to the bottom
underneath all currents
and drop my anchor
this is where I'm staying
this is my home
this is where I'm staying
this is my home
PLAY DEAD
Darling, stop confusing me,
with your wishful thinking.
Hopeful embraces,
Don't you understand?
Ihave to go through this,
I belong to care where no-one cares,
and no-one loves.
No light no air to live in,
a place called hate,
The City of Death.
I play dead,
It stops the hurting.
I play dead,
and the hurt stops.
Its sometimes just like sleeping,
curling up inside my private tortures.
I nestle into pain,
Huge suffering, caress every nerve (?).
I play dead,
It stops the hurting.
POST >>>
ARMY OF ME |
stand up
you've got to manage
I won't sympathize
anymore
and if you complain once more
you'll meet an army of me
you're alright
there's nothing wrong
self-sufficience please!
and get to work
and if you complain once more
you'll meet an army of me
you're on your own now
we won't save you
your resque-squad
is too exhausted
and if you complain once more
you'll meet an army of me
HYPER-BALLAD |
we live on a mountain
right at the top
there's a beautiful view
from the top of the mountain
every morning I walk towards the edge
and throw little things off
like car-parts bottles and cutlery
or whatever I find lying around
it's become a habit
a way
to start the day
I go through all this
before you wake up
so I can feel happier
to be safe up here with you
it's real early morning
no-one is awake
I'm back at my cliff
still throwing things off
I listen to the sounds they make
on their way down
I follow with my eyes 'til they crash
imagine what my body would sound like
slamming against those rocks
when it lands
will my eyes
be closed or open?
I go through all this
before you wake up
so I can feel happier
to be safe up here with you
THE MODERN THINGS |
all the modern things
have always existed
they've just been waiting
in a mountain for the right moment
and listening to the
irritating noises
of dinosaurs
and people
dabbling outside
all the modern things
have always existed
they've just been waiting
to come out
and multiply
and take over
it's their turn now!
IT’S OH SO QUIET |
it's oh so quiet
it's oh so still
you're all alone
and so peaceful until
you fall in love
the sky up above
is caving in
you've never been so nuts about a guy
you wanna laugh, you wanna cry
you cross your heart and hope to die
'til it's over and then
it's nice and quiet
but soon again
starts another big riot!
you blow a fuse
the devil cuts loose
so what's the use
of falling in love
it's oh so quiet
it's oh so still
you're all alone
and so peaceful until
you ring the bell
you shout and you yell
you broke the spell
gee, this is swell, you almost have a fit
this guy is gorge and I got hit
there's no mistake
THIS IS IT!
'til it's over and then
it's nice and quiet
but soon again
starts another big riot!
you blow a fuse
the devil cuts loose
what's the use
of falling in love?
the sky caves in
the devil cuts loose
you blow
blow
blow
blow your fuse
when you fall in love
ENJOY |
I wish I want to stay here
I wish this be enough
I wish I only love you
I wish simplicity
look at the speed out there
it magnetizes me to it
and I have no fear
I'm only into this to
enjoy
enjoy
enjoy
enjoy
I wish I'd only look
a-and didn't have to touch
I wish I'd only smell this
a-and didn't have to taste
how can I ignore?
this is sex without touching
I'm going to explore
I'm only into this to
enjoy
enjoy
enjoy
enjoy
YOU’VE BEEN FLIRTING AGAIN |
all that she said was true
all that she said was true
give her some time
give her some space
all that she said was true
all that she meant was good
all that she meant was good
give her some time
give her some space
all that she meant was good
how you reacted was right
how you reacted was right
give her some time
give her some space
how you reacted was right
ISOBEL |
in a forest pitch-dark
glowed the tiniest spark
it burst into flame
like me
like me
my name isobel
married to myself
my love isobel
living by herself
in a heart full of dust
lives a creature called lust
it surprises and scares
like me
like me
my name isobel
married to myself
my love isobel
living by herself
when she does it she means to
moth delivers her message
unexplained on your collar
crawling in silence
a simple excuse
in a tower of steel
nature forges a deal
to raise wonderful hell
like me
like me
my name isobel
married to myself
my love isobel
living by herself
when she does it she means to
moth delivers her message
unexplained on your collar
crawling in silence
a simple excuse
POSSIBLY MAYBE |
your flirt
finds me out
teases the crack in me
smittens me with hope
possibly maybe
possibly maybe
possibly maybe
as much as I
definitely enjoy solitude
I wouldn't mind
perhaps
spending
little time with you
sometimes
sometimes
possibly maybe
probably love
possibly maybe
probably love
uncertainty excites me
baby
who knows what's going to happen?
lottery or car crash
or you join a cult
probably maybe
possibly love
this is probably maybe
possibly love
possibly
mon petit volcan
you're eruptions and disasters
I keep calm
admiring your lava
I keep calm
possibly maybe
probably love
possibly maybe
probably love
electric shocks
I love them
with you
dozen a day
but after a while I wonder
where's that love you promised me?
where is it?
possibly maybe
probably love
possibly, possibly
possibly maybe
probably love
how can you offer me love like that?
my heart's burned
how can you offer me love like that?
I'm exhausted
leave me alone
possibly maybe
possibly maybe
possibly maybe
since we broke up
I'm using lipstick again
I suck my tongue
in remembrance of you
possibly maybe
possibly maybe
possibly maybe
possibly maybe
possibly maybe
I MISS YOU |
I miss you
but I haven't met you yet
so special
but it hasn't happened yet
you are gorgeous
but I haven't met you yet
I remember
but it hasn't happened yet
and if you believe in dreams
or what is more important
that a dream can come true
I will meet you
I was peaking
but it hasn't happened yet
I haven't been given
my best souvenir
I miss you
but I haven't met you yet
I know your habits
but wouldn't recognize you yet
and if you believe in dreams
or what is more important
that a dream can come true
I will meet you
I'm so impatient
I can't stand the wait
when will I get my cuddle?
who are you?
I know by now that you'll arrive
by the time I stop waiting
I miss you
COVER ME |
while I crawl into the unknown
cover me
I'm going hunting for mysteries
cover me
I'm going to prove the impossible really exists
this is really dangerous
cover me
but worth all the effort
cover me
I'm going to prove the impossible really exists
HEADPHONES |
genius to
fall asleep
to your tape last night
sounds go through the muscles
these abstract
wordless
movements
move move move move
they start off as cells
that haven't been
touched before
these cells are virgins
my headphones
they saved my life
your tape
it lulled me to sleep, to sleep, to sleep
nothing will be the same
I like this resonance
it elevates me
I don't recognize myself
this is very interesting
my headphones
they saved my life
your tape
lulled me to sleep, to sleep, to sleep
I am fast asleep now
you're still with me
i'm asleep
my headphones
they saved, saved my life
your tape
it lulled me to sleep
to sleep, to sleep
HOMOGENIC >>>
HUNTER |
if travel is searching
and home has been found
i'm not stopping
i'm going hunting
i'm the hunter
i'll bring back the goods
but i don't know when
thought i could organise freedom
how Scandinavian of me
you sussed it out, didn't you?
you could smell it
so you left me on my own
to complete the mission
now i'm leaving it all behind
i'm going hunting
i'm the hunter
JOGA |
all the accidents that happen
follow the dot
coincidence makes sense
only with you
you don't have to speak
I feel
emotional landscapes
they puzzle me
then the riddle gets solved and you push me up to this
state of emergency
how beautiful to be!
state of emergency
is where I want to be
all that no-one sees
you see
what's inside of me
every nerve that hurts you heal
deep inside of me
you don't have to speak - I feel
emotional landscapes
they puzzle me
confuse
then the riddle gets solved and you push me up to this
state of emergency
how beautiful to be!
state of emergency
is where I want to be
state of emergency
state of emergency
UNRAVEL |
while you are away
my heart comes undone
slowly unravels
in a ball of yarn
the devil collects it
with a grin
our love
in a ball of yarn
he'll never return it
so when you come back
we'll have to make new love
he'll never return it
when you come back
we'll have to make new love
while you are away
my heart comes undone
slowly uh-unravels
in a ball of yarn
the devil collects it
hmm-with a grin
our love, our love
in a ball of yarn
he'll never return it
when you come back
we'll have to make new love
he'll never return it
when you come back
we'll have to make new love
oh, he'll, he'll never return it
when you come back
we'll have to make new love
he'll never return it
when you come back
we'll have to make new love
BACHELORETTE |
I'm a fountain of blood
in the shape of a girl
you're the bird on the brim
hypnotised by the whirl
drink me, make me feel real
wet your beak in the stream
game we're playing is life
love's a two way dream
leave me now, return tonight
tide will show you the way
if you forget my name
you will go astray
like a killer whale
trapped in a bay
I'm a path of cinders
burning under your feet
you're the one who walks me
I'm your one way street
I'm a whisper in water
a secret for you to hear
you're the one who grows distant
when I beckon you near
leave me now, return tonight
the tide will show you the way
if you forget my name
you will go astray
like a killer whale
trapped in a bay
I'm a tree that grows hearts
one for each that you take
you're the intruders hand
I'm the branch that you break
ALL NEON LIKE |
not 'til you halo all over me
I'll come over
not 'til it shimmers 'round your skull
I'll be yours
I weave for you
the marvellous web
glow in the dark threads
all neon like
the cocoon surrounds you
embraces all
so you can sleep
foetus-style
and they will assist us
'cause we're asking for help
and the lumineous beam
it feeds you
the soft distortion
fills you up
nourish, nourish
your turtleheart
and they will assist us
'cause we're asking for help
and the lumineous beam
it feeds you
don't get angry with yourself
don't, don't get angry with yourself
I'll heal you
with a razorblade
I'll cut a slit open
and the lumineous beam
heals you honey, heals you
don't get angry with yourself
don't get angry with yourself
don't get angry with yourself
don't get angry with yourself
I'll heal you
I'll heal you
lumineous
I'll heal you
5 YEARS |
you think you're denying me of something
well, I've got plenty
you're the one who's missing out
but you won't notice
'til after five years
if you'll live that long
you'll wake up
all loveless
I dare you
to take me on
I dare you
to show me your palms
I'm so bored with cowards
that say they want
and then they can't handle
you can't handle love
you can't handle love
you just can't handle
I dare you
to take me on
I dare you
to show me your palms
what's so scary?
not a threat in sight
you just can't handle
you can't handle love
you can't handle love, baby
you can't handle love
it's obvious
you can't handle
I dare you
to take me on
I dare you
to show me your palms
I'm so bored of cowards
that say they want
then they can't handle
you can't handle love, baby
you can't handle love
it's obvious
you can't handle
I dare you
to take me on
I dare you
to show me your palms
I'm so bored of cowards
that say they want
then they can't handle
you can't handle love, baby
you can't handle love
it's obvious
you can't handle
I dare you
I dare you
I dare you
I dare you
IMMATURE |
how could I be so immature?
to think he could replace
the missing elements in me
how extremely lazy of me
how could I be so immature?
to think he could replace
the missing elements in me
how extremely lazy of me
how could I be so immature?
how could I be so immature?
