Some Songs Considered - Posts Tagged 'the life aquatic'

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A daily music blog of memories, analysis, criticism, and ramblings - soundtracked by rock, pop, hip-hop, indie, etc.

Written by Brian Wall

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October 24, 2009

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Life on Mars?” – Seu Jorge
(Words/music: David Bowie, available on The Life Aquatic Sessions, Hollywood 2005)

The marriage of David Bowie’s songs and a Wes Anderson makes sense if only because of the shared weirdness between the two. So it’s appropriate that The Life Aquatic, probably Anderson’s strangest movie, featured a character that played David Bowie songs in Portuguese throughout the whole film. It was an interesting way to incorporate the soundtrack into the film’s plot (although there are a few excellent songs used traditionally, especially the Zombies’ “The Way I Feel Inside” among others). Still, these performances share the same critique as the film in general. To quote Moe Syzslak, much of the movie was “weird for the sake of being weird,” and having a character who spends most of his entire time on screen singing Bowie songs ~~without a single line of dialogue (it’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie, so correct me if I’m wrong~~ He does have a few lines of dialogue. Thanks for the tip, Andrew) feels excessively odd.

That being said, Seu Jorge’s performances are compelling, even on their own. Not knowing a word of Portuguese, I find that I’m shifting my attention away from the words and to the music itself, whether it’s Jorge’s distinctive vocal style (which often mimics Bowie’s fast delivery) or the beautifully replicated songs. It also strikes me how a lot of the songs still have the same emotional resonance without having words to understand. “Life on Mars” in particular feels bittersweet, suggesting the same feelings of loneliness without words to tell the story. Jorge’s interpretations stand as tributes to Bowie’s versatile songwriting, showing how his songs still stand up (and, on occasion, take on a new life) even with the narrative power of the lyrics stripped away.

More on Seu Jorge: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

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February 6, 2009

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“30 Century Man” – Scott Walker
(Words/music: Scott Walker, available on Scott 3, Fontana 1969)

“30 Century Man” sounds like a simple song – and sure, it’s just Scott Walker’s deep voice and an acoustic guitar – but there’s still something alluring about it. Perhaps it’s because Walker stars out with a simple question – you can either be a dwarf star or a red giant, but you have to pick. It’s an interesting choice – you can either be the run of the mill dwarf, one of 90% of stars with the rest of their life ahead of them, or you can be a giant, the fiery, intense ball of gas that shines brightest right before its ready to expire. In a strange way, it’s a choice between patience and spectacle (or, to a lesser degree, similar to the quandary Neil Young would later pose – is it better to burn out or fade away?). Still, Walker offers another possibility – take yourself out of this era and start over again next century. I think it’s this oddity that makes the song for me; otherwise, it’s a fairly straightforward song without Walker’s strange sci-fi suggestion. There’s something alluring to the future - it’s the realm of possibilities. All our problems will be solved by time and technology (right?…. right?!)

Sonically, the chords and melody are interesting enough, and I like the technique of putting the guitar in one speaker and the vocals in the other. This song doesn’t work for me, however, without being a little strange. I think it’s the off-putting idea of a man freezing himself – taking himself out of this time period for the sake of the unknown 30th century – that makes this song interesting enough. Sure, it’s a shame you’ll never meet Charles DeGaulle, but who cares – you’ll see hover cars!

There’s not really a concrete reason that I like “30 Century Man” – perhaps it’s that it lasts for 90 seconds, perhaps it’s that it’s slightly surreal, and perhaps it’s the association with The Life Aquatic and Futurama, but it’s the kind of song that comes up in my shuffle and never gets skipped. It’s just strange enough.

More on Scott Walker: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

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