Music Monday

Music Monday: Near the Black Forest by Vanessa Daou

Music Monday is a meme that was created by Drew from The Tattooed Book Geek. Bjørn and I will pick a song alternatively on each Monday and share our thoughts about them. Bjørn’s pick this week is Near the Black Forest by Vanessa Daou.

Thoughts and Ramblings

Oh, the things I would do for a 4k remaster of this video… I was 18 when it came out and I happened to press Record on my VHS (decomposes) two seconds in. It was the most sensual (not sexual, although that, too) song and video I have ever…experienced, this goes beyond ‘listening.’ I wore out the cassette and hunted for the CD which I have only seen once, in one store, at a time when my budget didn’t extend to CDs. I eventually found a copy at a second hand store, and for all I know it could have been the same one.

‘Near the Black Forest’ comes from an album named Zipless, where Daou covered songs by her husband Peter’s aunt, one Erica Jong. As true visionaries, they offered paid access to a private section of their website. In 2004, Peter Daou advised John Kerry during his presidential campaign, got hired later by Hillary Clinton, and was lauded as “one of the most prominent political bloggers in the nation.” His move from producing Zipless and the private section to a book called ‘Digital Civil War: Confronting the Far-Right Menace’ (Zipless was the bigger seller) would probably make for a very interesting biography. As for Vanessa, she released six albums since, and to misquote Jong’s lyric she speak-sings on Zipless, they embellished, but did not change my life.

Song Lyrics

Living in a house near the Black Forest without any clocks,
she’s begun to listen to the walls.
Her neighbours have clocks, not one, but twenty clocks apiece.

Near the black, black forest
Near the black, black forest
Near the black, black forest
Near the black, black forest

Listen to the walls, wind your watch.
Poor love, poor love, have they caught you by the pendulum? Have they got you stopped?
Have you already gathered how living near the Black Forest she gets by on cups of borrowed time?

Near the black, black forest
Near the black, black forest
Near the black, black forest
Near the black, black forest

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