ALARM CALL |
I have walked this earth
and watched people
it doesn't scare me at all
I can be sinsere
and say I like them
it doesn't scare me at all
you can't say no to hope
can't say no to happiness
I want to go on a mountain-top
with a radio and good batteries
and play a joyous tune and
free the whole human race from suffering
it doesn't scare me at all
I'm no fucking buddhist
but this is enlightenment
the less room you give me
the more space I've got
it doesn't scare me at all
you can't say no to hope
can't say no to happiness
it doesn't scare me at all
I want to be on a mountain-top
with a radio and good batteries
and play a joyous tune and
free the human race from suffering
it doesn't scare me at all
this is an alarm-call
so wake-up, wake-up now!
today has never happened
and it doesn't frighten me
It doesn't scare me at all
you can't say no to hope
you can't say no to happiness
it doesn't scare me at all
it doesn't scare me at all
it doesn't scare me at all
it doesn't scare me at all
it doesn't scare me at all
PLUTO |
excuse me
but I just have to
explode
explode this body
off me
I'll be brand new
brand new tomorrow
a little bit tired
but brand new
ALL IS FULL OF LOVE |
you'll be given love
you'll be taken care of
you'll be given love
you have to trust it
maybe not from the sources
you've poured yours
maybe not from the directions
you are staring at
twist your head around
it's all around you
all is full of love
all around you
all is full of love
you just ain't receiving
all is full of love
your phone is off the hook
all is full of love
your doors are all shut
all is full of love
all is full of love
SELMASONGS >>>
Overture
(instrumental)
Written by: Björk
Arranged, Orchestrated
& Conducted by: Vincent Mendoza
Produced by: Björk
CVALDA
Björk :
Clatter, crash, clack
Racket, bang, thump
Rattle, clang, crack, thud, whack, bam!
It's music
Now dance
Listen, Cvalda
You're the dancer
You got the sparkle
In your eyes
Look at me entrancer
Clatter, crash, clack
Racket, bang, thump
Rattle, clang, crack, thud, whack, bam!
It's the clatter machines
They greet you
And say
We tap out a rhythm
And sweep you away
A clatter machine
What a magical sound
A room full of noises
That spins you around
Catherine Deneuve :
Darling, Selma
Look who's dancing
Faster than a
Shooting star
Cvalda's here
Cvalda sings
Björk :
Clatter, crash, clack
Racket, bang, thump
Rattle, clang, crack, thud, whack, bam!
It's the clatter machines
They greet you
And say
We tap out a rhythm
And sweep you away
A clatter machine
What a magical sound
And full of noises
That spins us around
That spins us around
It spins us around
I've Seen It All
Björk
I've seen it all
I have seen the trees
I have seen the willow leaves
Dancing in the breeze
Yorke
I've seen a man killed
By his best friend,
And lives that were over
Before they were spent.
Björk & Yorke
I've seen what I was
And I know what I'll be
I've seen it all
There is no more to see
Björk
You haven't seen elephants
Kings or Peru
Yorke
I'm happy to say
I had better to do
Björk
What about China?
Have you seen the Great Wall?
Yorke
All walls are great
If the roof doesn't fall
And the man you will marry
The home you will share
Björk
To be honest
I really don't care
[gibberish]
Yorke
You've never been
To Niagara Falls
Björk
I have seen water
It's water, that's all
Yorke
The Eiffel Tower
The Empire State
Björk
My pulse was as high
On my very first date
Yorke
And your grandson's hand
As he plays with your hair
Björk
To be honest
I really don't care
[gibberish]
Björk & Yorke
I've seen it all
I've seen the dark
I've seen the brightness
In one little spark
I've seen what I chose
And I've seen what I need
And that is enough
To want more would be greed
I've seen what I was
And I know what I'll be
I've seen it all
There is no more to see
Yorke
You've seen it all
And all you have seen
You can always review on
Your own little screen
The light and the dark
The big and the small
Just keep in mind
You need no more at all
Björk & Yorke
You've seen what you were
And know what you'll be
You've seen it all
There is no more to see
[gibberish]
Scatterhead
Black night is falling
The sun is gone to bed
The innocent are dreaming
As you should sleepy-head
Sleepy-head, sleepy-head
All the love above
I send into you
Comfort and protection
I'll watch over you
But don't ask me
What's gonna happen next
I know the future
I'd love to lead you the way
Just to make it easier on you
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
My
Dearest
Scatterheart
There is comfort
Right in the eye
Of the hurricane
Just to make it easier on you
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
All the hurt in the world
You know
There's nothing I'd love to do more
Than spare you from that burden
It's gonna be hard
If I only could
Shelter you
From that pain
Just to make it easier on you
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
You are gonna have to find out for yourself
In The Musicals
Why do I love it so much?
What kind of magic is this?
How come I can't help adore it?
It's just another musical
No one minds it at all
If I'm having a ball
This is a musical
And there is always someone to catch me
There is always someone to catch me
There is always someone to catch me
There is always someone to catch me
When I'd fall
Why do I love you so much?
What kind of magic is this?
How come I can't help adore you?
You are in a musical
I didn't mind it at all
You were having a ball
This is a musical
And you were always there to catch me
You were always there to catch me
You were always there to catch me
You were always there to catch me
When I'd fall
I don't mind it at all
If you're having a ball
This is a musical
And I'll always be there to catch you
I will always be there to catch you
I'll always be there to catch you
I will always be there to catch you
You always be there to catch me
And there's always someone to catch me
You always be there to catch me
You always there to catch me
When I'd fall
107 steps
Siobhan Fallon :
Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen
Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen,
Twenty, twenty one, twenty two, twenty three,
Twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven,
Twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty ...
Björk :
Thirty one, thirty five, thirty eight, fourty two,
Fourty eight, fifty one, fifty four, fifty eight
Sixty four, sixty eight, sixty nine, seventy five
Seventy nine, eighty three, eighty six, eighty nine, ninety three
One hundred steps
New world
Train-whistles, sweet clementine
Blueberries dancers in line
Cobwebs, a bakery sign
Ooooh - a sweet clementine
Ooooh dancers in line
Ooooh
If living is seeing
I'm holding my breath
In wonder, I wonder
What happen's next?
A new world
A new day to see
See, see
I'm softly walking on air
Halfway to heaven frontier
Sunlight unfolds in my hair
Ooooh I'm walking on air
Ooooh to heaven frontier
Ooooh
If living is seeing
I'm holding my breath
In wonder, I wonder
What happens next?
A new world
A new day to see
See, see
To see...
My Favourite Things
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with string
These are a few of my favourite things
Cream coloured ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleighbells and shnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favourite things
When the bee stings
When the dog bites
When I'm feeling bad
I simply remember my favourite things
And then I don't feel so sad
1965 Björk Guðmundsdóttir
was born in 1965, November 21st.
1970 Björk attends, at the age of five, to the local music school Barnamúsíkskóli
Reykjavíkur - a school she would be dedicating her next ten years to, and
besides singing, learning to play the piano and the flute.
1977 Björk has appeared on national radio singing "I Love To Love", which
lead her to a record deal and Björk, releases her very first solo album
titled “Björk”! The album went platinum and she was offered the chance to
do a second album. With the money she earned she bought herself a piano
and started composing new songs of her own.
1980 Björk graduated from music school at the age of 15, being the only
student to have followed through all the 10 years of education.
1982 and then there was Tappi Tíkarrass! Releasing 2 albums and appearing
in a couple of films, most famous the Icelandic documentary "Rokk Í Reykjavík"
with 2 songs, Björk also became the cover girl of the video.
1983 Tappi Tíkarrass has just about explored every possibility of the band
and disbanded. They were Einar Örn and Einar Melax from Purrkurr Pillnikk,
Gulli Óttarson, Siggi Baldursson and Birgir Morgensen from Þeyr and Björk.
After writing songs and rehearsing for two weeks they performed under the
name KUKL, which means 'sorcery' or 'witchcraft' in medieval Icelandic.
1984 KUKL releases two albums, first 'The Eye'. It's called "Um Úrnat frá
Björk" and it was released in about 100 copies, all hand colored by Björk
herself! The title means "About Úrnat by Björk", with Úrnat being a papu-ish
word for holiday, or the likes of that.
1985 Björk discovered she was pregnant. That was no hinder for KUKL though.
Björk carried on as usual, and being 7 months pregnant, playing live on
the television with her big and healthy stomach sticking out.
1986 KUKL ultimately became very intense, so they decided to just break
the band up. Björk carried on recording some music with Gulli though, under
the name The Elgar Sisters, the name taken after a classical British composer.
They recorded 11 songs for an album, but they were put on hold to await
the next major development for Björk. A few of the songs were released under
Björk's solo career; Glóra, Siðasta Ég and Stigðu Mig.
At the age of 19, Björk gave birth to a child; a boy to be named Sindri,
on June 8 of 1986. Soon after, Björk got her first acting role in the Brothers
Grim based movie "The Juniper Tree", a black & white English-speaking movie
about two sisters who possess witchcraft.
Later on, Bad Taste developed a pop group consisting of Björk, Siggi Baldursson,
Einar Örn and Einar Melax from KUKL, with Þór Eldon, Bragi Ólafsson and
Purrkurr Pillnikk's old guitarist Fridrik Erlingson. And then there was
The Sugarcubes. Their official gig was rewarded with some studio time, and
so they recorded their first hit, 'Ammæli' (Birthday). They released an
English version on the British new label One Little Indian in 1987.
1988 The Sugarcubes got popular soon and signed onto the American scene
via the Warner imprint 'Elektra' and after a few singles they released their
debut album. The title was conceived when a broke poet friend in Iceland
exclaimed, when given a cup of coffee and a cigarette; 'Life's Too Good!"
After a while the Sugarcubes once again switched keyboardist, this time
to ?ór's girlfriend Magga Örnolfsdóttir - "stolen" from the band Reptile.
1989 The Sugarcubes had now become really famous, and decided to make the
next album as unpredictable as possible. Finally, the first single 'Regina'
was presented to the world. After a Monster tour, they released their second
album with the title "Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week!" - a quote inspired
of Mr. Toad of Kenneth Grahame's famous children's book 'The Wind In The
Willows'...
This was not like 'Life's Too Good' at all, which was what they aimed at
- but the critics weren't as convinced of the glory of this album, so they
came down pretty hard on it. The album sold poorly, but the live shows were
always fully seated.
1990
The next few years, Bad Taste was running a bit slow, but when Björk got
the question from a couple of old friends and jazz musicians to sing for
them live when they were gonna be on the radio. Björk had been itching to
do this since 1987, when she had sung some jazzy gibberish with the trio
on one occasion, so she leaped on it and Bad Taste was keen on releasing
it on an album aswell. The old friends were Gudmundur Steingrimsson (aka
'Papa Jazz') and his Tríó Gudmundur Ingólfssonar, and together with Björk
they did a totally spontaneous album; 2 days, all live - no double takes.
The songs were old Icelandic tunes made famous by old Icelandic singers
and a couple of standards such as 'Oh Mein Papa' (in Icelandic), 'Ruby Baby'
and 'Can't Help Loving That Man Of Mine'
Gling-Gló instantly sold platinum. There were a few live tapes, since they
played some gigs in Iceland, but after Gudmundur died of cancer in 1992
Björk said, "No way. Never Again."
