Words for the Dying
Malcolm Lawrence (malcolm@wolfenet.com)
Tue, 23 Sep 1997 13:26:06 -0700
One last word on Dylan Thomas...
For those not familiar with the work of John Cale (co-founder of the
Velvet Underground) yet are fans of his fellow Welshman Dylan Thomas,
you may be interested in his 1989 album Words for the Dying. The
Falklands Suite is a setting to music of Dylan Thomas poems, written and
arranged by
John Cale and produced by Brian Eno. Vocals and piano by John Cale. The
Orchestra of
Symphonic & Popular Music of Gosteleradio USSR, conducted by Alexander
G. Mikhailov.
The Choir of Llandaff Cathedral Choir School
Track listing: The Falklands Suite (Introduction; There Was A Saviour;
Interlude I; On A
Wedding Anniversary; Interlude II; Lie Still-Sleep Becalmed; Do Not Go
Gentle Into That
Good Night); Songs Without Words (I & II); The Soul Of Carmen Miranda.
The title "Words for the Dying" comes from the dedication of this music
to those who died
during the Falklands war which was happening about the same time Cale
originally worked on
setting the poems.
>From the liner notes: '"The Falklands Suite": While the Argentine flag
was being raised on South
Georgia, I was feverishly embarking on a comprehensive setting of the
collected poems of
Dylan Thomas. Each night I would sit with Alan Lanier in his apartment
in New York City
thrashing from one poem to another with the tape running. By the end of
the war I had arrived
at "Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed" and it seemed that of the nine poems done
in all there were four
that felt all of a piece. The interludes came later, around the time of
the preparation of the
premiere in Amsterdam's Paradiso on Nov. 14 and 15, 1987." John Cale,
June '89.'
For more information about John Cale, check out this extensive and
comprehensive webpage of his life and work at:
http://faraday.ucd.ie/~eoin/johncale.html
Enjoy
Malcolm