wfi@unc.UUCP (William F. Ingogly) (04/08/85)
-------------------------------------------------------------------- DEFINITIONS: Ted Hughes -- A contemporary British poet, author of a book of poetry called "Crow." Ted Hughes was once married to the American poet Sylvia Plath. His most recent book of poetry (to the best of my knowledge) is "River," which I recommended to net.books readers a month or two ago. The poems in "Crow" seem to be about death and the death of innocence that results from mankind's acquisition of language. Capt. Beefheart -- An avant-garde blues/rock composer. His most recent album (to the best of my knowledge) is "Ice Cream For Crow." The Captain's music sounds like what might result if Howlin' Wolf decided to become a beat poet and hired an avant-garde jazz group to back him up. The songs in "Ice Cream For Crow" seem to be about death and the possibility of rebirth. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SPECULATIONS: In the cycle of poems in Ted Hughes' "Crow," the character named Crow is presented as an anti-romantic and entropic force in the universe. Mankind's real fall is the result of language; the Garden of Eden was only possible before human beings acquired verbal skills. I find the Captain's album "Ice Cream For Crow" his most disturbing work; it seems to be obsessed with death and dissolution. Perhaps it's a meditation on the Captain's own mortality. There's an interesting connection between these two works that may or may not be coincidental. The poem called "Crow and the Birds" presents Crow as a no-nonsense scavenger who makes his living from the detritus and misfortune of civilization (although the dropped ice-cream is admittedly a comically trivial misfortune): ...While the bullfinch plumped in the applebud And the goldfinch bulbed in the sun And the wryneck crooked in the moon And the dipper peered from the dewball Crow spraddled head-down in the beach-garbage, guzzling a dropped ice-cream. Captain Beefheart's song "Ice Cream For Crow" presents life as celebration and dance, but a dance on the edge of the grave. His Crow seems to be a totemic, mystical symbol of death. Crow leads the dance: ...light the fire piano the moon showed up and it started to show tonight there'd be ice cream ice cream for crow... But later on in the song, the Captain's Crow is presented as an agent of possible rebirth through images of healing: ...tonight there's gonna be a feather treatment... ...cut the cake we'll all get well... On the album cover, Beefheart appears in a black and white photo of the desert. He holds his hat in his hand, and is alone. The image is altogether a mournful one, as though the good Captain were going to his own funeral. The photo is set against a window shade covered with one of his paintings; the colors are black and blood-red. Is the shade going down on a life? Is the connection between Ted Hughes' image of crow 'guzzling a dropped ice-cream' and Beefheart's image of ice cream at the crow dance (moonlight == ice cream?) coincidence? What do you think? ------------------------------------------------------------------- UNCONNECTED AFTERTHOUGHT: Paul Simon uses imagery from Ted Hughes' "Crow" in his song "My Little Town:" (the following from memory) ...And after it rains there's a rainbow But all of the colors are black... This is no accident, since a quote from Ted Hughes' poem "Two Legends" preceeds the song's lyrics on the back of the "Still Crazy" album. -- Enjoy it, Bill Ingogly
abh6509@ritcv.UUCP (A. Hudson) (04/12/85)
> > DEFINITIONS: > Ted Hughes -- A contemporary British poet, author of a > > Capt. Beefheart -- An avant-garde blues/rock composer. His > > "Crow spraddled head-down in the beach-garbage, guzzling > a dropped ice-cream." > > Captain Beefheart's song "Ice Cream For Crow" presents life as > celebration and dance, but a dance on the edge of the grave. His Crow > seems to be a totemic, mystical symbol of death. Crow leads the > dance: > > "tonight there'd be ice cream > ice cream for crow..." > > -- Enjoy it, Bill Ingogly Absolutely Incredible!! First of all I'm amazed that someone made the connection between the two works of art, (was that an uninspired observation?). Secondly, its really a pleasure to experience wonder from insight in someone's creative process. For once I can really respect the intellect that went into the making of a musical concept. Especially in the days of the The Pure Pap for Now People. If only some people could realize that one of the aspects of "alternative music" that is so appealing is the intellectual challenge. "If you could but perceive.." But then the problem with a challenge is that is so challenging. I really enjoyed it! -- Andrew Hudson