Björk planned to form a speed metal band called Scud and a duet with Sinead
O´Connor but wound up singing for Current 93, Bless and two tracks for Sódóma
Reykjavík, Óskar Jónassons first movie. The songs were the local fifties
standard 'O Borg Min Borg' with the KK Band and a techno track called 'Takk'
with DJ ?órhallur.
Later on she met a British guy who was the first musician Björk knew who
liked to improvise music on computers - something that thrilled Björk, who
now was a bit bored with the drum-bass-guitars setup of the Sugarcubes.
The band the British guy was in was 808 State.
1991
Björk also demoed two of her own songs for 808 State member Graham Massey
in 1990 - Aeroplane and the Anchor Song, and she met up with them in the
studio in Manchester. After taking a walkabout with her headphones full
of 808 State she returned with two new tracks; 'Ooops' and 'Qmart'.
After a while she also met jazz harpist Corky Hale, a tough old lady who
could stroke the harp moving Björk to tears. They wanted to do something
together, but Björks own music didn't quite bridge the generation-gap between
them so they settled on Björk's favourite, Chet Baker's old songs, like
'Like Someone In Love', 'My Funny Valentine' and 'I Fall In Love Too Easily'
and such - with only the songs 'Like Someone In Love' and 'I Remember You'
being properly released by Björk later on.
1992
After two singles released in 1990 and 1991, the third Sugarcubes album
was also released! It was the most happy-poppy collection of songs! The
title of this album was 'Stick Around For Joy'.
Needless to say, the critics were as ecstatic as can be expected of this
sort of purest form of pop. Even Einar made sense to them now, even though
he STILL was just Einar and always had been!
Later the same year they also put out a cd called 'It's-It!' with remixes
of some songs from their previous albums, with mixes by the likes of Justin
Robertson, Tony Humphries and Graham Massey, but someone said that that
was probably more of a marketing plot than a Sugarcubes thing.
The Sugarcubes once again started touring, but this was to be their very
last tour together, now supporting U2. Their very final gig was to take
place November 17 in New York at the Limelight club. At the very end of
the show, Einar is said to have shouted to the audience; "Thank you! We
were the Sugarcubes!"...
1993
Björk had some demo tapes ready for Derek Birkett, and made it clear from
the start that she only did this to please herself, so she wouldn't commercialize
it. Dom introduced Björk to Nellee Hooper, who would turn out to help Björk
produce her album. Original intent was that each track would have a different
producer, though, but they hit it off real good. Their relationship birthed
'Big Time Sensuality', but the first single to hit the humans was 'Human
Behaviour' - a meditation on humanity's oddness, portrayed on the big screen
by French animator Michel Gondry - having a giant teddybear avenge on the
human race and deliciously chomping up Björk in the end.
She abandoned 'Björk's Affairs' for the more statement-making title 'Debut'
- to celebrate that it was her first self-made album with her own songs
and without any compromises.
1994
Doing a live video, loads of live gigs and interviews, an Unplugged session
for MTV and even modeling clothes for Gaultier (as later also seen in the
movie 'Pret-A-Porter'!) - Debut was a major hit! Björk started working on
her next album. Having split with Sednaoui, Björk wrote a song about it,
called 'Possibly Maybe', a journey through the seven stages of a relationship,
from the first crush to the crushing break-up. Never being single since
16, Björk was a bit scared, but soon got into another working relationship
gone intimate as she met Adrian Thaws, also known as 'Tricky'.
The working relationship produced, after an escapade to Icelands nature
an hot springs, two songs - 'Enjoy' and 'Headphones'. Time came to record
her next mission, and together with Nellee, Marius de Vries and Howie B
she headed for Bahamas. She had to record half the record outside the UK,
in order to register her newly formed company Björk Overseas Ltd., having
changed the name from "Bapsi" Ltd (which was said to have been Björk's childhood
nickname) - but Björk didn't mind at all - she took the chance to record
it outdoors, on the beach at midnight and in bat-filled caves!
1995
The new album was supposed to be released when they got home from their
exotic journey, but in the last minute Björk panicked about the album being
too soft and electronic so she re-recorded it, adding trumpets, saxophones,
harpsichords, a symphony orchestra and a brass band - changing the form
of 'Cover Me' and 'I Miss You' and got in touch with a man named Eumir Deodato
to score the strings for the tracks 'Isobel', 'Hyper-Ballad' and 'You've
Been Flirting Again'.
Björk called her new album 'Post' because the songs were like letters from
London home to Iceland.
Touring on, Björk once got a nasty flu and lost her voice, but regained
it only to discover she had lost 3 octaves of her singing range and she
was diagnosed with throat nodules, but it really was a question of pushing
yourself over the limits of what your body can handle - which led her on
her monk tip - not even talking for a while, which was a thrill in itself!
Having finished a fleeting romance with Tricky, Björk was now seen with
Jungle DJ Goldie and later shyly revealed a relationship that, according
to Björk, was 'the best thing yet'.
1996
Björk, being fond of extremes, also took part of the forty minute piece
'Pierrot Lunaire' by Shönberg with conductor Kent Negano and the Opera orchestra
of Lyon. It's a talking-singing performance which required three months
of rehearsals. This appearance was never officially released and all recording
devices were strictly banned from the building, but someone in the audience
managed to sneak in a tape recorder...
Later on, Björk finally got to tour Asia - and she brought Sindri along.
On the stage in Hong Kong, she was surprised on stage by Goldie, presenting
her with the 1996 BRIT award for 'best international female artist'.
Later on that tour she got another, not so pleasant surprise. Björk headed
from Hong Kong to Thailand. Arriving on the airport, all her requests of
being left alone were completely ignored and she was drowned in a flood
of reporters and camera crews, including one of cable station IBC's show
'Fast Forward' - who claimed they had been promised an interview. Trying
to get away, Björk grimaced and turned her head down while pushing Sindri
on a luggage trolley, all while 'Fast Forward's reporter Julie Kaufman beamed
"Welcome to Bangkok!" towards Sindri when Björk, without warning, jumped
her, dragged her to the floor and thumped her head against the concrete
floor about 5 times - the security guards seemed helpless but managed to
drag off Björk (who almost escaped for a rematch!) who entered the bus where
Sindri was waiting.
Later on, Björk apologized, and Julie decided not to sue her but reported
to feeling sorry for her for having so much anger inside.
Björk released an album of remixes from Post, called 'Telegram', an adventurous
mixture of different sounds - from vocoded rage in Possibly Maybe to a fluttering
and beautiful string Hyper-Ballad by the Brodsky Quartet and a minimalist
thundery techno mix of Headphones by Finnish DJ Mika Vainio.
Speaking of exploding - while Björk was in Miami, a 24-year old crazed Björk
fanatic was so upset about her relationship with a black man that he manically
filmed himself while creating an acid mailbomb in a hollowed- out book and
mailing it to Björk's home in London, then shaving his head, painting his
body and to the sound of 'I Remember You' playing in the background, blowing
his head off with a pistol.
Spookily enough the fan, named Ricardo Lopez, lived mere blocks away from
where Björk was in Miami during that time! The police found his body in
his apartment which was a shrine to Björk, plastered with pictures of her
on the walls - and they managed to get ahold of the
package before it had reached Björk to "send her to hell" like Ricardo intended,
as he said on the tape - and prevented the death or horrible defiguration
of either Björk or her precious child!
Of course Björk was horribly upset by this whole incident, feeling both
threatened and guilty, and she even sent Ricardos parents flowers as a condoleance
for the loss of their son. She thinks that there had to be much more things
wrong in his life than just reacting to her dating a black man (whom she
ironically enough just had broken up with).
1997
The process of recording the songs was filmed and first shown in 1998 on
BBC under the name 'The Southbank Show : Björk Special', and also later
on Bravo channel as 'Bravo : Björk Special'; a huge hit amongst Björk fans;
an unique peek into Björk's studio and history as told by herself!
During Björk's second year of performing at the Tibetan freedom festival
arranged by the Beastie Boys, Björk took the chance to premiere a bunch
of songs that were to be on the album to come. She proudly presented them
as "Techno Prayer", "State of Emergency", "Hunter" and "Pluto".
In September 1997 Björk released her third album, entitled by the style
of the songs with a word she didn't even knew existed for real: Homogenic.
1999
Back in Iceland, taking some time off, but still in business! Björk offered
her musical skills to Danish director Lars von Trier - famous for movies
such as "Breaking The Waves" and "The Idiots". The next masterpiece was
to be a musical, and Björk agreed to write all the songs for it. Lars wouldn't
settle for that though, and performed the miracle of talking Björk into
playing the star role in the movie aswell, with the argument that anyone
else would do her songs injustice!
Starring together with Björk are world-renoun actors and actresses such
as Swedish Peter Stormare and French Cathering Deneuve.
The soundtrack for the movie will be released in the year 2000, followed
by the premiere of the movie at the Cannes film festival the same year.
Besides from that, she hinted that there may be some more surprise experimental
gigs happening in the future. One surprise release is of the song Amphibian,
released first on the internet and then on the soundtrack of the movie "Being
John Malkovitch" which premiered in october 1999. The song is very light
and very layered, and may be a taste of what her next album has to offer.
The following article appeared in the Danish magazine
"Agenda", september 1993.
There is no copyright-claims (except for business purpose)
in the magazine, which is distributed free of charge in
Denmark.
Please remember, if you want to quote the article: This is
a translation, Bjork might not have used exactly these
words.
Translation by Stig B. Nielsen, stigbn@pip.dknet.dk.
Article and Interview by Peter Engels Ryming.
The Siren from the Volcano-Island.
Once more she has yelled out the enthusiasm of both
reviewers and audience. We know her as the naive and
innocent girl who conquered the charts with The Sugarcubes.
Since then, she's left her friends in Iceland to discover
her own music. The result is a strong, personal album, and
during the festival-week Bjork is making her only concert
on the continent.
A hot and hectic afternoon in the northern part of London.
I'm at the Cafe LaVille together with Bjork Gudmundsdottir,
age 27, and Iceland's most well-known export article, and
I'm trying to ignore the almost comically placed bowl of
sugarcubes at our table. After three albums of playfull
sub-pop in the Icelandic group "Sugarcubes", Bjork has gone
solo and settled in London. A choice made out of nessecity,
because Reykjavik was no longer big enough for her
ambitions. Last month the result hit the street; the album
"Debut", which made an unanimous international press
stumble over superlatives.
Below the cafe, Bjork's favourite, runs a canal which
further downstream runs into "Little Venice" - or "Little
Amsterdam" as Bjork likes to call it, owing to the small
system of canals and the many colourful houseboats anchored
to the bank. In Iceland Bjork lived in a house by the sea,
and in London she has settled here in Little Venice. In
fact, she's so fascinated by water, that she has written an
ode to the blue element called "Anchor Song".
- "I'm not sure why I'm so fascinated by water. It's easy
to see it as a kind of symbolism, but I think it's more
complex. My house on Iceland lies close by the sea, and in
bad weather the waves sprayes unto the windows. If I was in
bad mood, I would stand by the window and look out on the
water; that would make me feel good. It was a sort of
therapy."
Bjork is constantly restless. She's rocking to and fro on
the chair like a naughty scoolgirl at the principals office.
She's rubbing her hands and alternately fingering her loose
black hair or the sugarcubes on the table. The t-shirt
reveals a tattoo of a viking-compass on her left arm.
It seems as if Bjork has a hard time letting go of Iceland.
When she left the saga-island, she refrained from selling
her house, on "Debut" she has written part of the thanks in
Icelandic, and every time the small island in the atlantic
is mentioned, it's like listening to a lovesick schoolgirl.
- "When I recorded "Debut", I got a lot of encouragement
from my friends and family in Iceland. The family are often
the best critics, because they can say what is wrong with
your work, without hurting your feelings. And it would seem
foolish to thank these people in English. It would be
false. You don't speak English with your friends in
Denmark either."
Bjork moves around on the chair, putting her foot on the
seat in the hope of finding a comfortable position. But
before she opens her mouth again, the foot is back on the
floor.
- "I'm very proud of being an Icelander. Because of the
country itself - the mountains, the waterfalls and the
colours. As I said, I've still got my house up there, and
as soon as my carreer is over, I'll return. My friends live
there now, they take care of it for me. Iceland has many
extremes. As an example, the people of Iceland are very
reserved, because the island is so remote. In Denmark you
can take a ferry to Sweden, you can drive a car to Germany.
In Iceland that's impossible. When I was a teenager an
airlineticket (to and from Iceland) costed a fortune.
That's why there's never been especially many tourists on
Iceland. This has created a certain kind of reticence,
which of course are more pronounced in the older
generations, because the situation has changed in the
recent years."
Bjork doesn't feel that the isolation has been negative for
the Icelanders. On the contrary. It has created a feeling
of gratitude and self-respect, because the Icelanders have
been self-sufficient in every way.
- "The English are terribly spoiled. They have the
opportunity to attend any kind of club to hear all kinds of
music - salsa, jazz, techno. They have all opportunities,
and it's even cheap. But if the English doesn't like the
wallpaper in the club, they go home and call it a terrible
experience. It's like that here. In Iceland on the
contrary, you'll get nothing served on a plate. If you want
to enjoy yourself, you have to do something about it
yourself. If you want french food, you'll have to order a
cookery book at the bookstore and make it yourself. You
can't just go to a french restaurant, `cause there isn't
any."
- "You just hit a soft spot", Bjork exclaimes in broken
English, as I'm enquiring about her Scandinavian identity.
Her peculiar accent sends tiny pearls of spit through the
air; a mixture of weird grammar, cockney-english and tung-
rolling Icelandic. Especially the r's troubles her.
- "Iceland was a Danish colony until 1944. And you didn't
treat us well. Denmark held Iceland back in the middle ages
until the second world war. The only reason that we got to
be free, was that we used the fact, that Denmark was
occupied by the nazies. There are still being tought Danish
in the Icelandic schools, but the children don't wanna
learn it. In fact, Icelanders say about an evil person,
that he's "Danish", `cause the Danish treated us as shit.
So I'm not so sure that we are going to talk about the
relations between Iceland and Denmark."
I'm sending her an embarrassed smile. But she's not showing
any sign of softening. This is not the naive, cuddly,
girlish Bjork, we know from pictures, videos and records.
- "In fact, I really don't think my music, or me, is
especially Scandinavian, `cause what is Scandinavian? I
don't believe that there is a special Scandinavian style -
or sound. Even if a people has the same weather, same
inflation-rate and the same politicians, they will never
make the same music, `cause they're different individuals.
And yet I feel that my music is very Icelandic - exactly
because I'm from Iceland."
Bjork stops for a moment. Her eyes wander around while
she's looking for an example.
- "In Iceland people think my music is weird. They say it
sounds foreign to them. And here in England my friends say:
"Your music is strange. It must be because you're from
Iceland". So... I'm in a place right in between and I can't
really see myself grouped with musicians from Iceland or
any other Scandinavian countries."
- "The Scandinavian artists I can relate to the most are
writers - not musicians. People like Tove Jansson who wrote
"Mumitroldene (the Mumi-trolls)", and Astrid Lindgren. When
I was younger I read them myself, now I read them to my six
year old son Sindri. I almost think, that the books about
the "mumi-trolls" are better for adults than children,
because the philosophy in the stories are quite remarkable.
It's the same thing with Astrid Lindgren. I'm not so sure
that she's so "nice" as people thinks. When she was younger
she was a rebel, and all her books are about rebels. People
who can't function in the society, who rather wants to live
in an anarchistic society, where no one controls them. As
an example, take "Brodrene Lovehjerte", in which the two
brothers revolt against the dictatorship in the country.
I'm not sure how Swedish that is..."
Bjork sends a smile across the table.
- "When I say that I don't feel especially Scandinavian,
it's not because I dislike being compared to people from
Iceland or the rest of Scandinavia. It's nothing like that.
It's my fight for individuality. People are quick to put
other nations in cages; like the English drinks lots of
tea, the French eat flutes and the Danes eat open
sandwiches. I don't wanna be put into such a cage. It's all
cliches, that people create because of their own
insecurity. And even if the cliches are very pleasant, they
prevent people from being individuals."
- "I get turned on by being independent - to be different
than others. And that's a situation I find myself in very
often. Why? - that's up to a psychiatrist to answer. As I
said, in Iceland I'm being treated as an outsider. Here in
London I'm also an outsider, `cause I'm from Iceland. That
gives me a reason to fight for my opinions. I've always
preferred individualism for patriotism."
She speaks a lot. And when she gets eager, she's talking so
fast, that an Icelandic word suddenly drops into the
sentence. At other times Bjork suddenly stops, blinks her
eyes, then continues with a thrust. It's hard to tell if
she has finished the sentence, or she's just trying to find
the words in English.
- "In the same way, all of my friends in London are people,
who, like me, questions the system and people's morals. One
of my friends over here has three children, all of which
were born at home in the bedroom, and they've never been
registered. He believes that the system forces him to do
things he don't like. And he thinks that his children
should have their freedom. Maybe I don't agree with him,
but I'm telling this to show, that my friends maybe aren't
that English after all. You know, a lot of people tend to
imagine that the English are very true to the system."
Suddenly Bjork gets very quiet for a moment. She looks
fleetingly out over the water, and draws my attention to a
guy, who's paddling down the canal. Then she turn her head
and chuckles to me.
Bjork grew up as a daughter of, as she calls them, hippie-
parents. There were no rules in her home, `cause - as she
says - children knows their own needs better. When she was
10, she had outgrown her father's Jimi Hendrix records, and
around 12 years of age she discovered the Sex Pistols. She
discussed the musical skills of the Sex Pistols heavily
with her dad, but "who the hell cared if they could play or
not?". The Sex Pistols became Bjork's entrance to the punk
music, and when she was fourteen she became member of the
all-girl punkgroup "Spit and Snot".
- "We had a wonderful time as teenagers. We were very
positive punks. Not the kind, who's bitter on everything
around us. We wanted to do everything ourselves. We started
our group, and arranged poetry-evenings, to which we
invited foreign poets to Iceland. And although we could
only offer a return-ticket to Iceland, most of them
surprisingly accepted our invitation."
Through the poetry-evenings and a loan from the bank, Bjork
and her friends succeeded in getting enough money to make a
trip to Europe. At the time Bjork was 16, and the group was
now called "Kukl".
- "We went to England, where we bought an old car, and
drove through Europe. We were several times in Copenhagen.
Among other places we played at the Roskilde festival once,
I don't remember when. But this trip through Europe was
somewhat of an adventure. We were very poor, and drove from
cafe to cafe, eating sugarcubes to get energy. We stole
gasoline from other cars, but only a small amount from
each, and just enough to get to the next place. It was like
a religious sect on a mission. There never were more than
50 people at our concerts, but that wasn't important. Fame
wasn't the most important thing to us. We wanted to get out
there and meet people. When you're young, it's important to
meet some people who are thinking like yourself, or else
you'll think you're insane. And that was the real purpose
of our trip, `cause we were very isolated in Iceland."
Loaded with energy the group returned to Iceland, where
they started a recordstore, which later became a record
company. The only one in Iceland. Later, it went bankrupt,
but Bjork and her friends continued working on the book
publishing firm "Bad Taste". "Kukl" was discontinued, and
the friends assembled in the group "Sugarcubes".
- "In this period we learned that we could do everything
ourselves. If somebody in the group wanted to publish a
book, we would all help; One would fair-copy the
manuscript, another would make posters and so on. A month
later someone wanted to make a short-movie, and we would
use our energy on that project. We were helping each other
out, so that our dreams would come though. This was the
real foundation for "Sugarcubes", and when the group later
got recognition from abroad, we thought that this was how
it worked over there too, just in a larger way."
- "In fact I'm still working, using that philosophy, at One
Little Indian (Bjork's record company). All of the
associates have become my friends - one is making the
record cover, another produces, a third is the driver. None
of these jobs are unimportant - they are all very, very
important. In fact, teamwork is the reason that "Debut" has
become as successful as it is. It's not because I'm that
damn clever..."
Bjork takes a short break, which gives me the opportunity
to ask, if that concept doesn't collide with her need to be
independent.
- "Yeah, but... The reason that the music ended up exactly
like I wanted it to, is that this large group of people
have allowed me to do it - without restrictions. I know
people, who are writing great pop-songs, but are
unfortunate in getting a manager who spoils it all, because
the music doesn't sell as it's supposed to. They get a
stylist from the record-company, who tells them "you gotta
be like this in the pictures". The manager decides who're
gonna play on the record and so on. All these things..."
Bjork smacks her hands on the table. Rocks the chair
forward, the legs hitting the floor with a crash, making
the customers in the cafe turn.
- "You can make a hell of an interview, that gets totally
crushed, because your magazine isn't interested and
therefore cuts it down. Little things, like the typeface
for instance, are terribly important. I believe typefaces
have symbolic meaning. If your interview gets written in
ghotic letters, people would read it in a completely
different way. In that way, a magazine can ruin an
interview. Not because they want to, but because they
doesn't communicate properly. Often it's because they're
doing ten different things at a time. "Debut" was made by
people who was concentrating about doing this one thing,
and if I hadn't gotten permission to do it exactly like I
wanted it, the record might not have become that good."
- "When I worked with The Sugarcubes, it was never my music
- my ideas. It was a conglomeration of a whole bunch of
people's ideas, the people who were The Sugarcubes. When I
decided to make "Debut", I told myself: "Ok. I've tried to
satisfy all of these people and it has been tremendous fun.
But it was always other people's dreams we made alive, now,
I want to realise my own little vision. Earlier, it was
like baby-sitting another's child. "Debut" is my own child.
I've had the songs in my head since I was small, they're a
sort of diary. All people have their own way of dealing
with everyday problems. Some go for walks, others get drunk
and some get laid. I write songs. That's why the lyrics are
very personal, and for that reason I didn't care at all
about what the public thought about the music, while I made
the record. I made the music *I* would want to hear, if I
were going to put on a record. In this way it's the most
introvert thing I've ever done, and curiously enough it
ended up being the most extrovert."
- "That's why it surprised me a lot, that the record was so
successful. My own little theory is, that it's a
combination of selfishness and unselfishness. I compare it
to a motherhood, because a mother's love is the most
unselfish kind of love there is. I think, that any mother
would sacrifice her own life for her child. That's very
unselfish. But at the same time, putting a child into the
world is the most selfish thing to do; because what you're
doing, is securing that there'll be some part of you left,
when you eventually dies. You know that your child will
live longer than you, and carry your genes along. It's the
same way with a record. The more selfish you are, the more
unselfish you are in reality; `cause you're giving the
listener a part of yourself. The moment you're trying to
satisfy others than yourself, you're not satisfying anyone.
That's my little theory. That's what I've learnt from
making this record."
Bjork looks at me for a long time. Then she's looking at
her watch. My audience is about to end. After the release
of "Debut" she's been in great demand. Through months she's
had up to twelve interviews a day, an lately she's been
rehearsing the concerts for the autumn. Tomorrow, Bjork and
her band of eight people are going to play support for U2
at Wembley, and after that she's going on a small tour of
England. On September 9, Bjork and her band are playing in
Arhus, the only concert on the continent.
- "I've never been to Arhus, Bjork says as she's getting up
from the chair and prepares to leave the Cafe Laville. On
the other hand, I've been to Copenhagen many times, and I
think it's a lovely city. But to be perfectly honest, I
don't think about the places where I'm playing. My head is
filled with yesterdays concert, and all the things I can do
better. The band, the music, the sound. But I've got a lot
of respect of Denmark..."
The following was written, with another typeface,
intermingled with the rest in the original article. As this
would be confusing in plain text, I've put it here:
The Forum, London, on the previous evening; "I live by the
ocean, and during the night, I dive into it, down to the
bottom, underneath all current, and drop my anchor...". The
words pours out over the audience, who's silently watching
the small singing figure who's wandering around three large
model-ships on the stage. The figure's name is Bjork, and
this is her first concert since the days with The
Sugarcubes...
Bjork's standing still, her eyes turned towards the
stagefloor. Only the crispy, jazzy notes of the
keyboardplayer escapes the loudspeakers. Without any
presentation Bjork starts singing in a - for the audience -
incomprehensible language. The song is called "Stigdu Mig"
and it's one of the two songs in Icelandic, she's singing
tonight.
One single spotlight shines on Bjork. As she's standing
there, in her all to big white dress, she reminds you of a
fairy. The hair is made up in tight curls. It's hard to
imagine that this fairy, who has conquered the hearts of
the audience, has walked around on a small island most of
her life.
A man blows a saxophone, straining the loudspeakers at the
utmost. Bjork stands with her eyes closed, shaking her
hands, making her shadow on the backwall remind of a cross.
The lights shines yellow-green-red, reminding of sixties
psychedelia.
The lights of the spotlights moves fast among the
musicians, who's placed in the background between the
model-ships, ending at full strength on Bjork, bathing her
in shiny white light.
"I'm sorry", Bjork regrets, "but unfortunately I don't have
any more songs. Maybe I should have made a double-album.
Ill do that next time". The audience applauses, while the
little girl in the all to large dress disappears behind the
scene, and the lights go on.
CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER
Source: ALTERNATIVE PRESS
Issue: SEPTEMBER 1995, #86
Author: VAL C. PHOENIX
With a career built on adapting to and manipulating her surroundings, Björk
is focused on experiencing as much as she can as quickly as possible. As
Val C. Phoenix discovers, life isn't simply a walk in the park.
"Try not to look back," says Björk with a grin. "The effect is better."
Easy for her to say. She doesn't break stride on the steep incline of
London's Primrose Hill. Björk has promised a view, and she's right. The
view over her adopted city is lovely. And, of course, she doesn't look back
either.
"I don't like nostalgic things," she says, tucking her blousy dress over
her knees, as she settles on the grass under a tree. She has just come from
a photo shoot where she posed in scary raccoon make-up like a pouty film
star. Now, with her face scrubbed clean of the fright make-up, she looks
the better for it and more relaxed.
As well she might be. Debut, her first solo album outside her native
Iceland, sold millions worldwide, vaulting her from quirky cult figure to
pop star. Occupying an enviable position, she retains both street
credibility and critical acclaim.
"The Modern Things" from her new album, Post, decries the "irritating
noises of dinosaurs," which could well sum up her desire in life: to try
new things. "I think it's a mission thing. I think everybody's on a
mission. I'm personally on a very, very sort of fast mission. I have to
experience 900,000 things just to know that I've tried them all, you know?"
she says.
A collage of borrowed fragments from the worlds of jazz, club land, hip
hop, and classic pop, Björk's music reflects her curiosity. She is in fact
a master synthesizer, adept at cutting together discordant sounds into a
cohesive and sparkling whole, rather like a club DJ. She doesn't take
offense at the suggestion. "I don't look at myself as original. I look at
myself more that I'm trying to do something that hasn't been done before,"
she says.
"You go to the secondhand market and you pick up all those different
things, but you just use them to express yourself. And the fact that I've
never expressed myself in that way before - that's what makes it that it
hasn't been done," she explains.
"Personally, I'd like to listen to old music - say, like Bach or Beethoven
and all that - say, one day a year and that would be enough, and then the
other 364 days should be about now."
As a child, Björk studied those old crusties, along with the jazz her
grandma liked and the hippy music her parents favored. "When I grew up, I
was surrounded by all these musical styles and none of them were mine. None
of them belonged to me," she avers.
Björk's whole history includes a thread of adapting to and making the most
of her surroundings. Coming from Iceland, whose entire population could be
squeezed into one corner of London, Björk's made her home in the metropolis
and thrived. An avid clubgoer, she likes a bit of fun, spawning many a tale
of dancing on tabletops.
Colleagues and acquaintances describe her as bright, crafty, even
manipulative, but charmingly so. She knows what she wants and gets others
to follow. "She's got a way about her," says collaborator Tricky, who
appears on Post. "You meet her and you think you want to see her again.
She's quite an interesting character."
Björk's worldwide forays are all conducted in a second language. The dips
in her accent as she speaks, from pseudo-cockney to Scandinavian, are a
reminder that as well as she can blend in, she retains something to set her
apart.
Her embrace by critics as an original and unbounded artist stands in stark
contrast to the ridicule heaped on someone like Sinead O'Connor, an equally
iconoclastic artist who's also picked and chosen genres outside her domain.
Björk knows Sinead, and in fact the two women, as single parents newly
arrived in London, used to take their sons to the park together.
Praising O'Connor's work, Björk muses soberly, "Maybe the reason that she
doesn't get away with it - maybe it's because she's serious and people that
are serious, they're sometimes not considered as flexible, whereas I'm
probably a bit more of a clown, so I can get away with things like that."
Björk would love to work with O'Connor and the equally off-kilter Polly
Harvey, but most of her collaborations so far have been with men. Women,
she says, rarely are willing to make the sacrifices needed to write the
perfect pop song, which is her aspiration. She has met a few, among them
her band member, Leila Arab. But she rarely meets women instrumentalists.
"Two singers can only go that far, you see."
Björk has described her more intense collaborative efforts as musical love
affairs. "Probably my best friend ever is music, because that's the one who
always understands me," she says.
"But to find a person, a real person, who's on that same 'Boing!!'-you can
add to theirs and they can add to yours - that's just ever so precious,"
she enthuses. Tricky, 808 State' Graham Massey, and Debut producer Nellee
Hooper all qualified on the "Boing!" front, and the results can be heard on
Post. Björk explains, "I think most of the people that I have my little
musical love affairs with have been people that make beats, because that's
what I need, just like a rhythm to feed off." She pauses. "So that's
tricky."
Or is that Tricky? Their two co-writes on Post came from a two-day writing
and recording session in Iceland, but there are also six unreleased tracks
sitting around. "They're very, very weird," says Tricky. "I listen to it
every night. There definitely ain't a market for it at all."
He agrees with her characterization. "You meet someone and you're kind of
running away together for two weeks," he says. But, they also met on the
common ground of having bizarre public images. "She's supposed to be like a
little elf, and I'm supposed to be a demon. I think everybody thinks we're
mad." Needless to say, they found each other quite normal.
Alas, Björk finds the rosy glow of the love affair doesn't last. "You've
got something to look forward to. And then you wake up one day and it's not
happening anymore and that's a bit sad," she says, frowning.
Likening music to life, she says she likes a mix of fantasy and reality: "I
think it should be 50/50." The songs on Post are tangled up in technology,
yet manage to convey an elusive quality among the club soundtracks
littering the airwaves; they're clearly inspired by a flesh- and-blood
personality, and they have a soul.
Surprisingly, given her modernist bent, Post includes one cover, a torchy
big band number called "It's Oh So Quiet." Her reading of the song,
originally done by Betty Hutton, is an endearing mix of veneration and
experimentation, twisting the song so it sounds classic but still
thoroughly Björkian. "I loved it to death and it was just very sort of
relevant to how I felt - the lyric." Classic subjects like love and hate
exert a strong pull for her.
Intuition also plays a very strong role. "Isobel," the recent single, is a
complicated fable about trusting one's instincts, and a lesson for herself,
as well. Born of a spark in the woods in South America, Isobel clashes with
those around her, falling in love with the wrong people, and so forth,
until she isolates herselt. Björk's favorite song on Post, it is also the
most recent, written only a week or before recording.
"I was so full of Isobel. I had written like a whole diary on Isobel," she
says. She sings softly, "'My name Isobel /Married to myself/ My love
Isobel/Living by herself.' It's like a relationship you get with yourself,
which I think is so important, and is something I've been trying to
learn-is to have that relationship with myself and be self-sufficient and
surprise myself."
Heading back down the hill, she says she'd like to do a jungle mix of
"Isobel." She likens the sound to flamenco- a quick beat, but slow dance
steps. Then she demonstrates. Arms flung out, twirling on the grass in her
garishly colored sports shoes and formal dress, she seems in her element
somehow. As she says, "The green dot should always be there among the pink
dots."
Article from the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet 14 June 1996
HULSTSFRED. Björk is in love, she's happy and she's definitive
running on overdrive. The main reason: Goldie
-I would love to marry him, but nothing is planned yet, she
states. A king is nowhere to be seen. Maybe its the man with
the square first name Iggy?
But the queen's name is Björk. And when Aftonbladet gets
audience she talks and eagerly gesticulates about literally
anything. And most about her new musically friend and love,
Goldie:
-What´s brilliant about us is that we come from completely
diffrent directions. I'm from the classic punk, pop, jazz,
kraftwerk... That school. Goldie is more hiphop, rap, funk...
Everything we talked about when he traveled as opening act was
music. We should have been arrested... All the time, music.
Togheter we can cover evert music style ther is.
*In the gossipmagazines you read that you are going to get
married... Is it true?
-Well...It´s like the fact that if you kiss a person in the
city, the next day you have five twins. I would love to marry
him. But we havn't discussed that yet. It's doesn't honestly
feels so important...
*Will you record any music togheter?
-As the freak I am I can talk about music a half day. The good
thing about Goldie is that I can do that and we're not boring
eachother. But if we should spend the other half of the day
recording if would be to much. And when it comes to music today
its much something i want to keep between me and myself.
*What new music are you working on?
-I have several experiment that I'm working on. I have been
obsessed with playing on glass. Mozart made a glassorgan with
big bowls made of glass immersed in water. When you play on it
it sounds like you rubbing a brandy glass. Im working with Howie B
on these songs.
-But I also do electric rhythems. Pure electric rhythems. I like
it when the electric is true, when it´s not pretending. A keybord
shall not pretend it is a violin, it shall be proud to be a
keybord.
- And I´m working with a string quartet. This is experimental
things I'm what you would call a workoholic. I have a big appetite
on life.
*What of all that is going to be the next record? And how will it
be diffrent from "Debut"and "Post"?
-I'm 30 years now and it feels like i have cought up with myself.
So now I'm doing music in the present. I have written eight new
songs and five is recorded.
*We have all seen the dramatic picure from the airport in Bangkok
when you're hitting a reporter... What happen really?
-We had decided to do all interviews the day after our arrival at
the hotell. But when I and my son landed all of a sudden all these
reporters are there and starts asking questions. "Tomorrow", I
answer politely. But then they start to interview my nineyear old
son, asking him how it´s like to have a so "strange mother". And
then...I don´t know. I saw in front of me how the showed this on
TV, and something broke inside me.... I only saw red. I should
finish her. I don´t know it´s hard to explain, but the feeling to
defent the things you love can be enormously strong, she says
seriously. Sctratches herself on the calf and adds:
-In Island we don't have any insects that bites. The are more
harmless, at most the run at you.
Article from Swedish fashion & trend magazine 'Bibel', issue 11, october 1999
Stig Björkman got, as the only journalist, to visit the filming of the musical »Dancer In The Dark« and interview Lars von Trier about Hollywood:ish sob stories, »Sound Of Music« and the movie which has become the world's most expensive home video.
Stig talked with Catherine Deneuve, played pinball with Lars and saw Björk dance like crazy in a prison-dungeon. Then he wrote it all down on an old wordprocessor and faxed it over to us along with von Triers latest manifesto which he found in the Zentropa-office in Copenhagen.
LARS VON TRIER
a little song, a little dance, a little fucking great homevideo
To call Lars von Trier a man of surprises would be an understatement of huge proportions.
Expect the unexpected seems to be his constant message to his surroundings.
For almost 20 years Lars von Trier has been occupied by building a myth around himself.
Already with his departure-movie from the Danish filmschool, »Pictures Of Freeing«, he stirred up the Danish tv-viewers. The movie is set to the days after the German occupation, but instead of having a Danish resistance-hero as the main character, Lars chose a German soldier. And so, Lars had driven his first splinter into the danish conscience.
It has continued in similar ways, in movie after movie, and in manifesto after manifesto - for Lars is a vivacious fence-gluer. Nowadays, most of the earlier opposers and doubters have taken him to their hearts, after the successes of »The Kingdom«, »Breaking The Waves« and »The Idiots«.
Lars von Trier has become an as reliable Danish concept as ever was Aalborg and The Little Mermaid, and the trademark Lars von Trier has become hard cash. His movies sell like butter all over the world, and the incomes have become the foundation for a small movie-empire, Zentropa Entertainments Aps, nowadays Denmarks most powerful movie-corporation.
»Fuck traditions«, a motto borrowed from another dane, author Leif Panduro, could be von Triers motto. If he'd ever would want to have one.
Von Trier is and will remain himself. Not himself "nok" (enough), not anymore. Now his
quirky and powerful artistic temper is in harmonic unity with all the movie-workers
who gather to his filming-invitations. Because Lars von Triers filmings have more and more gotten the character of a party. By payfulness and ease. Even if complications and conflicts also are steady ingredients.
Von Triers relationship with the outside world - that is, the outside world beyond his own home in the suburbs of Copenhagen - is complicated. It's both completely closed and unexpectedly open. Now and then, he appears to spread a few bon mots or just sheer confusion around his persona and movie projects. Then, the notoriously withdrawn artist seems to have shed all his supposed fears and suits up in the expected role of a provoker. But these moments seem staged by von Trier himself.
As the main character of the ongoing story of himself, he knows to put colour to, and limits for his appearances, even if improvisation nowadays only has become a slogan for his movie-business.
It could hardly have escaped anyone that von Trier during the summer has dedicated himself to finishing his first movie musical, »Dancer In The Dark«, a movie with another scandinavian megastar in the head role, the Icelander Björk.
A Danish filmer recording a musical in an American environment about a Czech emigrant woman played by an Icelander in Swedish Trollhättan - it sounds like a saga. And sure you can call »Dancer In The Dark« a saga, or at least a story inspired by the tale. It is the third part of what von Trier calls "his goldenheart-trilogy" where »Breaking The Waves« and »The Idiots« were the first two.
Goldenheart was a picture-book which Lars got in is hands when very small.
it's the story about an uncommonly kindhearted little girl who goes out into the woods on her own with pieces of bread and other things in her pockets. And in the end of the book, after she has made it through the forest and shared all her belongings to everyone passing by, she finds herself standing there, naked and scraped bare. But goldheart's last line in the book reads trustworthily: "I'll manage allright anyway"
This piece of work about the martyr-role and it's utter most consequenses has left Lars von Trier with no peace. From here stems his self-sacrificial heroins Bess and Karen, from "Breaking The Waves" and "the Idiots", and now also joining them is Selma in »Dancer In The Dark«. Maybe she has a more rebellious piece of mind than her predecessors, but she can neither steer nor escape her fate.
The movie sets in the middle of the sixties. Selma, a 30-yearold woman from Czhechoslovakia, has settled down in a smaller industrial-town in the state of Washington along with her 12-yearold son. Selma works in a weavery, but she also takes as many extra jobs she can in order to save away some money for her son. He suffers from an heredetary disease which is theratening him with blindness. An operation could prevent this event.
Selma dreams herself away from the strifes of everyday into escapades filled with dancing and music, even when she isn't rehearsing in the musical ensemble which the local amateurs are setting up.
The story takes a dramatic turn when Selma gets robbed of all her savings and has to try to regain her lost savings with armed force. She leaves the town with her son, in a desperate escape with no turning back. There are probably more reasons to call »Dancer In The Dark« a "musicl tragedy" instead of a "musical comedy".
In any case you can bet your money on that this movie musical is going to differ a lot from what the genre usually offers.
I meet Lars in Copenhagen a couple of months before the filming starts. Björk has just signed a contract. She's not only going to play the main character in the movie buy also write the score and lyrics for all the songs in the movie. Catherine Deneuve recently came for a visit. Lars has just quickly rewritten the role as Selmas best friend directly for her. A black woman in her mid-thirties has transformed into a french immigrant in ripe age.
Björk and Catherine swing it at dance rehearsals.
But why the sixties?, I ask.
And why Washington? And why a Czhech woman as a lead role?
- That I chose Washington has first and foremost got to do with the American code of laws. Some laws that I want to use were used in that particular state up until the sixties.
- And also I liked to have a Czhech, an eastern state woman as an opposite pole towards the American. On top of that, I think that Selma is a great name. I have a daughter with the same!
The musical genre is one of the most traditional and conventional within films.
What do you want to do with it?
- I would like to give it the freshness that I see in the Dogma-movies or in "Breaking The Waves". I have some pretty clear ideas about how I will shape the song- and dance-acts in the movie. I am going to document them with help of one hundred videocameras which are going to be scattered around the shooting-site.
But I don't really want it to arise from a certain form or style. I want to work from the contents of the story. The idea with the heredetary illness which later in life can turn both Selma and her son blind is something I came up with while I reworked the manuscript.
- I got the idea from an animated movie. A totally impossible and horribly sentimental movie. It takes place in New York where a cop finds a doll in a junk-yard. He gives it to an italian who he obviously has a fancy for. The woman gives the doll to her young daughter. At one point the girl drops the doll and when she tries to find it she feels her way across the floor. First then, you realise that the girl is blind. It's a terribly efficient scene. After that, the girl starts talking to the doll - just like Bess in her conversations with God in "Breaking the waves". With the doll, the girl travels around the city and the doll becomes her eyes. The movie ends with that the girl can see her mother for the first time in her life. It was an insanely sentimental but incridibly driven animated movie.
- Blindness is a geniously melodramatic tool. I also came to think of Douglas Sirk, the Danish-American master of Hollywood:ish sob-stories in the fifties, and his movie "The Magnificent Obsession". It is a completely incredible story.
Jane Wyman is blind since a car-accident which Rock Hudson is to blame for. And he educates himself to be a doctor just so he can cure her! And then they get married! Of course! Hell yes, it's stong! But I haven't used such coarse strokes when writing »Dancer In The Dark«
The movie sets in the middle of the sixties.
Is that to connect with the old musicals that were made in the USA?
- No, if I wanted to make a pastich, I would have gone further back in time, at least 'til the fifties when many of the genres highlights were made. "An American In Paris", "Singing In The Rain" and "The Band Wagon".
- I would like to include a song from "Sound Of Music" in my movie. It would fit so well. But I doubt we'll get the permission to use it. We'll see. It would be fun to hear Björk's version of it. The song would appear in the local amateur-performance where Selma and the others rehearse. But the real musical era had passed when "Sound Of Music" came. Once in a while a few exceptions have emerged, like "West Side Story". Or "Cabaret".
- "West Side Story" probably is my absolute favourite because it treats such an arch-American subject. "West Side Story" for me stands for the in all ways most successful movie musical. Maybe because that movie brought the musical out in the streets.
- Of the old musicals, "Singing In The Rain" lies closest to my heart. Not least because of Gene Kelly. Fred Astaire was an incredibly talented dancer, but Gene kelly wasn't only that, but also one of the most imaginative and innovative choreographers. Gene Kelly was just about the most American thing you could imagine, radical in many ways. But he more or less disappeared off the big screen. But he did appear in Jaques Demy's "Rochefort Girls", opposite just Catherine Deneuve...
* * *
DENEUVE
From Cherbourg to Trollhättan - the
world's probably coolest woman
speaks with Stig about Lars.
It's said that you contacted Lars von Trier about any possible co-operation. How did that come about?
- I wrote him a letter. But that was a couple of years ago. It wasn't in connection with »Dancer In The Dark«. I didn't have a thought in mind to end up in this movie. I had seen "Breaking The Waves", and it was very moving. It awoke strong feelings.
I have understood that when you choose a project, you don't just go by the story that is told, meaning the manuscript, or the role you're suggested to play. Who the director is is just as important - if not more.
- Yes, that is true. The role I play in »Dancer In The Dark« is not actually an important role. It's "une role sécondaire". But the interesting thing in this case is that we have had the opportunity to develop the roles of our characters during the course of filming.
Of course the character is defined in the manuscript, but at the same time it is an open portrait which you have an ability to make an impact on and can develop. You could say that the portrait is drawn in black and white and that we supply our own palette of colours.
So you have had the ability to work with Lars when it comes to deciding this character?
- You could say that. Kathy doesn't really have a history of her own, you know very little of her background and earlier experiences. There were some space to fill in yourself. Lars has let us improvise around the written dialogue.
I suppose that it's harder to improvise that way in another language than your own...?
- Of course! Reading and learning lines is one thing, but to be the free master over a language which isn't your own is a bit frightening. In the beginning I told myself "what am I actually doing here?". This is the first time I throw myself into a context on such loose grounds. It is not easy, not even in french.
But has this challenge been positive?
- Yes, I have enjoyed it. It represents a sort of free form of film which we haven't been total strangers to in France either.
- It has been very stimulating to work with Lars. I like the seriousness of him. Maybe it is sort of a nordic seriousness. But he possesses a very strange power. At the same time he is very sensitive, and tormented.
In an interview in 'Cahiers de Cinéma' you speak critically of directors who bench down infront of a monitor and sho little or no interest for communication with the actors. That's the way Lars was a couple of movies and some more years ago. Now he sees the actors as some of the most important working-partners.
- His contact with the actors is extremely direct and present. He stands behind the camera himself! And this close presence is calming and stimulating. It creates a trust which makes it easier for the actors to take the risks that he expects us to take for him.
You say at one time in the interview, about your relationship with art - with movies, literature, painting - that you want to go on an adventure-hunt, as if you were going through a jungle.
- This experience might not have offered a jungle, but of course it has meant taking a few steps into the unknown. Thus there have been things to discover and observe, and theer have been reasons to watch your steps.
In the movie there are both actors with a long experience of movies, like yourself, Peter Stormare and David Morse, and one novice like Björk. Has that brought any difficulties?
- Not for me. But I know that it has ment a lot of conflicts for Björk. Her empathy for the role is total. maybe she hasn't got the same ability as us to go in and out of the role we play. She has identified herself with Selma so much that it has become hard for her to bear. And thus caused difficulties for others, not least for Lars. But both Lars and Björk are to strong artistic tempers, both very stubborn, so of course there have to be collisions.
- Björk also doesn't like retakes. She would preferably play her scene only once. That is also why there is such an intensity in her acting. Just because she with such seriousness has taken Selmas fate to herself.
I know you don't usually want to look at takes while you work with a film, but have you seen anything yet of »Dancer In The Dark«?
- Only a few scenes, one being the songnumber on the train. It was very original, very energetic.
Are you going to sing in the movie yourself?
- No, my character only has a few sung lines. And no, I don't sing. I can't sing. Sadly.
by Stig Björkman
* * *
It's summer now. Mid-summer. Month of July. At May 17th, the filming of »Dancer In The Dark« took off in Trollhättan. All exteriors for the movie has already been shot, one in Dalsland and Värmland lightly camouflaged to a northwestAmerican factory-commune.
Now, the shooting has moved to Köpenhamn, to Zentropas newly purchased ateljé- and office-area Aveldö-lejren. The production-team has moved into a closed-down military aera. Come autumn, a couple of other film-companies will also install themselves here. The Aveldö-camp is planned to become a new vital centrum for Danish movie-production.
Aveldö-lejren
The filming of »Dancer In The Dark« is coming to an end.
Bearing in mind the size of the movie, the work has gone astonishingly fast, hardly three months. Three hard-working months. You can tell that from those who are seated in the trailer with the monitor-equiptment. There's Lars. There's the choreographer, Vincent Patterson. The Director's assistant Anders Refn, who hardly even gets an opportunity to sit down. He scoots between the trailer and the movie-studio with new bulletins and messages of camera-placements. Anders is a somewhat older colleague of Lars' and, in addition, father to Nikolaj Winding Refn, who directed "Pusher". Sitting in the trailer are also a couple of other video-technicians inserting images on a dozen monitors.
The scene is a prison hallway. Selma is being taken from her cellby the prison-guards.
They hardly even open the barred door before the music and song begins. Selma leaves reality behind and sings herself into a fantasy-world without any threats or fears. The song, and the image of Björk, is just as simple as direct. She counts the steps where she dances forth from cell to cell and greets her fellow prisoners. All while the guards move in a more and more rigorously choreographed stroll. Björk's featherlight dance and the guards incorruptible prompting and rhythmical parading shows with all desirable clearness how a dream about freedom can be sabotaged and smashed into pieces.
The video-technician zaps between the different cameras, and it's astounding to see all the visual possibilities which appear on the many monitors. Not least the images where Björk almost falls out of the frame, has a seldom seen power of expression.
Second retake. Third retake. In some views a camera is in the shot.
"But we don't give a shit about that", says Lars. "We have so many other views to choose from". Instead, there is something in Björk's performance he wants to change. "Would you be so kind as to ask her to show some more joy in this scene?", he asks the choreographer. "You do it. If I tell her, she will just do the opposite."
Another take. The lightness and grace is there anew, strengthened with a somewhat suggested euphoria. To be on location of a filming as only a spectator can usually be pretty monotonous and boring. Here, you don't even feel that for one second.
It's overcoming to see Björk act and hear her free and strong voice. The simple but almost hypnotic song can stand being heard over and over.
Today's takes are finished already by two o'clock. It goes impressively fast.
Thanks to the hundred cameras, you don't need many retakes. If all the collected material from today's filming would be put together, it would be enough for 20 full-length movies. Before the work is called off forever, it's time for the obligatary class portrait, the picture of the crew and the star of the movie. Lars poses with both his daughters, Agnes and Selma, who are visiting.
Then, we are supposed to continue talking about the movie and the work with it. We go to Lars' workroom which is fit into a newly-built barrack a little off the side to the rows of old military houses. In the room next door sits Thomas Vinterberg and works on his new script. The glass door is wide open, and he seems to, like many others, welcome a distraction to get away from the demanding word processor.
Lars' room is spacious and sparsely decorated. A desk, a bookcase, a small sofa group. On the table lies a fax from Blur. "Dear Lars von Trier, we would like to ask you if you would be interested in making our new music video. We are great admirers of you and your films..."
By one wall stands an Indiana Jones pinballmachine. Lars isn't really in the mood to discuss his movie. He suggests a round of pinball instead. The scoreboard shows that Lars is in third place. That must feel sour. His record is at 360.000.000, three times as much as the production-cost of »Dancer In The Dark«. 120 danish millions makes the movie the most expensive one to ever be filmed in Scandinavia.
After having heard Cate Capshaw for the tenth time calling for help to Harrison Ford the pinballs feel all more heavier. "Tomorrow", says Lars. "We'll talk tomorrow."
Lars in front of his 100 cameras.
"How did you get the idea for these 100 cameras?", I want to ask Lars as I hopelessly try to localise him at the huge studio area the next morning. Someone thinks he is playing tennis, someone else points me towards the scenography workroom. A third claims to just have seen Lars in the little house with all the cutting-rooms. And Thomas Vinterberg just saw him in his room a few minutes ago.
Lars is as swallowed by the earth, like some of the spectres from "The Kingdom". He doesn't feel like talking about his movie, I think, distrustfully. But those thoughts are shamefully vanished when he, all of a sudden, steps into the picture again. He appears in full figure. Like a smug landowner who has taken an early noon stroll to inspect his manors. It's a day for preparations and he's got all the time in the world.
- It was actually my dear old friend Tómas Gislason, the cutter whom I have worked with on several movies, who came up with the idea. We sat around chatting about what a musical should look like. We discussed it back and forth. And one thing that we agreed on was that you have to seek away from the artifical. That should be the purpose of a modern musical.
- I can compare it to if you would shoot a scene with a juggler. Then you can either hire a real juggler who knows his business or you take an actor who jusr stands and makes hand-movements in the air, and then you copy in a few balls artificially. These both scenes could be almost completely identical. But the feeling isn't the same. If someone stands there juggling, we experience it deifferently than when we see one who just pretends. It's the same with stuntmen. The feeling is different if it's a stuntman who throws himself off a height than if you throw a doll.
- That's why we also wanted to start from that all song numbers with Björk also have to be live. That it all the time should function as a direct transfer of a performance. For some reasons that proved to be directly impossible. But the basic intention was that the singing should be live, and when we later filmed those scenes we have at least originated from that feeling.
- The most and the best musical-numbers from the classic musicals are shot with a very movable camera. But right now, I'm at a stadium of my life where I've had enough of elegant camera-movements. The classic way of shooting a musical is with a crane and dolly and a very sophisticated camera choreography, with song- and danceacts who have to be shot in a studio. I didn't want that.
- That's why it felt so important to shoot these scenes exclusively in static pictures. I too have a taste for luxury. And luxury for me is not to use a camera crane, just when that would be the most obvious thing to do. It's a sort of perverted luxury to rig one hundred cameras just to catch one scene. So that everything in every scene gets documented, no matter what. We haven't been able to follow this completely in every musical-number, and I can only apologise for that. But we have at least come as close to this idea as possible. Now, »Dancer In The Dark« is no Dogma movie, so I don't feel compelled to work by any strict rules. But the intention was to give an appearance of a live performance.
And also only a couple of cameras are manned with photographers?
- Yes, in first hand to get some closeups of Björk. The musicscenes are shot on such large areas and the biggest value in these song and dance-acts lies in Björks presence. But when push comes to shove, we should have had one thousand cameras in these scenes! Two thousand, I told the producer Vibeke Windelöv, the producer, bearing in mind the new millennium.
And then you would have made it into the Guinness Book Of World Records?
- That's right.
And then every musical scene would take one month to edit & cut...?
- Oh no! With Avid, the computer-controlled cutting it goes significally faster. A cutters assistant is right now testcutting some of the songscenes. In spite of all the cameras, I don't think that the scenes should be cut up too much. It all depends more on a choice of images, of "correct" and normally expressive pictures and some of those who give that random effect i was talking about earlier. Do you want to see?
On the cutting screen another songnumber scrolls up, temporarily cut together. Björk is situated on an open freight-wagon on a slowly moving train. Beside the train runs a short-breathed Peter Stormare, who plays Selmas boyfriend Jeff. On the freight-wagon there is also a dozen male dancers, surrounding Björk on the rather minimal space. Björk sings "I've Seen It All", a song with rather ironic meaning bearing the illness in mind which both she and her son suffers from.
- It's one of the two songs I've written the lyrics for, Lars confesses. The rest of them are written by Björk. I don't think she was too thrilled by my attempts at a writer. But she is still loyal enough to perform them.
It's a funny and inventive scene. An unexpected actingplace which suddenly seems completely normal for a movie musicalnumber. The landscape slowly rolls by.
The most interesting pictures are precidely those random camerashots, where the pictures are bumping around and Björk and Peter Stormare seem to have to fight to keep themselves in focus.
Lars pushes a few buttons to show me what one of the clean shots looks like.
It's a long, improvised scene with Björk, Catherine Deneuve, Peter Stormare, the american couple David Morse and Cara Seymore, and the boy who plays Björk's son in the movie, Vladan Kostig.
Björk and Catherine swing it at dance rehearsals.
The whole scene is shot by a handcamera by Lars von Trier himself. He stands for approximately 90% of the photowork. Robby Müller, who shot "Breaking The Waves", does the lighting. The methods of working is the same as in "the Idiots", even if this concerns a big production in Panavision. Lars has run around with his camera on the shoulder, as if it has been the worlds most expensive homevideo.
Bearing in mind how Lars managed to compress similar long scenes in "the Idiots" he probably can get the same density and intensity here aswell. Cutting the movie will probably be like picking gold nuggets out of an almost immense material.
What immediately strikes you, is that there is no level-difference whatsoever among the actors, despite the mix between more experienced actors and pure novices like Björk and her movie-son. When Lars shows me one of the movies most dramatic scenes, the one where Selma is forced to kill the person who tried to steal her life savings, you are surprised by Björk's intense, naked and despairful acting.
So what has been the most positive thing about the filming of »Dancer In The Dark«?
- The most positive...? Well, now that we've cut down the script as much as I have, and simplified it to the extent that it has made the characters almost soap-like, we have gotten clear and good scenes which are grateful to work with together with the actors. Because the scenes have turned almost scetchy. They contain the basic conflicts where you have peeled away almost all the overconstruction. Someone is going to die, over there some people are going to love eachother, and so on.
- This method of working was also used by Carl Dreyer. He strived towards an always bigger simplification. With the difference that he never let his actors come with any input at all. That goes against everything I am trying to do here. I want to give the actors the freedom to build on with their own ideas. It's similar to a game, a sort of 'cops and robbers', where the conflict is clearly defined from the start.
But there still is a written dialogue which you and the actors go by?
- I have followed the same guidelines as in my last movies. In the first takes, we have stuck as close to the script as we could, and by every new take we have reworked it further and further away from the written. The scenes that I now am most pleased with are the ones who are completely improvised, where we have gone very far away from the original dialogue. Catherine Deneuve is horribly good at improvising!
- Something which could have seemed worrying is that I have given the actors instructions in the middle of the takes. I shot the most of the movie myself, and sometimes it's happened that I have directed them in the middle of a scene. Like I did in "the Idiots". But all the actors have accepted it without any fuss.
- If it comes easy for an actor to express certain things, it can be fun for them if we complicate the situation for them. There is a whole lot of pedagogy in what I'm currently doing.
It seems like you through this method - as in the song and dance-scenes with the hundred cameras - are on the hunt for the unexpected.
- You could say that. The advantage with the hundred cameras is that we get everything we expected out of the scene, and on top of that, we get all these randomly selected images, pictures captured as it happens, which can be very speaking and expressive.
»Dancer In The Dark« is taped on video. What problems / advantages do you see in that?
- I see no problems at all. On the contrary. »Dancer In The Dark« is shot on video and in Panavision-format. The tests of transfers to film-material that I have seen are fucking great! Hell yes! The pictures have a strong film-feeling in them, at the same time as you are aware that they have been created by a transfer from video. Fucking awesome quiality! I bet that in a couple of years, every movie will be shot on video.
- I'm still very fond of the old videofootage, where Neil Armstrong takes the first steps on the moon. The picture with the strange object in the corner, an object which looks like a tripod. You spent the whole night up looking at these fucking pictures over and over. They looked like they were shot in a studio! Then there were these rumors that they had been filmed in a studio back on earth.
With the method you've chosen to film »Dancer In The Dark«, you manage to get out a mixture of stylizing and a strong reality-impression, of control aswell as total visual anarchy
- Yes, this is the bearing idea of the movie, a meltdown of humanity and abstraction... or, how the hell should I put it? Humanity and the artificial. The true and the untrue. Because the songs are born in Selmas head, and Selma is a humanist before anything. She values things which people in general don't see any value in. Noise and commotion and the fragility of mankind. And all this turns to music and dance. By sheer thought.
- I have written a small rulebook, a sort of manifesto for this movie, where the character and performance of the song and dance-acts are described. Nothing there has been followed there word by word. But I think that it has been useful to those who have made the music and choreography.
How did you find the choreography for the movie?
- A first condition for the movie was of course Björk. And she would write songs which fit the spirit of the movie, menaing a music which at the same time expressed Selmas humanity and the inhumanity of the musical genre.
- The thought was that we would express something similar through the dance. I have been looking quite a lot at something called stomp, which is in fashion right now. It's a dance where you use any possible thing to create a rhythm. At first I thought about getting an older choreographer, an old fox who had worked in the musical genre and who could be amused by smashing it to pieces. But it was hard to find someone.
- So I started to look through a lot of musicvideos. And one of the few videos which I had earlier caught my eye and which i thought was both fancy and challenging dance-wise was Madonnas video for "Vogue". And the choreographer there was Vincent Patterson. He had also choreographed a couple of Michael Jackson-videos. So I thought that, if we're gonna take anyone of these videofellas, it'll have to be him.
Originally you had intended Stellan Skarsgård in the role of Selmas boyfriend Jeff...
- Yeah, and he couldn't, because he was gonna participate in some norwegian crapmovie. I've got Peter Stormare now instead, and that's very interesting. Because he's a lot different, he gives a completely different character to the role than what I think Stellan would have. The teamwork with Björk has become more charged and funny. Because with Peter Stormare the movie is added a type, which is a strong contrast to the other actors. Stellan would probably have contributed with a more naturalistic acting style.
Björk and Peter Stormare
Stellan Skarsgård is still in on a corner. He has a small guest-role as the doctor.
In the movie, other familiar faces from the von Trier-connection also appear, like Udo Kier and Jean-Marc Barr.
In the middle of August the last scenes of »Dancer In The Dark« were shot in Seattle. No, Lars von Trier didn't come along. His fobia against travelling is not overcome yet. The final scenes were left to Anders Refn, with a more detailed to-do list and a detailed schedule of instructions in his luggage.
»Dancer In The Dark« premieres in Cannes next year. It's no secret that Lars has his eye on the golden palmtree.
Despite that his movies have been praised in Cannes - "The Element Of Crime", "Europa" and "Breaking The Waves" - he has yet to receive the biggest award. We'll see if he gets a reason to put on his old tux again and enter the stage in the festival palace.
* * *
SELMA'S MANiFESTO
»Dancer In The Dark« is not a Dogma-film.
But of course Lars von Trier wrote the "Selma-manifesto"
to explain how the story about Selma (played by Björk)
should be told. Here is an excerpt.
About Selma:
Selma comes from the east. She loves musicals. Her life is hard, but she can survive because she harbours a secret. When things become too unbearable she can pretend that she is in a musical... if only for a minute or two. All the JOY that life cannot bring her is in there. Joy is not to live... joy is there so that we can bear to live.
Selma loves "Sound Of Music" and other great song and dancemovies. And now it is her who will play the leading role in an amateur-production of "Sound Of Music"... At the same time she is in the middle of accomplishing the goal of her life. It looks like dream and reality finally is melting together for Selma.
So, the popularmusic and the famous musicals are what fills the shelves if her mind.
But she is not just a dreamer! She is someone who loves all life!
She can feel strongly for all the wonders which every inch of her (rather cruel) life can hold. And she can see all the details... every single one. Strange things that only she can see or hear. She is a true contemplator... with a photographic memory. And it is this doublesidedness which makes her an artist; her love and enthusiasm for the artificial world of music, song and dance, and her strong fascination for he real world... her humanity.
er art consists of the musical fragments in which she flees when whe needs... the fragments of Selmas very own musical... it resembles no other musical... it is a collision of all shreds of melodies, ditties, sounds, instruments, lyrics and dances which she has experienced in the cinemas and the real life with the same elements as she - through her gift - can find there.
About the movie:
To tell Selmas story, the movie has to be able to give a concrete form to her world. All the scenes which do not contain her musical-fantasies have to be as real as possible when it comes to acting, set, etc. Because the scenes from Selmas daily life pose as models for what she puts in her musical numbers... and these have to be truthful. What she sees in the movies is error-less... painless... which is completely opposite to the real life... where it is the pain and errors that makes it glow. So the events that are a part of the story will, to an extent, be expressed trhough the foremost, most controllably beautiful music, recorded according to doubtful methods - and mixed with all the flaws and plump mistakes that real life can contribute with.
This is also the principal for Selma's musical. Punk is the word that I would use to emphasise it all: as I see it, punk is a collision between tradition and nature. It isn't destructive... it isn't snobby, because it seeks back to it's origins... by confronting the system with a modern, and therefor a more truthful, view of life... and force life into what has become stagnant and closed-up... by force! This is probably the only violence Selma is a part of?
About the music:
The musical inserts which contain instruments and melodies come from the musicals she loves. It can be fragments interwoven into other situations... or instrumental sound-inserts which are used in an unusual way.
Selma lives the cheapest effects. Riffs and other clichés... and she uses them beyond all that has to do with good taste... but these segments are mixed with the sounds of ordinary life and through that she becomes far from banal. She loves the simple sounds of living expressions... hands, feet, voices, etc... (the sighs that emerge from the hard work?)... the noise from machienery and other mechanical things... sounds of nature... and above anything the small sounds that emerge from deficiency... the floorcreaking which may arise from someplace where a floorboard has some defect.
What is important is that what is artificial will remain and sound artificial... we have to be aware about where everything comes from... the musical clichés... and more important the sounds from the real world... they shall never be "enhanced"... the closer to reality the better... we prefer a rhythm performed by hand on a windowpane over a sampled ditto... of a sample has to be included, it will have it's given place on the artificial side. Music shall flow from one side to the other... let there be opportunities when only the natural sounds rule. (stomp)
About the dancing:
The principal is the same: Selma uses and loves the big effects: the poses, the similarity... the glamour... but she binds all this to real people... with real movements and flaws. She can see the possibilites in every little unexpected thing. The dancers can use anything they like as a tool in their dance and music. She has worked on the factory long and she rejoices at every little form of human expression of movement. She knows what a body can perform... when it does it's best to achieve perfection in the dance, and she knows how the life's daily pain and joy can be expressed in one little movement.
Selma herself dances like a child... to herself... in extacy... it may look terrible... but suddenly, for an instant of a second, the room is filled with unity... and she's a queen. The dance has no façade... it goes into every direction... it has no limitations... a fingertip moving across a surface is a dance!
About the singing:
The songs are Selmas conversation with herself... even if it sometimes is put in the mouths of other people who gets to speak for her and express her doubts, fear, happiness, etc. They are naive songs, with all the big words from the popularmusic... but often things won't work out for her... and sometimes some deeper truths seep out... When that happens, Selma is quick to turn it all into a game again... and play with the words... or fragments of the words... like a child... the pure thrill of letting sounds leave your mouth!
And remember that she likes to imitate... she can sound like a machine or a violin. A mistake can also be used as an effect... one mispronounced word can get it's own meaning when 30 people pronounce it the same way!
About the decor:
Super-realism! Nothing more or less. Nobody shall be able to say that this isn't a movie which hasn't been shot on location... and that these places never before have been documented by a camera. Every thing that are in these places and are used in the dance or music... has to be there because of the story or the location or the people.
Here we go totally against the musical-principal... there is NOT suddenly 10 identical things for a dance. the same goes for the clothes... there will not be one dancetroup with the same outfit. Clothes are also an expression for realism and they tell a story about the person who wears them.
text: Lars von Trier
Article from Swedish fashion & trend magazine 'Bibel', issue 11, october 1999
